Stephen A. gives props to SUPERSTAR Patrick Mahomes for the Chiefs' Super Bowl comeback | First Take

Stephen A, yes, was this the return of the Chief or the collapse of the eagles. I definitely think it was the return of the Boss. I have to give credit to the creditors too. The fact is, Patrick Mahomes stood there and hurt his ankle with less than two minutes left. in the

first

half they were down 24-14 in the half they scored 24 21 of the next 24 points after halftime they scored, you know, and they finally outscored them 24-11 in the second half it was a collective effort, make no mis

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, the heat heat uh sorry the Chiefs defense was able to neutralize the Philadelphia Eagles to some extent uh I thought Jalen hurts was playing phenomenal football with the exception of the turnover that Gabe Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs seven points that we can't ignore and the impact that that had on this game, but when you look at the way Patrick Mahomes played, when you look at the play calling particularly with the whip routes, not one but two occasions where Andy Reid called along with Eric B hater when you look at the Philadelphia Eagles and man-to-man coverage when you clearly should have been in the zone or whatever, we can point to a lot of things, but in the end it all comes down to Andy Reid being a

super

ior coach to Nick Siriani in The second half. and Patrick Mahomes is that

super

star that he is and that everyone in the NFL looks up to.

You can call it a

comeback

. He'll be back now, the Eagles on that, what was his defense, yeah, yeah, all week. I know I listen to people. who particularly knows about the defensive side of this, that's right, talk about the Eagles and what they needed to do, you can't give Patrick Mahomes that kind of time, but forget about the sacks, what the pressures were, where the rushes were, where the blows were, perhaps. At the beginning of the game, even if you took a 15-yard line or you don't want to, but the Eagles had to set the tone there, you know, the other night we had a chance to talk to the big gold jacket that one Richard Dent was wearing.

That's right, what was he saying? Richard was talking about that defense, his own defense, maybe the best of all time, and the Eagles, being able to press like that with four people, didn't impress like that, didn't score anything right. It's where I think it's fair to go to practice even though I'm being critical of the Eagles' defense, it's a return. Patrick Mahomes was so cool when he threw the helmet at Ryan and he had this agony on his face at that moment, you think this. it could be done, yeah, I mean, if he can't stabilize and he's recovering from another injury, but he did it and when he was standing on the bench before halftime, like you know what's supposed to be good, both pain and he's in, I'm not going to use the word injury, but he was great in this game, you and him scored, they scored every time they needed to score in the second half, him, Andy Reid and Travis Kelsey, it was incredible, you know, you you see. on this team and you think about who was the number one outside receiver for the Kansas City Chiefs and it was Juju Smith Schuster, a guy who coming into this season we thought would help this team help this team at the position or get back to

first

half when Juju Smith Schuster is the only outside receiver with the catch and it was a catch for five yards, so you're targeting Travis Kelsey, you're working with Noah Gray, you're using Watson early in the second half and Patrick.

Mahomes wins the MVP of this game, he only threw for a little over 180 yards, but it was the way he made the plays, it was the timing of him making those plays that says it's okay. Patrick Mahomes again shows us why it's so difficult. pick against the Kansas City Chiefs because you're right, we'll buy that you're right, Stephen. Whoever comes into this game, the Philadelphia Eagles should have had the pass rush that could get to him, but think about Andy Reid using tight ends to attack. Always making sure that before the running back went out to check, he was hitting the defensive ends, there were so many things that they did as a team where they outplayed the Philadelphia Eagles and, without planning them, they executed them, one of the things that I was thinking about Ryan and I wanted to tell you this because you are the Super Bowl champion here on this podium.

Let me ask you this. Yesterday I was watching the Eagles and while Kansas City was making its run, he heard me. What we lost sight of about the Philadelphia Eagles for most of the season, they were giving up points in the second half, they were running around, they were taking hard hits on you in the first half, but they were gradually tapering off and teams were able to recover. Not that they would lose games, obviously, but they would get it done. The games would be a lot more interesting than necessary because the Eagles had trouble closing the door and then I thought about that and then I remembered something I mentioned last week. that everyone said, come on, I said that in the playoffs they were against the New York Giants.

I called Daniel Jones, saquon Barkley and a bag of chips, then they faced the San Francisco 49ers. We've never seen the team lose four quarterbacks. the same season, yeah, two of those quarterbacks obviously, uh, Brock Purdy and Josh Johnson, same game in the NFC championship game where they couldn't even throw the ball in the second half and they all They knew, the Eagles never went through an offense. That was the case all year long and for me that was what came back to bite them. They couldn't prepare because they hadn't faced anything like what they faced last night.

The thing is, you can't prepare for Patrick Mahomes. You don't prepare for that level of talent and then when you look at Andy Reid and they were so reactive to what the Philadelphia Eagles were doing, the way they set up those plays in the Red Zone using Isaiah Pacheco because the running game was effective against the Philadelphia Eagles and not quit, quit because you had Patrick Mahomes. I think everything the Kansas City Chiefs did in the second half was not only a necessity, but it had to be done exactly the way they did it, so the officiating crew was asked. how much debate there was among the crew when that flag was thrown.

