The Japan Times - Nothing separates Chiefs and Eagles - until Super Bowl Sunday

All the indicators, stats and form guides suggest that the clash will be one of the closest match-ups the NFL's title game has produced.

Both teams are the top seeds from their conferences, have identical 16-3 records this season and incredibly have even scored the exact same number of points - 546.

When it comes to the playmakers, Patrick Mahomes of the Chiefs is the top-ranked quarter-back in the NFL but the Eagles boast the number two in Jalen Hurts.

Led by the inspired, improvising Mahomes, the Chiefs have the number one passing offense but will have their work cut out against the NFL's best passing defense.

There are star players all over the field - the Chiefs have the top tight-end in the NFL in Travis Kelce while the Eagles boast an elite wide-receiver in A.J. Brown.

But as Chiefs head coach Andy Reid pointed out at his pre-game press conference on Thursday, despite all the analysis and game plans, in the high-pressure atmosphere of a Super Bowl it is often an unheralded player who turns out to be decisive.

- 'The human element' -

"That is the human element ... in this game there is going to be somebody that we haven't mentioned ... who is going to step up and you are going to go 'Wow that was a great job by that kid,'" said Reid, who was Eagles head coach for 14 seasons before joining the Chiefs in 2013.

If there is an area where the teams can be clearly separated it is in the realm of experience where the Chiefs certainly have the edge.

Nothing is going to phase the 64-year-old Reid, who is in his 24th year as an NFL head coach and this is his team's third Super Bowl appearance with Mahomes in the last four seasons, with victory coming in 2019-2020.

In contrast, this is just Eagles boss Nick Sirianni's second season as a head coach and his 24-year-old quarterback Hurts makes his Super Bowl debut in his second year as starter having played only three playoff games in his career.

But Hurts, who presents a potentially crucial unpredictable threat given his unmatched capacity to run with the ball, does not appear likely to be overawed.

Hurts, who was replaced during his college national championship final for Alabama, has been carrying a shoulder injury throughout the latter part of the season but the Chiefs have the bigger fitness concern with Mahomes hampered by a niggling ankle injury.

- Eagles' point to prove -

Mahomes will cement his status as the finest NFL quarterback of this post-Tom Brady generation if he can add a second Super Bowl ring to his two Most Valuable Player awards but will be wary of an Eagles defense which led the league in sacks.

"They’re on like a historic sack rate and the way they are able to get to the quarterback," Mahomes said this week.

"So everybody knows that everything starts up front. It will be a great challenge for our offensive line to try to do what they can."

Mahomes and Hurts are the youngest quarterback pairing in a Super Bowl and Sunday's game also marks the first time that two black quarterbacks face each other in the biggest game.

The Chiefs have the confidence of a team that has been to five straight AFC Championship games but the Eagles have a chip on their shoulder.

Sirianni was fired as an assistant from Kansas City by Reid and Hurts has been doubted by many pundits through his young career.

And while the coaches have tried to dampen talk of the game being Mahomes v Hurts, the Eagles quarterback certainly feels the unique responsibility and pressure that comes with the most important role on the field in the biggest game of all.

"I know there is a whole group of men looking at me and expecting me to go out and make things happen," he said.

"Everyone needs to do their jobs but ... the leaders need to lead and you want your big time players to make big time plays in a game like this."

M.Sugiyama--JT