NFL 2023 Super Bowl LVIII Recap + Preseason Picks/Awards Recap

  Hello readers! Another week of National Football League action is in the books. The 2023 NFL season ends with a great game in the Super Bowl. Of the two teams, the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers, the Chiefs emerge from the carnage with their 4rd Super Bowl championship in franchise history. In this post, I'll talk about the game, the commercials and the halftime show, and a recap of my predictions prior to the start of the regular season. We have a lot to talk about so let's get to work!

Super Bowl LVIII Recap

San Francisco 22, Kansas City 25: TW: 49ers; CV: Chiefs
Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs repeat as champions for the first time since the 2003 and 2004 Patriots. Brock Purdy hit 23 of 38 passes for 255 yards with a touchdown to Jauan Jennings in the 4th quarter. The ensuing point after was blocked that would prove to be a factor in the game. Jauan Jennings would play quarterback for a play on a pass play to Christian McCaffrey. The play was a gadget play where Purdy threw a pass to Jennings who threw it back to Christian McCaffrey who ran it in for the game's first touchdown. Christian McCaffrey would have a solid day as he rushed for 80 yards on 22 carries while catching eight passes for 80 yards. The 49ers put up 382 total yards in the game. A factor in the game was the special teams miscues as the 49ers muffed on a punt where a 49er hit the ball with his foot which meant it was a live ball. Ray Ray McCloud tried as he may to recover it but it was too late. The Jake Moody missed point after block possibly costed the 49ers a point that would prove to be the key to the game. 

Patrick Mahomes would start off slow in the game. He and the offense would start off slow as the 49ers defense would pressure him a lot. He finished with 34 of 46 passing for 333 yards with two touchdown passes and had an interception in the game. The first touchdown went to Marquez Valdes-Scantling on a play where the Chiefs recovered off of the McCloud muff punt return. The 2nd touchdown went to Mecole Hardman for the game-winning score. Patrick Mahomes rushed for 66 yards on nine carries, a majority of it being on the final drive where Mahomes went on a 22-yard gain. Isiah Pacheco rushed for 59 yards on 18 carries. Travis Kelce was on some controversy as he got into an altercation via bumping into his head coach Andy Reid. In the first half, Kelce had just one catch for one yard. In the 2nd half, he would get eight more for 92 yards. Kansas City had 455 total yards of offense in the game. A lot of it being from the 2nd half. Key plays for the Chiefs was a 52-yard big gain for Mecole Hardman. Harrison Butker would beat the Super Bowl record set by Jake Moody (in the 2nd quarter Moody hit a 55-yard field goal) by hitting a 57-yard field goal. The Chiefs weren't without mistakes on their own. The Pacheco fumble was the first turnover. The 2nd turnover came on a Mahomes interception in the 2nd half on the Chiefs 1st drive in the 3rd quarter. The ensuing 49ers drive didn't yield into much. The biggest thing that factored in the Chiefs win was their defense. They were gassed at the end but by the time they were exhausted, the offense would achieve victory. The Chiefs offense would do just enough to win. 

The scoring would get started with a Jake Moody field goal for a 55-yard attempt. Next, was the trick play for a Christian McCaffrey touchdown. Harrison Butker hit a field goal that would give the Chiefs a 10-3 deficit at halftime. Butker got called again to hit a field goal and he hit a 57-yard field goal that eclipsed Moody's kick in the 1st quarter in terms of records. Two Chiefs drives later, Mahomes hit Marquez Valdes-Scantling for a 16-yard touchdown that gave the Chiefs a 13-10 lead. The Chiefs got 10 points in 4 1/2 minutes in the 3rd quarter. In the 4th quarter, the 49ers regained the lead on a Purdy pass to Jauan Jennings for a 10-yard score. Jennings became the 2nd player in NFL history to score a touchdown and throw for a touchdown (Nick Foles was the first in Super Bowl LII). The key to the game was the blocked point after try that would keep the score at a 16-13 49er lead. Harrison Butker hit a field goal from 24 yards to tie the game. Jake Moody was called on again to hit a field goal from 53 yards to give the 49ers a lead again at 19-16 with 1:57 left in the game. Harrison Butker would also get called again to give the Chiefs a 19-19 tie going into end of regulation time and into overtime. On a drive that lead to the 49ers last drive of the season that eclipsed 7:38 of time of possession, Jake Moody was called on again. He delivered a 27-yard field goal that gave the 49ers a 22-19 lead. On come the Chiefs. The Chiefs final drive of the season reached perfection as they took up 75 yards, 7:19 of time of possession and 13 plays. The final play of the season was a pass play that set Mecole Hardman to motion to the left and then to the right. With time slipping at overtime with the 49ers still holding the lead. At the snap of the ball, Mahomes went right and Hardman went further right. Mahomes found his man all alone in the endzone and Mahomes tossed it to him and caught it to give the Chiefs the lead and the win. The Chiefs were NFL champions again for the 3rd time in five seasons. 

