Super Bowl LIX X-Factors: Who could be difference-makers for Chiefs and Eagles?
With Super Bowl Sunday right around the corner, let’s take a look at three players from each team that could emerge to play starring roles on football’s biggest stage.
Super Bowl LIX is here.
Festivities reminiscent of Mardi Gras are already underway in host city New Orleans as the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles prepare to square off. With Super Bowl Sunday right around the corner, let’s take a look at three players from each team — taking into account offence, defence, and special teams — that could emerge to play starring roles on football’s biggest stage.
KANSAS CITY CHIEFS
Marquise “Hollywood” Brown, wide receiver
After signing a one-year, $7 million deal in the off-season, Brown was expected to have a breakout year in Kansas City as the deep threat that quarterback Patrick Mahomes has lacked since Tyreek Hill took his talents to South Beach.
Unfortunately, that was not to be. Brown suffered a pre-season shoulder injury that caused to him miss almost the entire regular season. He was finally activated in Week 16, and in four games since (including playoffs), he has turned in 12 catches for 126 yards.
That’s a relatively modest output, but his presence on the field has already been felt — in those same four contests, the Chiefs’ offence averaged 27.75 points per game. Against the Bills in the AFC Championship, he was an early target for Mahomes and finished the game with three catches for 35 yards.
The Eagles’ defence has done a good job of limiting big plays this post-season, and Brown’s ability to take some pressure off Travis Kelce and Xavier Worthy could pay dividends.
George Karlaftis, defensive end
Being asked to contain both quarterback Jalen Hurts and running back Saquon Barkley on the ground is no easy task, and yet that’s what the Chiefs are asking of Karlaftis and his defensive teammates in Super Bowl LIX.
A first-round pick in 2022, Karlaftis has played in each of the last two Super Bowls and has developed a knack for stepping up in big moments. In nine playoff victories, he has turned in seven sacks, including three against Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud on Divisional Weekend. He is dominant both up the middle and on the edges as part of a lethal one-two punch alongside Chris Jones.
On the flipside, the Eagles boast Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata at right and left tackle respectively, two of the league’s best when it comes to protecting the quarterback. As Ric Flair famously said, “To be the man, you’ve got to beat the man.” Karlaftis will need to be the man on Sunday.
Nikko Remigio, punt/kick returner
Speed is the name of the game for most kick returners — look at Tyreek Hill and Mecole Hardman, both of whom have previously held those duties in Kansas City, and both of whom are known for their blazing 40-yard dash times.
That has not necessarily been the case for Remigio, a guy who spent all of last season on the practice squad. But after Hardman, who caught the game-winning walk-off touchdown in overtime of last year’s Super Bowl, went down with a knee injury in December, that opened the door for the Remigio — and the second-year wideout hasn’t looked back.
In two playoff games so far, Remigio has 269 total return yards (kickoffs and punts combined), including a 41-yard punt return during the AFC Championship that marked the fourth-longest post-season punt return in franchise history. The Chiefs capitalized with a touchdown six plays later.
In a game that’s expected to be close, field position will be at a premium — and Remigio’s ability to track the ball and catch it cleanly could help set the tone.
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PHILADELPHIA EAGLES
Dallas Goedert, tight end
The Eagles’ passing offence has been a roller-coaster this season. When a team boasts the talents of Saquon Barkley, who’s capable of routinely battering opposing defences into submission, most passing games can afford to take a backseat.
That will likely be the case again on Sunday, but the aerial attack will have to show up for the overall offence to remain balanced. Luckily for Goedert, the path to production is there. The Chiefs’ defence is statistically one of the worst at covering tight ends. In 16 games this season — not including Week 18, when Kansas City rested its starters — the Chiefs gave up 106 receptions to tight ends, which is tied for second-most in the league, and 1,191 receiving yards (most in the NFL).
In three playoff games this post-season, Goedert has 15 catches for 188 yards and a touchdown — that is more than a third of quarterback Jalen Hurts’ total passing output in those games. If the Eagles want the offence to continue operating smoothly, they’ll need Hurts and Goedert to do some damage.
Zack Baun, linebacker
Sunday brings somewhat of a homecoming for Baun as he returns to the Superdome — the field he played on for four relatively unremarkable years as a member of the Saints during which he totalled 88 tackles, two sacks and one interception while playing mostly on special teams in New Orleans.
After signing a modest one-year, $3.5 million deal with Philadelphia this past off-season, Baun’s game absolutely exploded. He turned in 151 tackles, three and a half sacks, five forced fumbles and an interception during the regular season, and in the playoffs, he’s notched either an interception, forced fumble or fumble recovery in each of the Eagles’ three games so far.
The first-team All-Pro linebacker is a leader on a talented Eagles defence, and on Sunday will be tasked with taking care of the middle of the field versus Travis Kelce. It could be his last game in an Eagles uniform given his pending free agency and skyrocketed value, and shutting down Kelce and company could be the cap on an impressive breakout season.
Jake Elliott, kicker
Like their meeting two years ago, this year’s Super Bowl could come down to a few key kicks.
Elliott had a forgettable regular season, converting just 77.8 per cent of his field goal attempts, which is well below his career average of 84.8 per cent. Most of his misses came on long-range attempts — he missed six of seven kicks from longer than 49 yards. His lone miss this post-season was more of the same, as he failed to make a 54-yard attempt against the Commanders after putting up a perfect six-of-six during these playoffs.
This all presents an interesting question: Can head coach Nick Sirianni trust Elliott from 50 yards and beyond, or will fourth-down conversions become more of a necessity than they already are? If Elliott can’t be relied upon, Sirianni might be forced to gamble on offence more than he would like.