Senior Officer Carl Shaffer said there was no debate, he just made sure it was that way and once he told us what he had, he took care of our business. Dinnerlowski joins us now from New York City Dan good morning, you got us, what's up, I got you, hey, hey, do you have a problem with that hold? Yes, yes, the reality is that for 57 minutes, in addition, in that soccer game not a single penalty was

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n for holding, there was an interference in the past. The flag that was thrown not a single holding penalty, so the theme of the game is, in many ways, the refs allowing those guys to play and when I watched that play, two things that stand out to me are the play that we are launching. a holding penalty, uh, there's a pull and hold, of course there is, and someone who's heard defensive players say a million times what's on every play is great, so that's the one that stands out the most um I guess The highlight for me is the body language after the play.

Juju Smith Schuster never

gives

referees any privacy, what are we looking at? And then as third and eighth, he's the guy who runs the winning route and he's the guy who can feel a grab or a pull. better than anyone can see him and he doesn't have any body language towards the officers going where's the flag? how did you miss that? It's a missed call and the reality that I saw that and I was at the game and I'm looking at their Kansas City bench and I'm looking at Juju and there's nothing like them throwing their arms in the air and disappointed that you lost a decision. and the fact that they went so long in the game without taking a penalty.

When it comes to holding on and that's the one we're going to throw the flag on, I think it's a bad decision 16 hours into the game. I still think it's a bad decision, even Bradbury admitted that he stuck it out. Yes, I still think it's a bad decision. because of what led up to that moment and then watching the wide receivers' body language or lack thereof after that, um, I think it was all a bad decision, so they already passed the flag, although the bench has no reaction Either way because they're looking at the yellow gear on the field, they understand what's going on with Juju Junior, so now what you're saying is that we're measuring how egregious a hold is based on the level of complaints that come with it. the call we talked about earlier, Dan, you mentioned the call early in the game on the slant where it looked like he threw it a little bit before turning with his lead hand to try to knock down the ball that was at the point of attack that's Juju thinking I'm about to catch the ball.

I'm excited because I felt like I was pulled right at that moment he was held up at the beginning of the route. Juju maybe didn't know the rule. Juju might have thought he had. blocked when you look at this play, you can't, this is and I'm sitting with great basketball minds here, this basically says because you let the calls go or because Michael Jordan or Lebron James or whatever is trying to finish the game and they get hit in the the elbow, we have to swallow the whistle right now because we're giving up two free throws, no, they're supposed to make that decision because he's holding, he did it twice, yeah, and that's what I did when I looked at him.

Again, it's twice, by the way, it's not atrocious, sometimes the shadows are great and part of me wishes, because of the way the game played out, that there wouldn't have been a decision, but when you look at it, I'm agree with that, though twice. Yeah, Dan, I'm thinking if he doesn't come back and spend it and one of the things I always love to listen to and talk to officials about the things they're looking for in multiple sports, but in pro football, guys are always talking about the NFL. turning, moving it, he moved it, so I'm thinking, oh wow, they weren't fooled, Dan, I hear what you're saying the way you make great points, they weren't fooled with the call. call, you blow your whistle in that case, you do something that's out in the open and the flag was down, they were about to call Elise, they didn't take their time, they weren't debating it in their minds, I'm like you know what You have to let it go, it's the worst thing the hosts have in the world, it's like a past interference penalty that wasn't called in New Orleans, no, no, it wasn't like that, no, of course, listen, let me, let me.

Say this, I don't understand where Dan is coming from. I just don't think he's respectfully explaining it well. Let me explain this to you because I think you, especially Wilbon, are going to appreciate where I am. When we think about basketball, if you think about referees like Joey Crawford, you know Steve Javion and some of the great referees stopped it, although you know Nick Bevettes, they used to joke and call him out and all these other things in basketball and football in basketball rather, but in football I understand where you are coming from, the decision was the right one, there is no doubt that he had definitely retained Ryan, we are not refuting that, this is what I want everyone to think about for a while. second moments matter Moments in sports history matter sports theater is what this is what we pay to see you're in a situation where you're driving down the field if that decision isn't called Kansas City kicks a goal field, they go up three anyway but instead of eight seconds on the clock or four seconds on the clock, now you have less than two minutes.

Jalen Hurts has turned the ball over and Jalen Hurts at that moment has the ball, but there are less than two minutes left after Patrick. I don't even care. about Thomas, I know it matters, but I'm not saying it, there's less than two minutes left, not Patrick Mahomes, he gave you the lead and now it's Jalen who hurts with the ball when there's less than two minutes left and you have to go down the field to tie. You can win it with a touchdown or you can lose because you just don't make it, it's the Super Bowl and what I'm telling you is that even though today in this era where we see so much progress in such a level of focus on making the right decision and depersonalize everything, the reality of the situation is that when you talk about the Super Bowl after a game like that tied 35-35 at that particular time, what I wanted to see was that I wanted to see Kansas City take the lead and I wanted to see Jalen hurt to have the ball and I understand that you are saying again that the decision was the right one, but there are many times throughout the history of sports where the right decision is lost or the wrong decision is made. it's done, it's happened in all sports, many champions, I was crowned champion when that happened, it would have been nice to see that yes, listen to Harry and Foster, thanks for watching ESPN on YouTube for live streaming of sports and premium content , subscribe to ESPN Plus.