Commercials

The commercials for this year's Super Bowl were pretty good. At least for the most part. The least favorite was the RFK Jr. ad. It didn't seem right to show it with the Super Bowl on. Especially a political ad whether it be a Republican or Democrat running. I mean you didn't see a Trump or Biden ad run an ad. 

My favorite ad was the State Farm commercial ad with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito. I like the play on words with Schwarzenegger's emphasis in neighbah instead of neighbor. I liked the Ken Jeong commercial with him being scared of a Roomba. 

If I had to choose a least favorite commercial that wasn't the RFK Jr. ad it would have to be the Michael Cera commercial for "Michael CeraVe."

Halftime Show

Usher's halftime show was good. He definitely put on a good show. He had a good cast of characters like Lil Jon, Alicia Keys, and H.E.R. even though I didn't know most of the songs. As long as he played "Yeah!" I was happy. At least middle schooler me was happy to hear it. Very solid show I'm not sure if its better than Rihanna's last year but it's definitely a great show. Nothing can beat Prince's show. 

Preseason Predictions + Awards Recap

Prior to the Week 1 Picks post last September, I made a preseason predictions post where I picked where the 32 teams will finish in the standings, the playoffs, the Super Bowl matchup and winner as well as the Awards winners. It's a fun way to look back on where I was right and where I was wrong. This will be probably painful haha. Let's take a look:

Regular season predictions

NFC:

East

Dallas Cowboys (picked to finish 1st, finished 1st) correct
Philadelphia Eagles (picked to finish 2nd, finished 2nd) correct
New York Giants (picked to finish 3rd, finished 3rd) correct
Washington Commanders (picked to finish 4th, finished 4th) correct

North

Detroit Lions (picked to finish 1st, finished 1st) correct
Minnesota Vikings (picked to finish 2nd, finished 3rd) incorrect
Green Bay Packers (picked to finish 3rd, finished 2nd) incorrect
Chicago Bears (picked to finish 4th, finished 4th) correct

South

New Orleans Saints (picked to finish 1st, finished 2nd) incorrect
Atlanta Falcons (picked to finish 2nd, finished 3rd) incorrect
Tampa Bay Buccaneers (picked to finish 3rd, finished 1st) incorrect
Carolina Panthers (picked to finish 4th, finished 4th) correct

West

San Francisco 49ers (picked to finish 1st, finished 1st) correct
Los Angeles Rams (picked to finish 2nd, finished 2nd) correct
Seattle Seahawks (picked to finish 3rd, finished 3rd) correct
Arizona Cardinals (picked to finish 4th, finished 4th) correct

AFC:

East

Buffalo Bills (picked to finish 1st, finished 1st) correct
Miami Dolphins (picked to finish 2nd, finished 2nd) correct
New England Patriots (picked to finish 3rd, finished 4th) incorrect
New York Jets (picked to finish 4th, finished 3rd) incorrect

North

Cincinnati Bengals (picked to finish 1st, finished 4th) incorrect
Pittsburgh Steelers (picked to finish 2nd, finished 3rd) incorrect
Baltimore Ravens (picked to finish 3rd, finished 1st) incorrect
Cleveland Browns (picked to finish 4th, finished 2nd) incorrect

South

Jacksonville Jaguars (picked to finish 1st, finished 2nd) incorrect
Tennessee Titans (picked to finish 2nd, finished 4th) incorrect
Houston Texans (picked to finish 3rd, finished 1st) incorrect
Indianapolis Colts (picked to finish 4th, finished 3rd) incorrect

West

Kansas City Chiefs (picked to finish 1st, finished 1st) correct
Los Angeles Chargers (picked to finish 2nd, finished 4th) incorrect
Denver Broncos (picked to finish 3rd, finished 3rd) correct
Las Vegas Raiders (picked to finish 4th, finished 2nd) incorrect

So overall I got at least 15 of 32 correct, last year I finished with 19 of 32 correct. Some of the obvious ones that I missed was messing up on the AFC North standings as well as the AFC South. Kind of wild how I did get both the NFC East and West standings correct as well. I feel the playoff predictions are going to hurt. 

