I Asked Super Bowl LIX Coaches Andy Reid And Nick Sirianni To Share Their Thoughts About The Game And Their Responses Surprised Me

Super Bowl LIX is in the books, with the Philadelphia Eagles denying Kansas City a spot in history by thwarting their plans to complete the first-ever NFL three-peat.

I was in the building for the game, and the tensions were high before the opening kickoff. So, by night's end, it felt as if a tangible wave of emotions filled the stadium.

While Jalen Hurts won and deserved the Super Bowl MVP, it was really the Eagles' defensive line that dominated the entire game. Although they did not blitz once, the Eagles sacked Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes six times. The absolutely monstrous play from the D-line put pressure on one of the best QBs of all time, and also played a role in him going 6-of-14 for a measly 33 yards and two interceptions in the first half of the game. I captured a few shots of Mahomes under pressure, and it looked ugly.

Here, Eagles linebacker Nolan Smith Jr. (#3) chases down a frantic Mahomes (#15).

And here, Mahomes was once again in trouble as his offensive line folded around him.

After the game, I spoke with Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid and Philadelphia Eagles coach Nick Sirianni. Reid was visibly deflated after the loss. A defeat at that level of play is always devastating, but I wasn't expecting Reid's Bill Belichick-emulating curt answer.

I asked Coach Reid, "What adjustments did you try to make during halftime, and why don't you feel like they panned out?" The terse answer came as the air of defeat was suspended heavily around the coach's shoulders.

"Yeah, we went a little 'no huddle,' it didn't work as well as we wanted it to, so that was one of the adjustments," Coach Reid answered gruffly. 

That same ambiance of defeat greeted me when Patrick Mahomes spoke after his startingly deficient play, and he compared how his two career Super Bowl losses affected him. "Any time you lose a Super Bowl, it's the worst feeling in the world. It'll stick with you the rest of your career," Mahomes said.

After his big Super Bowl victory, I spoke with Coach Sirianni, who has faced vilification from both fans and the press over the past four years. His response was also unexpected because I wasn't anticipating such an intricate answer.

I asked Coach Sirianni, "The halftime score was shocking to a lot of people. Can you tell me what you said when you went into the locker room at halftime, what was the mood like, what was going through your head? How do you keep the guys focused after coming out like that?"

"One of the main things we talked about is to be ready for anything," he explained. "Be ready for more different exotic things. Things that make them be able to get back into the game. But one thing that we really focused on, studied a bunch; we gotta protect the football. The way that they can get back into this game is us going three and out on offense, having sacks, having penalties, turning the ball over, and for explosive plays to happen.[Or] on offense, on their offense, [us] giving up on our defense. I just thought we did a great job of handling that. We truly were playing it like, 'Hey, this is the second game at 0 [to] 0, and if we win this, we're going to win this game. And the guys were focused."

Eagles wide receiver AJ Brown was candid about the early offensive pass interference call that negated a massive play. When asked how he felt after the refs called him for pushing off, he answered that he knew, "It's going to be a long game."

"I knew it wasn't a PI, but you know it is what it is," he continued. "That's why the inner excellence come in. Just stay locked in, staying poised no matter what happens in the games and just staying focused. But that's a good [corner back]. I didn't get that many opportunities, but I tried to make the most of them. The defense played really well, so it definitely could have been an even bigger day."

They say great teams find ways to win big games, and the Eagles proved to be the better team this year. What did you think about Super Bowl LIX? Let me know in the comment section below.