Super Bowl LIX preview

From the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles will meet on Sunday in a rematch of Super Bowl LVII for the Lombardi Trophy in Super Bowl LIX.

Head coach Andy Reid and the Chiefs, who entered the playoffs as the No. 1 seed in the AFC with a 15-2 record, defeated the Houston Texans and Buffalo Bills to earn a chance to become the first team in NFL history to win three straight Super Bowls.

Quarterback Patrick Mahomes is looking to win his fourth career Super Bowl in five appearances, having completed 65.2 percent of his passes for 1,071 yards, seven touchdowns and five interceptions in his first four.

Mahomes will have arguably his tallest task ahead of him this season as he faces an Eagles defense that gave up the fewest yards per game and the second-fewest points in the NFL in the regular season.

The wide receiver group, which includes Hollywood Brown, DeAndre Hopkins and rookie Xavier Worthy, figures to be blanketed against the excellent cornerback trio of Darius Slay and rookies Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean.

One area the Chiefs can attack is the Eagles’ weakness to tight ends this postseason, and Mahomes can find Travis Kelce to do just that. They have the most touchdowns by a quarterback-receiver pairing in postseason history and Kelce caught six passes for 81 yards and a touchdown in the Chiefs 38-35 victory over the Eagles in the Super Bowl LVII.

The Chiefs will have their struggles running the ball with Kareem Hunt and Isiah Pacheco, even with the Eagles not having key linebacker Nakobe Dean, who was lost for the season in the wild-card round with a torn patellar tendon. Zack Baun emerged out of nowhere to be an All-Pro linebacker this season with 151 tackles, 11 tackles for loss and five forced fumbles.

Defensive tackles Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter will look to feast on ball carriers all game, and they’ll also look to pressure Mahomes consistently, which was mainly how the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were able to defeat the Chiefs in the Super Bowl LV.

A similar story could turn out because if there’s a key matchup to watch in this game, it’s the Eagles’ edge rushers against the Chiefs’ offensive tackles.

Jawaan Taylor has been penalized 17 times this season at right tackle, third-most in the NFL, and left tackle has been a rotation of guys, most recently with two-time first-team All-Pro guard Joe Thuney.

The Eagles' edge rushers, Nolan Smith, Josh Sweat and rookie Jalyx Hunt, have a great matchup on the edges, but if Thuney moves to left tackle again, Carter and Milton Williams should have good games. Even fifteen-year veteran edge rusher Brandon Graham will likely return from a torn meniscus he suffered against the Rams in Week 12.

The Eagles, led by Nick Sirianni, went 13-4 in the regular season, earning the No. 2 seed in the NFC playoffs and defeating the Green Bay Packers, Los Angeles Rams and Washington Commanders to make it to the big game.

Philadelphia’s headliner is running back Saquon Barkley, who rushed for 2,005 yards in the regular season, eighth-most in a single season in NFL history.

Barkley, who signed with the Eagles this past offseason to a three-year, $37.75 million contract, is also 30 yards away from breaking Terrell Davis’ record of 2,476 rushing yards in a regular season and postseason.

The Chiefs gave up at least 85 rushing yards on 18 carries or fewer to Joe Mixon and James Cook in their first two playoff games, and with this thinking, it’s fair to wonder what Barkley and the Eagles’ excellent offensive line will do.

The Eagles had injury concerns for the NFC Championship with interior offensive linemen Cam Jurgens and Landon Dickerson and quarterback Jalen Hurts, but they will all be good to go.

Three-time first-team All-Pro defensive tackle Chris Jones will be the force on the Chiefs’ defense the Eagles will have to worry about, but they held him to three tackles in the 2023 Super Bowl.

If Hurts has time to throw the football, he has an excellent group of skill players to throw to, starting with wideouts A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, and the former looks to be matched up against corner Trent McDuffie, which creates a size mismatch favoring the 6-foot-1, 226-pound Brown.

Also, look out for tight end Dallas Goedert, as the Chiefs have given up the most receiving yards to tight ends in the league this season. Goedert has also picked up his play in the postseason, catching 15 passes for 188 yards and a touchdown.

The Chiefs will also have to deal with Hurts’ mobility, and Kansas City has issues against mobile quarterbacks. Hurts led the Eagles in rushing the 2023 Super Bowl with 70 yards and three touchdowns on 15 attempts.

The Lombardi Trophy winner looks to be determined by which team wins in the trenches. The Eagles are better in this regard, but it’d be foolish to count out the Chiefs, who have the better quarterback-head coach combination.

Celebrities will likely be plentiful in New Orleans. Artists Kendrick Lamar and SZA headline the halftime show, President Donald Trump will attend, and people such as Grammy-award-winning pop star Taylor Swift and actor and filmmaker Bradley Cooper will likely be there.

This game will be broadcast on FOX and streamed on the FOX Sports App on Sunday at 6:30 p.m. EST.

Owen Klein is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email ojk5092@psu.edu.