Playoff Predictions

AFC

1st seed: Cincinnati Bengals (incorrect)
2nd seed: Kansas City Chiefs (incorrect)
3rd seed: Buffalo Bills (incorrect)
4th seed: Jacksonville Jaguars (incorrect)
5th seed: Miami Dolphins (incorrect)
6th seed: Los Angeles Chargers (incorrect)
7th seed: Pittsburgh Steelers (correct)

Wild Card: 

Kansas City over Pittsburgh (incorrect)
Los Angeles over Buffalo (incorrect)
Jacksonville over Miami (incorrect)

Divisional

Cincinnati over Los Angeles (incorrect)
Jacksonville over Kansas City (incorrect)

Conference Championship

Cincinnati over Jacksonville (incorrect)

NFC

1st seed: San Francisco 49ers (correct)
2nd seed: Dallas Cowboys (correct)
3rd seed: New Orleans Saints (incorrect)
4th seed: Detroit Lions (incorrect)
5th seed: Philadelphia Eagles (incorrect)
6th seed: Minnesota Vikings (incorrect)
7th seed: Atlanta Falcons (incorrect)

Wild Card:

Dallas over Atlanta (incorrect)
Minnesota over New Orleans (incorrect)
Philadelphia over Detroit (incorrect)

Divisional:

San Francisco over Minnesota (incorrect)
Dallas over Philadelphia (incorrect)

Conference Championship:

San Francisco over Dallas (incorrect)

Super Bowl LVIII:

Cincinnati over San Francisco (incorrect)

Well I wasn't expecting the Bengals to lose Joe Burrow toward the middle of the season. I had banked on the idea that the Bengals would have enough star power to get over the hump. A rematch against the 49ers would've been an interesting Super Bowl I felt. 

Award Predictions:

MVP: Joe Burrow (incorrect)

Offensive Player of the Year: Ja'Marr Chase (incorrect)

Defensive Player of the Year: Micah Parsons (incorrect)

Offensive Rookie of the Year: Anthony Richardson (incorrect)

Defensive Rookie of the Year: Will Anderson Jr. (correct)

Comeback Player of the Year: Damar Hamlin (incorrect, but probably should've won)

Coach of the Year: Dan Campbell (Incorrect)

Bold Predictions

TJ Watt getting 23 sacks: He had 19 sacks
Trevor Lawrence passing for 4,500 yards: he had 4,016 yards
Derrick Henry getting rushing title: he had 1,167 yards, finishing 2nd to Christian McCaffrey with 1,459 yards. 

Well another season ends in the books and hopefully you all enjoyed me reading all the goings on in the NFL season. Normally this blog ends with a hibernation period until August when the NFL season is around the corner. I would like to do more blog posts with Free Agency, Draft, etc. but we will see. Until the next blog post, see you around!

-Tom

NFL 2022 Super Bowl LVII Recap + Preseason Picks/Awards Recap

 Hello readers! Another week of National Football League action is in the books. The 2022 NFL season ends with a great game in the Super Bowl. Of the two teams, the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles, the Chiefs emerge from the carnage with their 3rd Super Bowl championship in franchise history. In this post, I'll talk about the game, the commercials and the halftime show, and a recap of my predictions prior to the start of the regular season. We have a lot to talk about so let's get to work!

