Chiefs-Eagles Tremendous Bowl set after extra heartbreak for Payments; Commanders have brutal day

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🏈 Good morning to all, however particularly to …

THE SUPER BOWL-BOUND KANSAS CITY CHIEFS AND PHILADELPHIA EAGLES

It is at all times the Chiefs. It is at all times, at all times, at all times the Chiefs. Kansas Metropolis’s quest for the first Tremendous Bowl three-peat is alive and properly after a 32-29 win over the Payments, and it occurred the way in which it so typically does: in clutch, nail-biting style, powered by Patrick Mahomes.

Kansas Metropolis will face a well-known foe in Tremendous Bowl: The Eagles are additionally heading to the large sport after a 55-23 blowout of the Commanders that noticed Philadelphia set one file after one other.

Let’s begin in Kansas Metropolis, although, the place Mahomes was very good once more.

• Trailing by one early within the fourth quarter, Mahomes rumbled in from 10 yards out for a landing and threw the two-point conversion to Justin Watson for a 29-22 Chiefs lead.
• After Josh Allen answered with a landing drive of his personal, Mahomes led a fast area objective drive, making it 32-29 Chiefs.
• And there it will keep. After Allen did not convert on fourth down, Mahomes threw first-down passes to Kareem Hunt and Samaje Perine to seal the win.

Say what you’ll concerning the Chiefs’ close-game efficiency — they’ve gained 16 straight single-possession video games — the explanation they win so a lot of them is that they’re so good at these slender margins regardless of their imperfections.

Mahomes is a stone-cold killer together with his legs (two speeding touchdowns for the primary time in his profession) and his arm, and Andy Reid is aware of the right way to use each facets. With Travis Kelce blanketed, Mahomes relied on different choices; Xavier Worthy, whom the Payments handed on within the draft, had 101 complete yards and a landing.

You is perhaps uninterested in the Chiefs. You would possibly suppose they’re fortunate or favored by the refs or annoying or no matter. However that is an unprecedented run headed by an all-time nice quarterback and an all-time nice teaching workers, a crew that makes massive play after massive play and by no means blinks when each different crew closes its eyes and hopes. It is unreal.

The Eagles, however, had no must chew their nails. They have been too busy operating round, over and thru an overwhelmed Washington protection. Saquon Barkley scored a 60-yard landing on Philadelphia’s first play, and that was simply the beginning.

• The 55 factors are a convention championship file. The seven speeding touchdowns — three from Barkley (who fulfilled a promise), three from Jalen Hurts and one from Will Shipley — tied a playoff file.
• The bottom sport was so overpowering the officers practically gave Philadelphia factors earlier than it truly scored, a wild, little-known rule.
• The Eagles additionally compelled 4 turnovers, none greater than one late within the third quarter: Washington, trailing 34-23, was driving when Oren Burks punched the ball out from Austin Ekeler. Zack Baun recovered, and the guests by no means threatened once more.

Philadelphia was merely superior in practically each facet, and it confirmed. We’ll get to the Commanders in a bit, however this seemed like a completed product taking up a hopeful upstart forward of schedule. The Eagles’ greatest concern coming in might have been Hurts, however he answered in record-setting style. I used to be impressed by his sack avoidance (a giant concern final week) and his downfield accuracy, which helped ignite the air assault. Jeff Kerr wrote on Hurts silencing the doubters.

And as when you needed to ask, the Eagles’ devoted celebrated appropriately.

👍 Honorable mentions

💔 And never such a superb morning for …

THE BUFFALO BILLS AND THE WASHINGTON COMMANDERS

It is at all times the Chiefs. It is at all times, at all times, at all times the Chiefs. That is the fourth time within the final 5 seasons Buffalo’s season has ended by the hands of Kansas Metropolis. In three of these 4 video games, the Payments led within the fourth quarter.

What extra can we are saying?

• On Buffalo’s third-to-last drive, Allen got here up inches brief on a fourth-down quarterback sneak, a state of affairs he had been nine-for-nine on this season.
• On Buffalo’s remaining drive, Steve Spagnuolo despatched a wonderfully timed blitz, and Allen nonetheless managed to just about full the go, just for Dalton Kincaid to be unable to reel it in.
• Then, the Payments protection had a number of alternatives to get the ball again to their offense, just for Mahomes to ship the ultimate daggers.

How a lot heartache can one crew take? Allen was crushed. The Payments will, assuredly, preserve coming again. Allen is a celebrity, James Prepare dinner is ascending, the offensive line is terrific, and the protection is well-coached. But it surely’s simply not sufficient, or not less than it hasn’t been sufficient. One other lengthy offseason awaits.

The Commanders’ dreamlike season is over, too. Perhaps not in heartbreaking style, however completely in disappointing style. Most of the lumps Jayden Daniels helped cowl all season have been on full show towards an opponent that was merely higher.

