These 2 teams will meet in the Super Bowl for the 2nd time in the past 3 years, and last time was an instant classic. The Eagles and the Chiefs took care of business yesterday, albeit in much different fashion. The Eagles scored on their first offensive play, a 61-yard touchdown for Saquon Barkley. I looked over at my dad after that play and told him that this game was over already.

“I don’t know Cooper, there’s a lot of football left to play still. Daniels has been really good these past couple of weeks, so he can keep up with the Eagles if this turns into a shootout.”

I gotta give the Commanders credit, because damn did they leave it all out on the field. They called a fake punt that helped extend a drive to get a field goal. They moved the ball well throughout the game, with Daniels playing pretty good yet again. The only problem is, they turned over the ball 4 times in this game. Against a team as good as Philadelphia, you will lose every time you turn over the ball that much.  It wasn’t Daniels throwing interceptions either, the Commanders fumbled 3 times before Daniels threw a late interception once the game was already decided. Credit to the Eagles defense, as everytime it felt like the Commanders might get back in the game, the Eagles defense would punch the ball out of the ball carrier’s hand. They clearly were struggling to actually stop Jayden Daniels, so the turnovers were massive in turning this game into a blowout. The Eagles are a team that plays even better with a lead, as they ran the ball down the Commanders’ throats all game long. They ended up scoring 55 points, which is the most by a team playing in the conference championship game ever. Even the backup running backs were running well, with Will Shipley finishing with 77 yards on 4 carries. Hurts also played well, making big time throws on the rare occasion that the Eagles got into 2nd or 3rd and long situations. A.J. Brown had his best game in a while, dominating the Commander’s depleted secondary. It was just a great overall win for the Eagles across the board and now puts to bed any questions that people may have had about this team. I remember picking the Packers to upset the Eagles in round 1, so I have been really impressed with how well this team has played and it will change my opinion on them going forward. Before moving on to the other game, I did just want to talk about the Commanders for a little bit.

To me, you saw the talent gap between these 2 rosters throughout this game. The biggest area where I noticed this was the trenches, as the Eagles absolutely dominated the trenches on both sides of the ball. While there is going to be a lot of talk about how the Commanders need to add wide receivers and corners, I think the trenches have to be the priority. The other game was also decided by the trenches, so it’s clear to me what it will take to get over the hump next year. The Commanders should be optimistic about the future after how good it looked in year 1 with Quinn and Daniels. At the same time, football is a super cruel sport, and there is no guarantee that they get back here. The famous example is Dan Marino making a Super Bowl in his 2nd year, then never getting back despite being one of the best quarterbacks to ever play the game. The Commanders need to stay hungry, add a couple of more pieces on the offensive and defensive lines, and then address getting another cornerback and wide receiver. Despite the disappointing results, I think most Commanders fans would view this season as one of their favorites, if not the favorite in franchise history. To be able to move on from the Dan Snyder era and find success this quickly is truly remarkable, and I couldn’t be happier for those fans. Keep your head held high, as this season was super impressive and will give hope to plenty of fanbases going forward that they too can rebuild a team that quickly. One more thing before moving on: How hilarious were the Frankie Luvu penalties in the 3rd quarter? For those that didn’t watch, the Eagles had the ball on the 1-yard line and were about to score using their famous “tush push” play. This play feels like it works every time the Eagles run it, so it was inevitable that they were going to find the end zone. It was going to take a miracle for the Commanders to stop them, and Frankie Luvu tried his best to pull that off by running and leaping over the Eagles offensive line. The only problem is, they hadn’t snapped the ball yet. Luvu soared over the Eagles and tackled Jalen Hurts, who again, had not even snapped the ball. The refs called the flag and moved the ball half a distance to the goal, which had to mean nothing to the Commanders since the Eagles were already on the 1. The next play, Luvu tried again, but still leaped before the Eagles snapped the ball. I then got to hear the ref say something I have never heard before in all my years watching football. He essentially said that if the Commanders do that 1 more time, he was just going to give the Eagles a touchdown. Did you know they could do that? I had no clue; it reminded me of Madden when an opponent will get kicked from the game if they go offsides 3 plays in a row. I will always remember this game, not for Saquon and the Eagles going off, but because the refs essentially threatened to spank the Commanders for being poor sports. That shit was funny as hell, shoutout to all parties involved for giving me an all-time football memory in a game that was a total blowout. The Eagles coasted to a Super Bowl appearance, meanwhile the Chiefs had to sweat it out big time.

