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The Pulse: Super Bowl LVII questions, Top 100 MLB prospects and Wrexham’s magic

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The Winners

The Super Bowl storylines are already rich: Andy Reid’s old team vs. his new team. Kelce vs. Kelce. Patrick Mahomes unveiled as an alien. Etc. And we get two weeks to marinate in all of it.

The Chiefs enter their third Super Bowl in four years after a wild, nerve-wracking 23-20 win over the Bengals last night, thanks to Mahomes’ superhuman abilities (even on a bum ankle) and a terrible Cincinnati penalty. The good news for all of us? Chiefs-Bengals is a legit rivalry and, barring injury, Joe Burrow vs. Mahomes will be headlining stuff for a decade. In a year with a lot of really bad football, the AFC title game made it all worth it. Well done.

Questions for Kansas City leading up to Feb. 12:

  • How is Mahomes’ ankle? He made huge plays, including the penultimate one, on his feet while clearly limping the entire game. It was gutty. But he took a beating from Cincinnati’s defensive line. He’ll have two weeks to recover, but his health is something to monitor — especially considering this next question.
  • How does KC’s offensive line hold up? Philly’s front is probably better than Cincy’s, which pressured Mahomes all night.

Meanwhile, the 14-win Eagles continued steamrolling through the playoffs with a 31-7 romp over a beleaguered San Francisco. It was anticlimactic, really. Brock Purdy got hurt on the Niners’ first drive, and they never truly recovered.

Pressing Eagles questions:

  • Does Jalen Hurts live up to the moment? He’s been fantastic all season and was more than enough Sunday, although he wasn’t incredible. The postseason is nothing new for Hurts, who was part of four College Football Playoff teams and three national title games. The biggest game of his career, though, means playing as Mahomes’ opposite. Tough assignment. A cool aside: This will be the first Super Bowl to feature two Black starting quarterbacks.
  • What about Nick Sirianni? The Eagles’ head coach comes in a little underrated, if that’s possible for a Super Bowl participant whose team had the NFL’s best record. He’s not even a finalist for NFL Coach of the Year. Can he outscheme Reid?

Read all the takeaways here. The current line is Eagles -2, which jumped immediately from the opening line of Eagles -1. We’ll keep up with the moving line on our odds hub.

The Losers

Next up: exit meetings

So much for Burrowhead Stadium, right? The amount of trash talk coming out of Cincinnati last week — even the mayor overstepped — felt ominous. Didn’t work out well, bro.

The Bengals leave 2022-23 bitterly. They were seconds away from a second straight Super Bowl berth, unheard of for a previously cursed franchise. Yesterday’s questionable flags will haunt many. They had plenty of opportunities to win, though.

  • Once again, offensive line help will be paramount this offseason. Burrow was under pressure for the entire playoff stretch, and it hurt the Bengals last night. Chris Jones bullying Jackson Carman on third down during a drive that could’ve won the game sticks out. Besides OL, all the other pieces are there. It’s hard getting back to this point, though, and you have to wonder how many more chances they’ll have, no matter how confident the players are.

Niners fans will wonder what might’ve happened if Brock Purdy hadn’t gotten hurt early, or if referees had correctly called DeVonta Smith’s huge third-down reception (replay later showed it to be incomplete) on the Eagles’ first scoring drive. Zoom out, and we’re left wondering what happens if Purdy — who was great, but did enter as the third-string QB — is still on the bench and Jimmy Garropolo is under center.

  • It’s also another almost-did-it year for Kyle Shanahan. He has the scheme and, particularly this year, the skill players on both sides of the ball. He’s long missed an elite quarterback.
  • So what does San Francisco do this offseason? Did Purdy show enough in eight games to be the guy? Do you pay Garropolo big money? What about Trey Lance, the top-five pick from two years ago who was the starter coming into the year? Tough decisions ahead, for a team firmly in its championship window.

Dave Lombardi has a great peek into the Niners’ emotional locker room after the game, where a defense was left shattered.

Briefs

Wrexham’s magic — and disappointment
Yesterday, what looked like a stunning upset turned into a disappointing draw for Hollywood-soaked Wrexham. A goal from Sheffield’s John Egan in the 95th minute tied the game at 3, but not before the world got an example of what the upstart’s trajectory could be. Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenny’s purchase of Wrexham is more than just a headline, writes Stuart James. The actors live and die with the club now. The ultimate goal: the Premier League. This photo sequence of a clearly invested Reynolds is gold, too:

Another 50 for Giannis
It’s wild how easy Giannis Antetokounmpo makes 50-burgers look. He posted exactly 50 in the Bucks’ 135-110 win over the Pelicans last night, 30 in the paint. He scored a career high 55 earlier this month, too, and is one of just 26 players who have scored 50 or more at least five times.

Prospects, Ranked

The prospect bible is here

It’s that time again: Keith Law’s Top 100 MLB Prospects list — ubiquitous in baseball circles over the last 16 years — is here. Before we embark on takeaways, a refresher:

  • Only players eligible for 2023’s Rookie of the Year award can make the list. The word “prospect” can get murky, with how often guys yo-yo from the majors to the minors and back. These players cannot have more than 130 major-league at-bats, 50 innings pitched or 45 days on an active roster heading into this year.
  • Exception: International free agents, although they are eligible for ROY, are not on the list because they did not appear in any MLB farm system. Sorry, KBO and NPB transfers.

With that said, it’s a great time to be a Diamondbacks fan. Two Arizona prospects land in the top 10, including No. 1 prospect Corbin Carroll, an outfielder who was 16th on last year’s list. The 23-year-old lefty hits for power and can steal a base. Remember the name.

I grabbed the rest of the top 5 for us:

1. OF Carroll — Diamondbacks
2. INF Gunnar Henderson — Orioles
3. OF Jackson Chourio — Brewers
4. SS Elly de la Cruz — Reds
5. OF Jordan Walker — Cardinals

See the full list here, full of in-depth analysis on each prospect. Got questions on the list? Keith is answering them in a live chat at 1 pm ET today.

Pulse Picks

The Cowboys and offensive coordinator Kellen Moore mutually parted ways. He’ll have plenty of suitors, while Mike McCarthy will call plays for the Cowboys next year. Hmm.

Former Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett was arrested for public intoxication in Dallas early yesterday.

The Lakers are still reeling from that missed foul call Saturday night.

Justin Herbert had surgery — on his non-throwing shoulder. He should be ready to throw by spring.

The US men’s national team held Colombia to a draw in a friendly yesterday. It was mostly a game to evaluate depth going forward. Paul Tenorio and our soccer staff have the full report.

(Photo: Jay Biggerstaff/ USA Today)

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