Talk about a couple of one-armed bandits.
On one side, Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes, a two-time NFL and Super Bowl most valuable player.
On the other, San Francisco’s Brock Purdy, the onetime “Mr. Irrelevant” who finished this season with a league-best passer rating of 113.0.
Both will be on display on the NFL’s biggest stage Sunday in a Super Bowl rematch from the 2019 season, when the Chiefs overcame a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter to claim the Lombardi Trophy.
That game was in South Florida, which has hosted more Super Bowls (11) than any region. This one for the first time is in Las Vegas, a city the NFL once shunned but has increasingly embraced amid changing views on legalized sports betting.
Read more: Complete coverage: Chiefs vs. 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII
“The integrity of our game is critical,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said. “And so we spend a lot of time focusing on that, educating, making sure that all of our personnel are aware of our gambling policies, in this case or any other policy that can affect the integrity of our game.”
It’s not unusual for the Super Bowl spotlight to be trained on the quarterbacks. But they will share that Sunday with pop superstar Taylor Swift, expected to be jetting in from her Eras Tour in Japan to support her boyfriend, Chiefs All-Pro tight end Travis Kelce.
“Internally for us in the locker room is not that big of a deal,” Kansas City kicker Harrison Butker said of the romance that has captured worldwide attention. “But whenever I go to my phone and click on the news you see Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift. When I got to meet her around New Year’s, she was just so humble and down to earth. She was very nice.”
Read more: Super Bowl LVIII matchups, analysis and prediction
Kelce, meanwhile, is zeroed in on the task at hand.
Asked about the drive for another championship, he said: “That expectation has become a demand at this point. I know the years that we haven’t won since we…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nothing-irrelevant-patrick-mahomes-vs-211224965.html
Author : LA Times
Publish date : 2024-02-10 21:12:24
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
