OverDrive - Naylor on Mahomes' incredible greatness, the Chiefs looking a three-peat and Barkley's spotlight for the Eagles

Episode Date: February 6, 2025

TSN Football Insider Dave Naylor joined OverDrive to discuss the headlines for the Super Bowl matchup, the Chiefs aiming for a three-peat victory, Patrick Mahomes' greatness for the team, the Eagles' roster foundation, Saquon Barkley becoming the focal point in the game and more.

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Here's our TSN football insider Dave Naylor. Naylor, you've been down there for a while you've been to a bunch of Super Bowls. Does it does it feel the same as it always does? Does it feel more muted? Is it a little bit more stale because it's the same matchup from a few years ago? Give us the kind of on the ground vibe check down there. You know, I think you're onto something a little bit with that. And you know, it's funny, I was reading today about how the NBA dropped its trade deadline this week as a retaliatory strike for the NFL claiming Christmas Day.

So that just, which makes a lot of sense. Yeah, I think it has been to some degree, and look, I always have trouble with these questions evaluating a Super Bowl week, you know, on a Thursday. Because, especially given the economics of Super Bowls, you know, the fans don't come in, and they don't spend the whole week here. And there's actually not that much for the fans to do

during the week. And then we've done the fly-bys on Bourbon Street and things like that But one of the things that struck me guys is is I haven't really seen a lot of people decked out in team colors yet Like even though this is early in the week You'd expect you see you know swaps and cheese fans and Eagles all this that I'm just seeing like kind of normal New Orleans party scenes, you know so so far. So we'll see what happens on the weekend. But yeah, there doesn't seem to be that kind of, you know, that presence of the fans of the effective teams in the city. And I say that with the asterisk that

it is, you know, Thursday at six 30, but we'll see what happens on this weekend. I'm sure you're having conversations with all the other various, you know, media members from other outlets. You know, what's the general consensus when you guys talk about the result of this game? Is it like a formality that, you know, it's just going to be the Chiefs, the Eagles don't have the jam to do it, or, you know, is there a healthy amount of people saying like, this could be the Eagles? I think there's a sense that the Eagles have a better roster and have a better team and can win this game, but probably won't.

And, you know, one of the things that Patrick Mahomes has talked a lot about this week and all the, was that, you know, the sort of quality that he values the most is winning. Obviously, he's done an incredible amount of that in his career. And, you know, talking about how, you know, he was amount of that in his career, and talking about how he was more of a big play hunter earlier in his career, he's not really that guy. One of the things that's kind of fascinating about the Chiefs is that, statistically,

if you didn't know anything about their team and you looked at their roster, you'd say, this is kind of an ordinary team. I mean, they're 21st on yards per play on offense, 12th on yards per play giving up on defense, don't have a thousand yard receiver, don't have a thousand yard rusher. Patrick Mahomes has his lowest passing total

of his career this year since he became a starter. The most sacks and had double digit interceptions for the fourth straight year. And yet they barely lost. I mean, they don't really have the statistical profile of a team that is dominant, even though they were absolutely dominant by their record since their last Super Bowl.

So, and if you go back to the Super Bowl two years ago, the Eagles have already kind of lived this script, right? Two years ago, who had the most first downs? Philadelphia. Who had the most first downs? Philadelphia. Who had the most offense? Philadelphia. Who controlled the time of possession? Philadelphia.

Who won the game? Kansas City. So I think that kind of feeds into the whole thought of like the best team here might be Philadelphia, but when it comes to winning games, hence, you know, Exhibit A, the 17 consecutive one score Games, they're 17 and oh

You know, that's I think it's that x factor that none of us can define that still has people leaning kansas city Yeah, and that's another part of I think the build-up dave Is it's just so tough to look past kansas city winning? You know, it just it's it's not that it can't happen that's why you play the games. Obviously Philly's a really good team and they should be comfortable in this because they've been to the Super Bowl before. Yeah. But it just it's very it's like going into a movie theater and you know it feels like you know the ending. You know the script before you even

watch it. The word that has been applied to them so often, Brian, is inevitable. And we tend to focus on Mahomes because it's kind of indelibly linked to the way they play offense and the kind of plays that they pull out of the bag at the critical moments. But let's just use their victories over the Bills alone over the last two years. How did they win two weeks ago? It was the defense that stopped Buffalo on a drive on which the Bills could have won the game.

They had Josh Allen with a ball in his hands with three minutes left on the 30 and all their timeouts. Go back to last year, their elimination game against the Bills. How did they win there? It was Josh Allen, the ball in his hands, down three, enough time. They get into field goal range and miss a field goal. And even go to the FC Championship game last year at Baltimore, I mean that game was 17 to 10.

So it's, these clutch plays, these abilities to win, it's all, we make it all about Mahomes and the offense, but there are lots of examples of their defense rising at the right moment as well. So I think, and to factor in the special teams, walk field goal, every side of the ball has been clutch in those moments. That's how you get to 17-0 in one score games. I think a lot of people can conceptualize what a Chiefs win would look like.

