NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Cooper DeJean took an interception to the house, Zack Baun made a pick in his old professional home and the Eagles so thoroughly thrashed Patrick Mahomes that by the time Kendrick Lamar had “Game Over” brightened in the Superdome stands to end his halftime set, it was just as clear that, so too, was the Super Bowl.
From Broad Street to Bourbon Street, the Eagles’ defense this season never failed 66-year-old defensive mastermind Vic Fangio.
And the defense was never as great as it was in the Super Bowl.
The Eagles played at their ball-hawking, shut-down, sack-happy best against an overwhelmed Mahomes and the rest of the Kansas City Chiefs in a 40-22 romp Sunday to win the franchise’s second Super Bowl.
DeJean, Baun, Josh Sweat and Milton Williams anchored a championship defense that smothered a dynasty and sacked Mahomes a whopping six times, the most by any defense ever against the two-time NFL MVP.
“Credit to the Eagles, man. They played better than us from start to finish,” Mahomes said.
The Chiefs had to feel as if they were stuck in a fever dream in a first half during which they totaled — totaled! — 23 yards and had just one first down. Mahomes was only 6 of 14 for 33 yards with no touchdown passes and two interceptions — one of them a pick-6 by DeJean — and another by Baun that led to an Eagles touchdown on the next drive.
“When you’re winning with the four-man rush and you can just cycle guys through and they’re still winning, you don’t have to blitz,” Baun said. “Great game plan, great communication. We were all on the same page all game.”
Mahomes, a three-time Super Bowl MVP, was sacked three times and shut out in the first half for just the third time in his NFL career as the Eagles cruised to a 24-0 lead and Lamar settled in for his halftime performance.
“They didn’t show any, you know, different looks. They didn’t show anything unscouted,” Chiefs center Creed Humphrey said. “It just came down to, you know, them coming out playing harder.”
It didn’t matter to the Eagles that 2,005-yard rusher Saquon Barkley only ran for 31 yards in the first half — not when DeJean got 38 on his own on the interception return for a 17-0 lead. Nor did it matter the Eagles didn’t blitz once in the entire game.
“I did believe we could have a good pass rush game,” Fangio said.
Sweat, a fourth-round pick in the 2018 draft, had eight sacks in the regular season and the linebacker surely parlayed 2 1/2 more sacks in the Super Bowl into a massive payday as he heads into free agency. Williams, another impending free agent, added two sacks. Baun is set for free agency again at the end of his $3.5 million deal.
The credit for the defense largely fell to Fangio, who had an unsightly 0-8 record against Mahomes as head coach in Denver and play-caller in Miami, though he never had a defense as talented as this one. Fangio incorporated eight new starters into a defense that ranked near the bottom of the NFL in 2023 and turned it into a menace against Mahomes.
“You go in with a plan, but he’s so good you know you’re going to have to adjust. We just adjusted with coverages,” Fangio said. “We didn’t pressure (blitz) much. He’s so good against pressure that I was hoping we could play the game without having to pressure much, and that happened.”
He tutored two rookie starters in the secondary in Quinyon Mitchell and the 22-year-old DeJean, who played a big part in the turnaround. Fangio saw enough in Baun to turn the bargain free agent from a special teams player with limited time on defense as an outside rusher in New Orleans into an All-Pro inside linebacker and finalist for AP Defensive Player of the Year.
“I mean, the beauty of it is like that Vic just gives us a call, we don’t question it,” Sweat said. “He puts us in a position to make plays. I don’t know how he does it.”
The 28-year-old Baun’s signing was barely a blip on the offseason transactions wire compared to more ballyhooed deals with Barkley — a Super Bowl champion for the first time — and linebacker Bryce Huff — a $51 million bust, who was inactive Sunday.
The Eagles even survived the last 11 weeks without veteran defensive end Brandon Graham, who returned from a torn triceps to play in the Super Bowl. Graham said “I ain’t there yet” when it comes to making a final decision on his retirement.
Pick a defensive player: Sweat, DeJean, Williams, heck the whole unit could have claimed Super Bowl MVP honors.
They’ll be fine hoisting the Lombardi Trophy on a Philly parade this week down Broad Street.
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