• The 4 turnovers have been in all probability probably the most disappointing facet contemplating Washington had zero turnovers in its first two postseason video games. Groups that lose the turnover battle are 1-8 this postseason.
• The lack to cease the run was nothing new, although. Washington allowed the fifth-most yards per carry this common season and the second-most within the playoffs.
• Washington additionally struggled to run the ball down the stretch. Washington’s non-quarterbacks averaged 3.4 yards per carry over the Commanders’ remaining seven video games (together with playoffs). Sunday, they averaged 2.1.

In contrast to the Payments, the Commanders are new to playoff heartbreak. This was their first convention championship sport since 1991. With Daniels main the way in which, Washington produced an unimaginable one-year turnaround. One can say the Commanders “arrived early,” however the NFL cares not for timelines. They will should proceed to hit on draft picks, including to the trenches, the defensive secondary and Daniels’ weapons.

Nonetheless, Washington has its quarterback after a decades-long hunt, and that, inarguably, is an enormous step.

👎 Not so honorable mentions

🏈 Early Tremendous Bowl preview, odds:

All proper, so it is set! Chiefs-Eagles in Tremendous Bowl LIX, a rematch of their assembly two years in the past, when Kansas Metropolis gained a 38-35 thriller. Let’s set the scene:

🏀 No. 1 Auburn holds off No. 6 Tennessee, Cooper Flagg rescues No. 2 Duke

With no extra school soccer and just one NFL sport left, I hope you are listening to school basketball, as a result of there are barnburners all throughout the nation.

The easiest on the lads’s facet is occurring within the SEC. This weekend, that meant No. 1 Auburn vs. No. 6 Tennessee. The Tigers squeaked out a 53-51 residence win over the Volunteers, with Miles Kelly nailing a go-ahead 3-pointer with 33 seconds left and Zakai Zeigler lacking a possible go-ahead 3 shortly thereafter. Johni Broome returned from an ankle damage to publish 16 factors and 13 rebounds, a rugged effort emblematic of a rugged sport.

There have been a lot extra dramatics throughout the southeast (and wherever the SEC extends to these days) …

However probably the most drama belonged within the Huge 12, the place No. 12 Kansas blew a six-point lead within the final eight seconds of additional time in an eventual 92-86 double-overtime loss to No. 7 Houston. The Jayhawks additionally blew a six-point lead with simply over a minute left in regulation.

The regulation collapse was dangerous. The additional time collapse was gorgeous. Kyle broke down the way it occurred, and the Jayhawks have been a straightforward choose for the “loser” facet of our weekend winners and losers.

This is extra:

🏀 Kelsey Plum to Sparks, Jewell Loyd to Aces in WNBA blockbuster

Talking of basketball drama, we obtained a blockbuster WNBA commerce Sunday. Listed here are the main points:

• Sparks get: Kelsey Plum, 2025 No. 9 choose, 2026 2nd-round choose
• Aces get: Jewell Loyd, 2025 No. 13 choose
• Storm get: No. 2 choose within the 2025 WNBA Draft, 2026 1st-round choose, Li Yueru

Loyd, a six-time All-Star and one of many league’s most prolific scorers, requested a commerce again in December after an investigation discovered no wrongdoing by the Seattle workers. Loyd accused Noelle Quinn and her workers of harassment and bullying. Now, she has a brand new residence alongside A’ja Wilson, Jackie Younger and Chelsea Grey, amongst others.

Plum, a three-time All-Star, was a free agent this offseason, however Las Vegas designated her as a core participant, that means the one method she might depart was through a commerce she agreed to. Now, she joins a Sparks squad that went 8-32 in 2024 however has expertise in children Rickea Jackson and Cameron Brink (getting back from a torn ACL) and simply obtained a breakout yr from Dearica Hamby.

The Storm went 25-15 final yr however misplaced within the first spherical. They will have loads of intriguing choices within the draft.

🎾 Jannik Sinner, Madison Keys win Australian Open males’s, girls’s titles

For Jannik Sinner, it is extra of the identical. For Madison Keys, it is the breakthrough of a lifetime. Sinner, the world No. 1, defeated No. 2 Alexander Zverev, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3, for his second straight Australian Open males’s title, someday after No. 19 Keys upset No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5, for her first main.

• Sinner, 23, is 80-6 because the begin of 2024, with three majors and 9 ATP trophies. His three slams equal the overall of all different Italian males mixed.
• Keys, 29, was in simply her second profession slam remaining, and her first since 2017. She’s the fourth-oldest first-time girls’s Grand Slam winner.
• Keys turned the primary participant to defeat the highest two gamers within the remaining two rounds of a slam since Venus Williams did it at Wimbledon in 2005.

📺 What we’re watching Monday

🏀 Pistons at Cavaliers, 7 p.m. on NBA TV
🏀 No. 2 South Carolina at No. 17 Tennessee (W), 7 p.m. on ESPN2
🏀 Unmatched, 7:30 p.m. on TNT
🏀 NC State at No. 2 Duke (M), 8:30 p.m. on ESPN
🏀 Clippers at Suns, 9:30 p.m. on NBA TV
🏀 No. 3 Iowa State at Arizona (M), 10:30 p.m. on ESPN