Sky Sports' Phoebe Schecter picks out the five key storylines from Super Bowl LVII between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles ahead of Sunday's big game; watch live coverage on Sky Sports NFL from 10pm, with kick-off in Glendale, Arizona at 11.30pm
Saturday 11 February 2023 18:58, UK
Super Bowl LVII is finally nearly here, and ahead of Sunday's mouth-watering matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles, Sky Sports' Phoebe Schecter - captain of the Great Britain women's team and a former NFL coach - has picked out five key storylines to watch out for...
I think it's great to highlight the fact that it's the first time we've had two Black quarterbacks play against each other in a Super Bowl.
It says so much about where we are as a society, and where we should be.
The game is changing all the time and these two - Jalen Hurts and Patrick Mahomes - are such great examples of how superstar athletes should be, on the field and off the field.
There is a little bit of a health concern with both, however, going into the game. We're probably not talking about Hurts' shoulder injury enough, because Mahomes' ankle is such an obvious, visible problem since going down in the divisional round of the playoffs against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Hurts is able to hide his more.
But both defenses are going to be trying to figure out early on in the game just how hurt both of these guys are. The Eagles will try to force Mahomes into scrambling situations that could, potentially, tweak that ankle; the Chiefs, meanwhile, will want to make Hurts try to throw the ball deep, as there are still questions about his ability to do that since he picked up the injury late in the regular season.
I know in the NFL we always tend to talk about the quarterbacks, but these two in particular, their skill sets are so unique and so special in what they do.
I'd love for someone like Travis Kelce, the Chiefs tight end, to win MVP, but it's literally never happened before in NFL history.
The quarterbacks are guaranteed to have the football in their hands every single play, and given the greatness of these two, you'd have to think that one of them will end the game as Super Bowl MVP.
The genes in the Kelce family are insane! Travis and Jason's mum is even amazing, baking them both cookies for the Super Bowl! She has almost been the star of the show this week.
No brothers have ever faced off against each other before in a Super Bowl, and both of these guys are such impact players too - it's not like one of them will be warming the bench.
Jason Kelce, center for the Eagles, his speed and his agility really stands him out above other players at the position. A lot of teams won't pull their center when it comes to the run game, because it's such a tricky thing to do - you have to be so athletic - but he just makes it look like a walk in the park.
Again, he's a great leader, a real veteran presence on that team and part of a wonderful offensive line. It's definitely the strongest in the league.
Then you look at Travis Kelce, and he, along with Mahomes, is the heartbeat of the Chiefs offense. They put in the work (and, apparently, the beers), year in, year out. You can see that in their relationship.
They read the game the same, and Travis' ability to sit in a zone and be patient, trust that Mahomes will get him the football, is hard to do... and they beat teams with that all the time.
It's not going to be nice for whoever loses - at least both of them already have a Super Bowl ring (Jason in the 2017 season, Travis two years later) - but there will still be bragging rights at stake, for sure.
The winner will be constantly reminding the other: "Well, who has two rings?" It's a great story line in this game.
The defensive line is the heartbeat of a defense. They set the tone right from the off. And both of these teams will consider that a strength of theirs.
Haason Reddick, who had a massive 16 sacks this season and has 3.5 more in the playoffs, is just getting better and better and will be coming after that Chiefs offensive line.
The Chiefs also have Chris Jones, one of the best inside rushers in the game and who was a complete game-wrecker in the AFC Championship game, but he and the rest of the unit have a stiff task ahead, with the Eagles O-line one of the best in the game.
They are phenomenal at getting to the second level, helping to really open up the run game - so it's no wonder that Philadelphia's is one of the best in the league.
They've got as many as four legitimate threats out of the backfield, if you consider their quarterback Hurts is a great runner himself. There's Miles Sanders leading the way, but Kenneth Gainwell and Boston Scott also have to be accounted for.
The Chiefs have the No 1 offense in the league, and the left side of their O-line is particularly strong, with Joe Thuney one of the best guards in the game and Orlando Brown at left tackle. Can the unit as a whole though protect Mahomes enough for this explosive offense to do their thing?
The O-line and D-line battle will be the one to watch every time these teams are on the field. You won't be able to take your eyes off of it. A real chess match.
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid was in Philadelphia, a successful head coach for the Eagles for quite some time (1999-2012), and he acknowledged that there is some nostalgia attached to a Super Bowl matchup against his former team.
But, at the end of the day, this Eagles team are just a group of guys in different jerseys and he will be trying not to think about his ties to the team come gameday and just really focus on the task at hand.
These two head coaches really are incredible. Schematically, Reid is outstanding, still. Even as an older coach, he is always ahead of the game, and shows such creativity and open-mindedness. He is constantly reinventing himself; he lets his guys have fun and have a great deal of input in the offense.
As for Nick Sirianni with the Eagles, he is a really bold head coach. We see him go for it on fourth down a lot of times - and is not afraid to take risks. He is also unapologetically himself.
You have to be able to connect with your players, and these head coaches are two of the best at doing that. You want someone as a leader who is going to make you better, sure, but you also want to see their human side.
It is two really special head coaches going at it on Sunday.
The fact that the Chiefs have been here before - this is their third Super Bowl in the space of four years - with a lot of the same team and staff, that really helps. The Eagles won five years ago, but they've had a fair amount of turnover since.
That said, Hurts is the son of a football coach, and so he has grown up with this winning mentality, plus he has won championships before at the college level, where the crowds are just as massive and it's still watched worldwide.
You've just got to try and keep to your routine and your fundamentals because, at the end of the day, something like the Super Bowl does so often come down to which team makes the fewest mistakes. Turnovers will be huge in determining the outcome of this game.
In the modern NFL, there are now so many more psychologists on the staff, helping these players if and when they're stressed in these moments, and giving them tools like visualisation that they can use to project forward ahead of the game.
Ultimately, it's about trying not to make the moment too big. That's why it will be interesting to see also what the ratio of fans are in this game.
Both teams have huge support back home in Kansas City and Philadelphia, with two of the loudest, most intimidating atmospheres in the league. Both fan bases travel well too.
I have seen a good mix of both fans through Super Bowl weeks so far, so if it's 70 per cent or more in favour of one team, that will play a really big role in how the guys feel out there and how they cope with those big moments.
I can't wait. It's going to be such an exciting Super Bowl.
Watch Super Bowl LVII - Kansas City Chiefs vs Philadelphia Eagles - live on Sky Sports NFL and Main Event from 10pm on Sunday, with Ryan Fitzpatrick, Christian Wilkins and Efe Obada among the guests joining Neil Reynolds and Hannah Wilkes for the big game, along with Phoebe Schecter on the sideline.