Super Bowl LVII Recap 

Kansas City 38, Philadelphia 35: TW: Eagles; CV: Chiefs
The Chiefs outlast the Eagles to capture their 2nd Super Bowl title in four seasons. Patrick Mahomes was limited in the first half due to the ball control and sustained drives of the Eagles. He would take a shot to the ankle that has plagued him for nearly half the season close to halftime. He finished the game with 21 of 27 pass completions for 182 yards with three touchdowns. Isiah Pacheco was going to be utilized in the game as he rushed for 76 yards on 15 carries with a touchdown run. Pacheco wasn't used much during the first half due to the Eagles ball control as well. After halftime, he would go on a run that was needed. Patrick Mahomes had 44 rushing yards including a 26-yard run that eventually set up the go-ahead field goal late in the 4th quarter. Jerrick McKinnon had a good game running the ball with 34 yards rushing. The Chiefs put up 340 total yards in the game. They utilized their running game well enough and their defense was bend but don't break. Travis Kelce, Kadarius Toney and Skye Moore were the players that caught the three touchdown passes from Mahomes. Special teams could make and break you especially in the big game. One such bad special teams play was Harrison Butker's doink of a field goal in the 2nd half. That really killed the hopes of the Chiefs early in the game by leaving points on the board. A great special teams play was the punt return from Kadarius Toney that started deep in Chiefs territory that ended up inside the Eagles 10 yard line. It was also a Super Bowl punt record. Defense would also get on the scoring action with a fumbled ball by Jalen Hurts that was recovered by Nick Bolton. With the game tied at 35, it would come down to a Harrison Butker field goal try from 27 yards. The kicker found redemption and hit the field goal that eventually led to the final result.

Jalen Hurts was just magical in this game as he was a force on both the pass and run. Hurts hit 27 of 38 passes for 304 yards with a touchdown pass and rushed for three touchdowns. If you had him on fantasy football, he'd give you 43 points. Devonta Smith had a solid day catching the ball with seven catches for 100 receiving yards. AJ Brown made the most of his Super Bowl appearance with six catches for 96 yards receiving. Big takeaways in this game was the total yards for the Eagles with 417 yards and the time of possession that at one point controlled the ball for nearly 22 minutes in the first half. They used quarterback sneaks that looked like rugby scrums that pushed the Chiefs defensive front away like flies. They really had ball control that put pass plays on the early downs and then rushing plays in the later downs. They really were a force to be reckoned with and they nearly won the game. Unfortunately, nearly doesn't get it done in the NFL. 

I feel the holding call should be talked about. It was not a great call especially that late in the game. Certainly it can be argued that there was contact on the play. Was there enough contact on the play to warrant a flag? That's where the ticky tack aspect of it is. Officiating wasn't the best in this game despite Roger Goodell's assurance that "officiating has never been better" (perhaps a bit of paraphrasing, you get the picture. There was a no-call false start on Philadelphia, a no-call on a defensive pass interference on Philadelphia, then there was that questionable challenge on the Dallas Goedert catch and then the holding call. Safe to say, the ratings for the Super Bowl is going to be good, and we fans can be our worst enemies. The reasoning behind that statement is that we will keep watching these games regardless of how bad the officiating is. As long as we keep watching, nothing will change. 

Commercials

Well how about those commercials. Those commercials for this Super Bowl were just not that great compared to last year. Some of them were decent. I do like the PopCorners commercial with Aaron Paul and Bryan Cranston reprising their roles in the TV show Breaking Bad. Other than that there just wasn't a lot of great ones that were memorable. I feel they were more over the top instead of just trying to be a commercial that tried to sell a product. If I gave it a grade I'd give it a C-. 

Halftime Show

If the commercials were a disappointment and you were an Eagles fan then maybe you found some solace in the Halftime performance done by Rihanna. Rihanna hadn't performed in seven years and it looked like she didn't miss a beat. Plus, she did it all on her own along with performers. I don't seem to recall a performance where the halftime act did it all solo. Maybe Prince did it or Katy Perry did it but suffice to say it was a great performance. I don't think it'll top Prince but I think has to be at least Top 3 with Prince and Snoop Dogg + Eminem rounding out the two. I'd give it a grade of A-, I'd give it a plus if she did "Disturbia."

Preseason Predictions + Awards Recap

Prior to the Week 1 Picks post last September, I made a preseason predictions post where I picked where the 32 teams will finish in the standings, the playoffs, the Super Bowl matchup and winner as well as the Awards winners. It's a fun way to look back on where I was right and where I was wrong. This will be probably painful haha. Let's take a look:

Regular season predictions

AFC:

East

Buffalo Bills: (Picked them to finish 1st) Correct
Miami Dolphins (Picked them to finish 2nd) Correct
New England Patriots (Picked them to finish 3rd) Correct
New York Jets (Picked them to finish 4th) Correct

North

Baltimore Ravens (Picked them to finish 1st) Incorrect
Cincinnati Bengals (Picked them to finish 2nd) Incorrect
Pittsburgh Steelers (Picked them to finish 3rd) Correct
Cleveland Browns (Picked them to finish 4th) Correct

