My favorite players of the week were…

Realistically I should just name the entire Eagles defense.  They were dominant on the defensive line rushing 4 & squeezing the pocket without letting Patrick Mahomes break out of the pocket as he often does at critical times.  He didn’t have much time to throw, but even when he did, the linebackers & defensive backs were plastered to the receivers.  It was a master class in defense.  The Hall of Fame has a copy of Bill Belichick’s defensive game plan for the Giants against the Bills K-Gun offense in Super Bowl XXV.  Coordinator Vic Fangio’s game plan should join it.  Despite the 22 points scored by the Chiefs, this was a dominant performance.  They sacked Mahomes 6 times. The Chiefs didn’t even cross midfield until the final two minutes of the third quarter.  The 16 points scored in the 4^th quarter were mostly against backups getting a chance to play in the Super Bowl.

That said, here’s who really stood out.

Offense

Jalen Hurts Eagles quarterback

Hurts didn’t have the gaudy numbers that he put up in losing to the Chiefs in the Super Bowl two years ago.  What he had was excellent timing & control of the offense.  On a day when the Chiefs made an all-out commitment to stopping Saquon Barkeley, it was up to Hurts to elevate his game & he did.

He only threw 22 times but completed 17 passes (77%) for 2 touchdowns with one interception.  His 46-yard touchdown pass to DeVonta Smith to make it 34-0 in the third quarter was a thing of beauty.

With the Chiefs holding Barkley to 2.3 yards per carry, Hurts ended up being the leading rusher for the Eagles with 11 carries for 72 yards (6.5 yards per carry) & 1 tush push touchdown.  Hurts had some designed runs, but some of his best plays were decisive scrambles.

It felt like someone from the defense should have been the game MVP, but Hurts was a worthy recipient.

Xavier Worthy Chiefs receiver

I was surprised that Worthy didn’t get many opportunities this year.  He had a solid, but not great rookie season.  He caught 59 passes for 638 yards and 6 touchdowns.  That’s good for a rookie, but I expected more from the first round pick (28^th overall) from Texas. 

Mahomes had an opportunity to throw a long pass to Worthy early in the game but didn’t pull the trigger.  He didn’t come back to him until the game was out of hand, but Worthy showed he was still playing hard.  He caught 8 passes for 157 yards & 2 touchdowns of 24 & 50 yards.  I saw several people, including Pro-Football talk mention that the Chiefs need to get a fast game breaker if they want to be better next year.  I think they have one already & need to use him more.  Worthy ran the 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine in a record setting 4.21 seconds.  The cleats he wore at the combine are now displayed at the Hall of Fame.  He’s fast enough!

Defense

Cooper Dejean Eagles defensive back

It’s going to be tough for DeJean to beat his 22^nd birthday!  He became the first player in NFL history to score a Super Bowl touchdown on his birthday.  DeJean made a sharp cut to pick off a Mahomes pass & with the help of at least 2 nice blocks, he ran it back 38 yards for a touchdown.  He also had 3 solo tackles.

Josh Sweat, Eagles linebacker

Sweat said that he thought he should have been the MVP.  His stats were very close to Von Miller’s when he won the MVP.  Sweat had 6 tackles & 2.5 sacks.

Zack Baun, Eagles linebacker

Zack Baun had already had an amazing season prior to the Super Bowl.  He was signed as a backup linebacker on a 1 year deal for $3.5 million.    He vastly outperformed his contract, finishing 5^th in defensive player of the year voting & earning his first All Pro selection.  He’s a free agent now & should cash in.

He cashed in during the Super Bowl as well.  He had 7 tackles with 1 quarterback hit, but his signature moment from the Super Bowl was his diving interception of Mahomes inside the Chiefs’ 10-yard line with 1:46 to go in the half. That set up another touchdown that put the Chiefs in a huge hole.

Special teams

Jake Elliot, Eagles kicker

Elliot had an up & down season this year.  Every time he came out to punt in the Super Bowl, I thought that maybe this would be the one he missed or had blocked.  I was wrong though.  He was 4 for 4 on extra points & 4 for 4 on field goals including a long of 50 yards.

My favorite wine of the week is…

Mercouri Estate Kallisto Assyrtiko Sur Lies 2022 $23

80% Assyrtiko and 20% Robola 13.5% ABV

When you mention Greek wine to many people, they have bad memories of cheap white wine flavored with pine tree resin called Retsina.  While there are nice examples of Retsina out there, most of them remind me of the probably apocryphal origin of the wine.  It is likely that the style originated because the Greeks used the pine tar to seal the amphora in which they stored the wine.  It flavored the wine & over the years, many Greeks developed a taste for it although foreigners famously hated it in several historical reports.  The less likely, but more fun origin story is that when the Romans conquered Greece, the victors took most of the Greek home for themselves.  Supposedly the Greeks used the pine tar to increase & preserve their remaining wine on the theory that the Romans wouldn’t drink something so bitter.  Either way, cheap retsina is still sold in many wine bars in Greece & is often the first Greek wine tourists encounter…often moving them to switch to Mythos beer or something similar.

This week’s wine is an Assyrtiko, which is the specialty of the island of Santorini.  It is grown throughout the Peloponnese Peninsula however. Assyrtiko is a high acid, mineral driven wine with phenolic & grippy notes.  You really feel the phenolic notes in the glass.  Like many examples it has some stone fruit, apricot, with a hint of peach, & some citrus.  It has herbal notes on the finish along with a hint of creaminess from the lees stirring.  It isn’t much though.  It feels like the lees stirring has contributed more of a textural element to the wine rather than overt creaminess.  This has some floral notes that I didn’t expect & they really made the wine stand out from some more reserved examples.  It turns out that the floral quality is from 20% Robola in the blend.  The Robola might also contribute to the herbal thyme elements of the wine. The wine bottle didn’t mention that.  It just says Assyrtiko.

It’s a mouthwatering wine with more structure than your average white wine.  It will stand up to hearty sauces and would be good with grilled chicken or pork.

I tried this at Ever After Wine in Elk Grove California.