With six seconds remaining in Sunday’s Super Bowl 57 and the Kansas City Chiefs clinging to a 38-35 advantage, Jalen Hurts hoped for a miracle. The Philadelphia Eagles quarterback would have settled for stable footing.
Lining up on the Eagles’ 36-yard line, Hurts dropped back and attempted to step into a Hail Mary pass. Just as he prepared to release the desperate heave, Hurts slipped on the State Farm Stadium turf. The pass fluttered and fell well short.
“Hate to end the game like that,” Hurts said, as reported by USAToday.com.
Well, that’s what you get for $800,000 and nearly two years of cultivation.
The natural field was seeded at a Phoenix sod farm and grown with a Bermuda grass base with rye grass overseed since May 2021. It was installed as a retractable playing field a few weeks before Sunday’s game in Glendale, Arizona.
With players from both teams struggling to maintain their traction, Hurts decided to change his cleats. At least a dozen teammates joined him during the first half.
Eagles offensive lineman Jordan Mailata described the field like he was “playing on a water park.”
In the end, Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert did not play the blame game.
The field’s slippery conditions “definitely (is) not the reason we lost the game. Both teams played on the same field. We saw them slipping around a little bit.”
One of the biggest differences between the Chiefs and Eagles? Aggressiveness on fourth down. Andy Reid decided not to test a fourth-and-3 and Chiefs missed a field goal. Eagles go for it on fourth-and-5 and it pays off.https://t.co/rc12nLgvHR
— Edward Sutelan (@EdwardSutelan) February 13, 2023
Eagles Go For It On Fourth Down
The Eagles nearly pulled off a Super Bowl upset Sunday, thanks to coach Nick Sirianni’s fourth-down aggressiveness.
Some self-proclaimed NFL analysts called the first fourth-down call pure craziness. On a fourth-and-5 from the Chiefs’ 44-yard line, Sirianni called for the first fourth-down try longer than one yard in the first half of a Super Bowl in at least 23 years. That’s risky.
Displaying confidence in Jalen Hurts, the third-year player scrambled for a Super Bowl-record 28-yard run, the longest Super Bowl scamper by a quarterback.
The second attempt came on a fourth-and-two play from the Chiefs’ 8-yard line. The Chiefs were flagged for offsides and Hurts scored on a 4-yard run on the next snap.
Hurts’ fourth-and-1 sneak earned the Eagles a first down en route to a 33-yard field goal and a 27-21 third-quarter lead.
The Eagles converted an NFL-high 27 fourth-down plays during the regular season and playoffs.
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