What would an Eagles win have to look like? Would it be a close game? Would they have to blow it out to the point where the Chiefs don't have a chance of getting back in it? Is that even possible? Like if you had to draw up a reasonable outcome for the Eagles winning this game, what exactly would that look like for you? The Chiefs on run defense can't stop Saquon Barkley, which by the way, their run defense has been trending in the wrong direction since about the middle of the season and they didn't exactly shut James Cook down last week and didn't exactly you know shut james book down last week and didn't have to shut him down on the final drive when you didn't have a touch

uh... so i i would think it's the eagles are able to run the ball effectively sake one barkley gets you know two or three explosive plays and philadelphia wins a turnover battle there you go that's the formula for eagles went right there alright sign me up. I kind of want to see it. I kind of want to see it. I mean, I'm conflicted here because the greatness of the Chiefs and the dynasty and all that kind of stuff, long term, I probably want to be able to say I lived through a three-peat. I saw a three-peat.

Sure. I do think this is a classic example of that Dave and you're a sports you know historian and junkie like all of us are like it feels like on a micro level in the moment I'm pulling for Philly because I just don't I don't need to see Kansas City I've seen that before I kind of want to see Barclay get it but I think if you pull it out you think of it from a macro perspective and you think what would be a more a better talking point fifteen twenty years down the line it's certainly a achieves win well something that you've never seen before all the years we've been watching what all right never seen a team go

three in a row again same quarterback you three years in a row first again he'll tie terry brad john doble joe montana before but they never won three in a row here's the other thing that kind of goes back to original question brian about the kind of goes back to your original question, Brian, about the kind of man reaction to the Super Bowl. You've got the whole Chiefs thing, right? Which, you know, Mahomes over exposure and the Taylor Swift thing and all, and the officials,

it's all part of that, the anybody but Chiefs thing. But here's the other thing. Do you know anyone whose second favorite team is the Philadelphia Eagles? Eagles are kind of your either in or out kind of team. It's not a quick pivot for people to the Eagles as a rallying team if that's not their team ordinarily. I think that's another part of this is that they're not exactly a team that a lot of people have a team in their back

pocket. When I don't root for this I wrote for that team the Eagles aren't that team for a lot of it's a great point and like if the Lions were in this situation they would be a huge favorite right everyone loves the story of the sad sack Lions and here they go and Dan Campbell's done it like you in that that that would have been the difference in terms of the component. If you put the Lions in here, and I know they weren't even in the NFC Championship game, but if it were the Lions versus the Chiefs or the Bills versus the Eagles, it's totally different. The whole

thing changes. Absolutely. That whole dynamic, that understanding of the fan base, the belief in the kind of the build that it's taken to get here and burst in the bubble, everybody can jump on board. It's funny, you know, on the Lions for a moment, I was walking around today, coming back from the Chief's availability, going back to the hotel, and I was walking down the street

and I looked up on the sidewalk and there was this couple, I'm gonna put them kind of in their early 70s, and they were dressed head to toe, to tail in that Lions Hawaii blue, right? They had the hats, they had the t-shirts, they had like everything going. And I wanted to say to them, I'm sorry, I know when you booked this, this looked really good.

It was almost like a reminder of what we all thought was gonna happen until two and a half weeks ago. I know. It's such a bummer that they're not there, or the Bills for that matter. Like the Bills were on the doorstep Detroit never got out of their own way like they didn't want a playoff game You talk about people not being there like fans wouldn't be there right now

If the bills were in people would be going through tables today. Yes yesterday and the day before That's a great point Frankie. I cannot believe like I said, I'm mean I've been around the city I've been walking around Golden Park, I have not seen great swaths of fans of either of these teams. You're right, if this was Bills territory, this place would be painted in red, white, and blue, on every corner, at every bar.

There'd be businesses catering to Bills mafia. They call in the National Guard. They call in the military and say, the Bills fans, it's Monday, they're here, we need military support. Yeah, two months. Yeah, well the military is here, just the Bills fans aren't they? Yeah, well exactly, they got half of it right?

They were prepared for it too, they were booking for the Bills. They were fully prepared for the Bills and the Bills just didn't punch the ticket. No question. So what is your, I guess we'll get you out of here on your, do you have a prediction for us Dave? Like how do you see this plan out? I've just watched this so many times and I'm gonna kind of go to where Frankie was asking me, like what would it take for an Eagles win?

I think if the Eagles win, they've gotta win by more than one score. It's gotta be one of those games where we all walk out kind of with our jaws dropped and can't believe what we saw. If it comes down to the wire, I just don't know how Kansas City doesn't win. And I think there's, you know, besides to just kind of throw up your hands and go, well, they always win.

You know, one of the players I was talking to this week during the availability brought up the point is that when you've played in more types of games like that than anybody else, that's an edge. Like that's an edge. You've been there, you've done it, you've proven it time and time again. So unless we see something really unforeseen, I'm not going against the Chiefs. Yeah, I think we're gonna have to live with it all and yeah it's kind of been their signature. The signature of their season has been the close, you know, the close win in the

clutch. It's the way they beat the Eagles two years ago and I bet it's the way they beat them again. Yep, that kind of feels like the way it's gonna play out. I hear you Dave. I hear you Dave. We'll try something better there. Yeah, no I'm listening. It's a hundred percent reasonable and I it's very very difficult to argue against. But that's why they play the game. We'll find out starting at around 630 on Sunday night. Enjoy yourself down there, Dave. Thank you for doing this. Hey, thanks for having me on, guys.

Have a great show. Dave Naylor joining us here from New Orleans.