MidValleySports.Com

By Joe Torosian

Kid: “You take the fun out of everything.”
Me: “I have a PhD in Buzz Kill, Kid.”

Kick it!

50 Notes on a Super Bowl Scorecard.

(Before you declare me the “get off my lawn guy”…these are just the things I observed.)

#1—The Philadelphia Eagles did not need Saquon Barkley that’s how good they were in Super Bowl 59.

#2—Early on Philly decided that wide receiver A.J. Brown was better than KC corner, Trent McDuffie. Brown only had three catches, but they were all important.

#3—The Eagles led 24-0 at the half, but 14 of those points are directly on the KC offense. The fist touchdown of the game was a case of the refs trying to prove they weren’t in the bag for the Chiefs with the personal foul call on Trent McDuffie. Otherwise, the KC defense gets off the field.

#4—Chiefs didn’t even try to run the ball and made no adjustments when the Eagles started teeing off on Patrick Mahomes. They needed tempo, they needed a short passing game, very surprised Andy Reid never adjusted.

#5—Kansas City’s performance proved to me that the Los Angeles Rams could have won the Super Bowl. Remember, thirteen yards and a point after was the difference between the Rams losing in the divisional round and winning Super Sunday.

#6—I saw the game in a large, extremely diverse, venue at South Point in Las Vegas. When the network showed Trump entering the place erupted in applause.

#7—The first shot of Taylor Swift drew no response.

#8—When “Lift Every Voice” was sung nobody in the venue paid attention.

#9—I’ve never seen so many celebrities used at a Super Bowl. The Brad Pitt—We’re all in this together as Americans—video and spiel fell flat…No one cared, no one applauded. Person next to us wondered out loud if USAID funded the project.

#10—Of course, we got the obligatory march/push about the resiliency of New Orleans.

#11—Lady Ga Ga sang and told us how we should all feel.

#12—The AI video recapping the career of Jimmy Johnson sure felt like a retirement announcement. There’s been speculation the health of the 81-year-old Johnson is not good.

#13—Fox announcer Kevin Burkhardt appeared with Tom Brady and said, “We can’t wait to get this game started.”….I think he was lying…because we had to go through the Jon Hamm and Bradley Cooper introductions. We had to go through the sideline interviews of Patrick Mahomes and Saquon Barkley that told us nothing.

#14—Did not mind the singing of “America The Beautiful”…performers did a great job…The NFL and Fox didn’t realize with the choosing of that song they basically took everybody to church.

#15—National Anthem was great. The very very diverse venue erupted in applause when Trump was shown during the anthem.

#16—Cool, the game was about to start. The captains came out…but first New Orleans Saints star Cam Jordan was given the mike to do another presentation on the New Year’s Eve terrorist attack, the first responders, the victims, and the resilience of New Orleans…Then for good measure, to cover all the bases, he mentioned every disaster in America since last fall from hurricanes to fires.

#17—Cool, now the game is about to start…but first we need a monologue from Tom Cruise about what it takes to arrive at a game like this and all the players must endure.

#18—A.J. Brown is flagged for obvious offensive pass interference on the Eagles first possession. The complaining started.

#19—Travis Kelce sets the mood for the Chiefs on their first possession by dropping a pass on second down.

#20—First commercial to stand out was Eugene Levy’s flying eyebrows.

#21—Eagles score touchdown on Brotherly Shove…Chiefs fail to jump the snap and deliver the first blow.

#22—The Seal commercial was great.

#23—Note to Snoop Dogg & Tom Brady: You don’t have to do a commercial about hate…and you looked foolish in the attempt.

#24—Doing the totals on all the pre-game and in-game messaging through the first quarter, I came to the conclusion that you could go to church every Sunday for two months and not be preached at as much as the NFL was preaching to its fans on Super Bowl Sunday.

#25—I was again frustrated when remembering the Rams had this Eagles team on the ropes and were only a rookie center looking left instead of right on a crucial third down from going to the Super Bowl.

#26—Cooper DeJean made a 10-0 game 17-0 on a pick-six and we all knew KC was in trouble.

#27—The NFL gave another sermon in the form of “I am Somebody.”…Because no one everyone would have known it without the NFL telling them. These Public Service Announcements now carry about as much weight as a celebrity coming out in support of Climate Change.

#28—Second half started Chiefs made no adjustments.

#29—The personal foul penalty of Nick Bolton was another case of the NFL attempting to prove that were not biased toward the Chiefs.

#30—The Chiefs defense that had played well began to crack in the second half.

#31—At the 1:49 mark of the third, Taylor Swift was shown on the screen and the venue loudly booed.

#32—Jalen Hurts takes over the game, and throws touchdown pass to A.J. Brown before the end of the third.

#33—This was followed by a Nike commercial talking about how women can’t win…and that they needed to continue to strive and fight…and no one in the arena cared.

#34—Then a commercial began with extensive shots of women in bras and low cleavage—seemingly that it was all that men noticed about women…and then at the end reminded everyone it was a PSA about breast cancer awareness…

#35—“Of all people! DeAndre Hopkins drops the ball?”

#36—“Travis Kelce looks washed.”

#37—Late in the third, KC’s at the Philly 40, down 34-0, and they were still huddling.

#38—Harrison Ford car commercial about how great America is. I think the Hollywood stars now come to the Super Bowl to be seen because for the most part no one is going to their movies.

#39—In the fourth, Mahomes is blasted and fumbles. I initially thought he was killed.

#40—Jalen Hurts deserved the MVP. If not him, the Eagles front four.

#41—Can you imagine the sick feeling New York Giants GM, Joe Schoen had watching Saquon Barkley win the Super Bowl?

#42—How happy was A.J. Brown to be out of Tennessee?

#43—Time for Nick Sirianni to get respect. I was wrong about him.

#44—Did anyone think Jalen Hurts would win a Super Bowl before Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen? I still don’t think he’s a great passer, but Hurts is someone who leads, works hard, and stays cool. Good for him.

#45—Kansas City goes into the draft and takes an offensive tackle…do you think? And they may need another receiver.

#46—They also need another tight end to pair with Noah Gray.

#47—Has Patrick Mahomes career turned the corner? He’ll be 30 this coming September. I’m not saying he’s done…I’m saying he’s not in his 20s anymore—just something to think about.

#48—When does Andy Reid pull the plug? Or, does he ride out Mahomes’ run?

#49—The two weeks between conference finals and Super Bowl played a huge part in the Eagles offensive line getting healthy.

#50—I guess it’s time to say it… “Oh, I have always been an Eagles fan!”

The Dude abides…

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Corinthians 1:9

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