The Week that Was | SBLIX Recap | College Basketball Look-In | NBA All-Star Break & Second Half Questions

There will be no three-peat for the Kansas City Chiefs who were holding the crown as the NFL's best team the last 2 years as the Super Bowl champions was knocked off their perch losing to the Philadelphia Eagles by score of 40-22. The Eagles avenged the loss that they suffered at the hands of the Chiefs in Super Bowl 57:38-35 was able to return the favor by doing it with a defense that accumulated 6 sacks and 3 turnovers including a pick 6 from 38 yards by Cornerback Cooper DeJean to make the score 17-0 on a 3rd down and 16.

The Chiefs offense in that scenario should have settled for a conservative play call instead of a passing play when the score was 10-0. Going down to 17-0 was a score that the Chiefs could not afford to let that happen. An interception for a touchdown could hurt a team in the Super Bowl especially with Quarterback Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs under center facing a top notch defense in the Philadelphia Eagles. Quarterback Jalen Hurts of Philadelphia Eagles had a great game scoring 3 touchdowns in total including 2 touchdown passes to Wide Receiver AJ Brown and Devonta Smith including a rushing touchdown by Hurts himself. Hurts outplayed Mahomes (17-22 221 yards 2,1) as his stock rises after this Super Bowl victory as a top 10 Quarterback.

Hurts has a Super Bowl ring something that Quarterbacks Josh Allen of Buffalo Bills and Lamar Jackson of Baltimore Ravens don't have in their respective careers. Running Back Saquon Barkley of Philadelphia Eagles had a pedestrian running game by his standards(25,57,0) including 6 catches for 40 yards but he is a Super Bowl champion having the last laugh after leaving the Giants. Defensively Linebacker Josh Sweat could have won co-MVP alongside Hurts because he had 2.5 sacks and 6 tackles for the Eagles defense. Defensive Tackle Milton Williams had 2 sacks as well. Overall the Eagles were the better team than the Chiefs in terms of their roster top to bottom.

Moving forward for the Eagles their best years are in front of them because the best players on this team is under 30 years old. Hurts, Barkley, Brown and Smith are in their 20s ranging from 26-28. Only Offensive Lineman Lane Johnson is in his mid 30s. The offensive roster is relatively young so runs to the Super Bowl may come frequently for the Eagles also defensively the Eagles are young and strong and stout only 2 defensive players are in their mid 30s such as Brandon Graham and Darius Slay. Keep eyes on Jalen Carter, Nolan Smith, Josh Sweat, Milton Williams, Jordan Davis and Cooper DeJean including countless abundance of talent could make the defense of Philadelphia a top notch defense once again in 2025.

For the Chiefs their failure to win 3 consecutive Super Bowls will drive them to a greater purpose to get back to the Super Bowl for the sixth time in seven years obviously Mahomes will be back to make amends for losing his 2nd Super Bowl and in the fashion he lost it. Will Travis Kelce come back next season or Will the NFL draft be where the Chiefs draft an heir apparent to Kelce by drafting and selecting a tight end to fill the void once Kelce retires whenever that is including fixing the offensive line with better personnel to protect Mahomes effectively. The Eagles are Super Bowl champions see what happens in the NFL circa 2025 in September.

In the college basketball season landscape, is this the beginning of the end of the UConn men's basketball stranglehold on possibly winning a third consecutive national championship why because currently UConn is unranked and not in the top 25 since the start of 2022-2023 season with a record of 17-7 but they did beat #24 Creighton by score of 70-66 led by Liam McNeeley who scored 38 points which was a season high including 10 rebounds. This win may get the Huskies back into the top 25 ending Creighton's 9-game winning streak this past Tuesday night.

How about #9 St John's who is currently ranked in the top 10 despite being upset by unranked Villanova by score of 73-71. For the top 25 rankings, it is dominated by the SEC featuring 4 teams ranked in the top 5:#1 Auburn,#2 Alabama,#3 Florida tied with Duke with the same ranking,#5 Tennessee. Moving forward keep eyes on a matchup this weekend of #1 Auburn(22-2) vs #2 Alabama(21-3). Mark Sears is averaging 17.8 points along with 4.9 assists for Alabama Johni Broome is averaging 18.1 points,10 rebounds for the Auburn Tigers. Alabama is 10-1 at home.

The NBA Season is now at the All-Star Break which presents a plethora of questions to boot such as Can The Cavs(44-10 and Thunder(44-10) maintain their dominant play in the second half of the season? Does The Philadelphia 76ers have a playoff run in them to climb out of being 20-34 record the 76ers have to play .700 basketball? Can Luka Doncic and LeBron James co-exist to win the championship for Los Angeles Lakers? Are the Memphis Grizzlies ready for a long playoff run? Can the Detroit Pistons be the most dangerous team in the playoffs because the Pistons are currently in the 6th spot in the playoffs hunt. Can the Boston Celtics repeat?

Offensive Player of The Week:

Quarterback Jalen Hurts of Philadelphia Eagles

17-22 221 yards 2 touchdowns,1 interception

11 carries,72 yards and 1 touchdown against the Kansas City Chiefs

Defensive Player of The Week:

Linebacker Josh Sweat of Philadelphia Eagles 6 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, and 2.5 sacks against the Kansas City Chiefs