South

Indianapolis Colts (Picked them to finish 1st) Incorrect
Tennessee Titans (Picked them to finish 2nd) Correct
Jacksonville Jaguars (Picked them to finish 3rd) Incorrect
Houston Texans (Picked them to finish 4th) Correct

West

Kansas City Chiefs (Picked them to finish 1st) Correct
Los Angeles Chargers (Picked them to finish 2nd) Correct
Las Vegas Raiders (Picked them to finish 3rd) Correct
Denver Broncos (Picked them to finish 4th) Correct

NFC:

East

Philadelphia Eagles (Picked them to finish 1st) Correct
Dallas Cowboys (Picked them to finish 2nd) Correct
New York Giants (Picked them to finish 3rd) Correct
Washington Commanders (Picked them to finish 4th) Correct

North

Green Bay Packers (Picked them to finish 1st) Incorrect
Minnesota Vikings (Picked them to finish 2nd) Incorrect
Detroit Lions (Picked them to finish 3rd) Incorrect
Chicago Bears (Picked them to finish 4th) Correct

South

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Picked them to finish 1st) Correct
New Orleans Saints (Picked them to finish 2nd) Incorrect
Carolina Panthers (Picked them to finish 3rd) Incorrect
Atlanta Falcons (Picked them to finish 4th) Correct

West

Los Angeles Rams (Picked them to finish 1st) Incorrect
San Francisco 49ers (Picked them to finish 2nd) Incorrect
Arizona Cardinals (Picked them to finish 3rd) Incorrect
Seattle Seahawks (Picked them to finish 4th) Incorrect

So overall I got at least 19 of 32 correct. That is a 59% grade that would make it be a fail. Oh well. By comparison I got 15 of 32 right last year.

Playoff Predictions

AFC

1st seed: Buffalo Bills (incorrect)
2nd seed: Kansas City Chiefs (incorrect)
3rd seed: Indianapolis Colts (incorrect)
4th seed: Baltimore Ravens (incorrect)
5th seed: Los Angeles Chargers (correct)
6th seed: Las Vegas Raiders (Incorrect)
7th seed: Cincinnati Bengals (Incorrect)

Wild Card: 

Chiefs over Bengals (incorrect)
Colts over Raiders (incorrect)
Chargers over Ravens (Incorrect)

Divisional

Bills over Colts (incorrect)
Chiefs over Chargers (Incorrect)

Conference Championship

Bills over Chiefs (Incorrect)

NFC

1st seed: Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Incorrect)
2nd seed: Los Angeles Rams (Incorrect)
3rd seed: Green Bay Packers (Incorrect)
4th seed: Philadelphia Eagles (Incorrect)
5th seed: San Francisco 49ers (Incorrect)
6th seed: Dallas Cowboys (Incorrect)
7th seed: Minnesota Vikings (Incorrect)

Wild Card:

Rams over Vikings (Incorrect)
Packers over Cowboys (Incorrect)
49ers over Eagles (Incorrect)

Divisional:

Buccaneers over 49ers (Incorrect)
Rams over Packers (Incorrect)

Conference Championship:

Buccaneers over Rams (Incorrect)

Super Bowl LVII:

Buccaneers over Bills (incorrect

So I was way off in my playoff predictions. Safe to say it is easier to predict the regular season than the playoffs. Suffice to say that Buccaneers and Bills game would've been good to watch if it happened. Let's look at the Award Predictions.

Award Predictions:

MVP: Justin Herbert (incorrect)

Offensive Player of the Year: Justin Jefferson (correct)

Defensive Player of the Year: Nick Bosa (correct)

Offensive Rookie of the Year: Christian Watson (Incorrect)

Defensive Rookie of the Year: Aidan Hutchinson (Incorrect)

Comeback Player of the Year: Christian McCaffrey (incorrect)

Coach of the Year: Brandon Staley (Incorrect) 

Didn't do as hot in my Awards Predictions but at least I got the Offensive and Defensive player of the years right. Thanks Justin Jefferson and Nick Bosa for at least making me look good. I don't know what I was thinking about Brandon Staley getting Coach of the Year. Shame past me. 

Well my friends, this post closes out yet another season of blogging the NFL. Hopefully you had as much fun reading these posts as much as I did writing them. I would like to keep doing blogs during the offseason but the time usually slips on by. No guarantees but I would like to do a Free Agency blog and a Draft blog. Who knows. Until then see you all very soon. Thanks.

-Tom