The poor Bills, man. They can’t seem to catch a break the poor bastards. In the 90s, the Bills lost 4 straight Super Bowls, and this era feels oddly reminiscent of that time. The Bills have now been eliminated by the Chiefs in 4 of their last 5 playoff appearances, with all of them being very close games. Yet despite how close the games have been, there was never a moment where you actually thought Mahomes was going to lose the games. That’s how I felt when it was 29-29 with 6 minutes left, as I have seen Mahomes do this time and time again, specifically against this team. Mahomes drove the ball down the field, leading the Chiefs to a field goal to go up by 3. This meant Josh Allen was going to get the ball beach with a chance to tie or take the lead, all 3 timeouts, 3:30 left in the game. Yet, I knew they weren’t going to pull it off. Sure enough, the Chiefs got the Bills into 4th down where they blitzed the hell out of Allen, forcing him to get rid of the ball quickly. Allen through a desperation heave that Dalton Kincaid seemed to be closing in on. But again, did anybody really think he was going to catch it? It hit him in the hands then bounced to the turf, with the Bills giving the Chiefs the ball back with less than 2 minutes left. The Bills did have all 3 timeouts left, so there was a chance they could force a 3-and-out and get the ball back with about 1:30 left on the clock. What do you think happened next? The Chiefs drank the last little bit of children’s blood that they had pouring out of their water fountain, prayed to Satan, and converted a couple of 1st downs to completely ice the game. The Chiefs are inevitable, there is no point in even trying to compete with them it feels like. As a Chargers fan, I am absolutely devastated knowing that we will have to deal with this team for the next 10 years. We finally got a good head coach in Jim Harbaugh, and it seems like there is no point, the Chiefs are going to win the next 10 Super Bowls. Obviously, this isn’t true, but it’s how you feel when you see a team that plays in your division getting a chance to pull off the 1st 3-peat in NFL history. This must have been what the Bills felt like during the Brady era. Honestly, it’s probably exactly how the Bills feel right now.

Let’s talk about the Bills for a sec. Once again, they got so close to finally pulling it off, only to get cucked by Mahomes yet again. I had one major complaint for Buffalo here, even though for the most part they played incredibly.I think Josh Allen only having 2 less carries than James Cook is something that can’t happen again. I get that Josh is the big strong guy, and when he gets out in open space, he is really hard to bring down. My issue is that most of the runs he did were not out in space, but rather on 3rd or 4th in shorts where the defense knew he was going to run the ball. I don’t like the idea of a tall guy trying to ram himself through the tranches, as he is unable to build up his speed and there is a lot of body for the defense to grab (pause). If you run Cook on those plays, he can accelerate faster than Allen, has better vision, and has a lower center of gravity, making him harder to bring down. After the amazing year that James Cook had, why would you not trust him to execute in the games biggest moments. While it isn’t a perfect comparison, it reminds me a lot of when the Seahawks threw the ball late instead of handing off to Marshawn Lynch. It really seemed to me like they wanted Allen to carry them to a win, but that puts way too much pressure on just 1 guy, especially when you have a stud running back! Allen had 11 carries for 39 yards while Cook had 13 for 85 and 2 touchdowns, who would you want to be running the ball on key downs based on that information? Kareem Hunt outrushed James Cook for fuck’s sake, that should not have been possible. That was the biggest reason they lost this one to me; Cook helped carry them in each of their last 2 playoff wins, so abandoning him this much in the most important game of the year was truly shocking. Otherwise, the Bills pretty much played the game you would want them to play if you are a Bills fan. They now move on to the off-season, where they should be able to improve the defense and hopefully be just good enough to finally pull it off next year. But more than likely, they will look like a powerhouse next year and fall just short yet again to the Chiefs, as they have always done. I know I should talk about what the Chiefs did to win this game, but I’ll be honest, I am too salty to praise the Chiefs. Once they lose in the playoffs, I’ll be willing to start praising them again. Until then, I’ll pass, as it makes me want to vomit all over myself. Before we go, I do want to take a sneak peak at the Super Bowl.

So these are just initial thoughts, I haven’t really broken down the matchup yet. I did want to just point out a couple of things here: first off, it is really, really hard to get a 3-peat. Wow, great observation Cooper, you must be a football genius. Seriously though, it requires a lot of skill, obviously, but it also requires a lot of things to fall your way. Players can’t get injured, you have to get a few calls to go your way, and the other teams have to beat themselves almost as often as you beat them. The main thing I’ll say about the Eagles is that they are a super disciplined football team, so beating themselves is out of the equation. The Eagles also have the formula to win in the playoffs: low turnovers, the number 1 defense, and the number 1 running game. I really do think the Eagles have a good chance at pulling this off; it is not inevitable that the Chiefs will get the 3-peat. Another thing that strikes me early is that both teams have built their teams from the interior out, which goes to show that old-fashioned tough football is still very much in style. Teams get so worried about getting the right quarterback and the stud receiver and the lockdown corner.  Meanwhile, the teams that are now set to play each other in the Super Bowl for the 2nd time in 3 years built their teams from the inside-out.  The final thing I want to point out is that I 1000% will be rooting for the Eagles in this one. Not just because I hate the Chiefs, but I want to see Saquon win this ring. The running back position was being treated as a joke lately, with teams opting to just draft a running back in the middle rounds every 3 seasons and throwing away their old running back like Andy tossing Woody for Buzz Lightyear. Barkley got the 2nd contract that he was wanting, leaving the bum-ass Giants for a winning franchise in the Eagles. He went on to have the best season of his career, rushing for 2,000 yards, including dominating each playoff game to help lead Philly to the Super Bowl. So whether they win or lose in the Super Bowl, I hope that teams will begin to value the running back position again. The Ravens, Vikings, and Packers also added veteran running backs in Derrick Henry, Aaron Jones, and Josh Jacobs respectively. These teams all saw the playoffs this year, with their running game being improved in all 3 cases. Now I don’t think that just any team should go after an established running back. However, if you are a team that feels like they have a dominant offensive line, you should be willing to splurge on a running back to be the final piece to make your offense great, *cough* Chargers *cough*. The running back position is back, and I could not be happier. I will break down the Super Bowl the weekend of but just wanted to put my early thoughts out there, thanks for reading!