ASK THE EXPERTS appears weekly from training camp through the Super Bowl with answers to a new question being posted Thursday morning. How the guest experts responded when we asked them: What will happen in Super Bowl LIX?
JASON WOOD
Full disclosure, I'm a lifelong Philadelphia Eagles fan and season ticket holder, so I am unapologetically biased. To see the Eagles get another shot at Kansas City after the heartbreaking loss two seasons ago is exciting. It's always safe to bet on Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid, but in this case I'm leading with my heart not my head and saying the Eagles win a nail-biter with a late fourth-quarter drive followed by stopping Mahomes as he makes his final trademark end of game push.
Wood is Senior Editor at Footballguys.com and has been with the company since its start in 2000. For more than 20 years, Footballguys has provided rankings, projections, and analysis to help fantasy managers dominate their leagues.
IAN ALLAN
I think the Eagles are going to do it. They’ve got Saquon Barkley really dialed in right now, while Kansas City has had some issues stopping the run in their recent games — against both Joe Mixon and James Cook. And I like Philadelphia’s defense. It allowed the fewest yards in the regular season, and with only one team allowing fewer yards. Vic Fangio is running that group, and he’s had some success against Reid-Mahomes. Not a ton of success (he’s 0-8 against them the last five years), but Mahomes threw only 10 touchdowns in those eight games, which is well below his usual.
Allan co-founded Fantasy Football Index in 1987. Since that time, he’s written and edited most of the content published in the magazines, newsletters and at www.fantasyindex.com. Allan is a member of the FSGA Fantasy Sports Hall of Fame and the Fantasy Sports Writers Association Hall of Fame.
DAVID DOREY
I said it last summer: Kansas City is the favorite to win that third straight Super Bowl and inarguably become one of the best dynasties in NFL history. So long as Patick Mahomes is under center and not hopping on one foot, they can never be counted out. By this point, Kansas City doesn't even get that interested until the postseason. I think this is the final season for Travis Kelce and that alone will change the dynamics of the offense tremendously. The Eagles will make a game of it, I fear this may be a lower scoring Super Bowl from two good defenses. But yeah, KC is hurtling toward destiny.
Dorey co-founded The Huddle.com in 1997. He's ranked every player and projected every game for the last 26 years and is the author of Fantasy Football: The Next Level. David has appeared on numerous radio, television, newspaper and magazines over the last two decades.
SAM HENDRICKS
Philly wins 38-35 (anything familiar about that score?) as they commit no turnovers (to Kansas City's three, including a Pick Six no less, and 2 fumbles). Jalen Hurts out duels Patrick Mahomes (although Mahomes will have to throw for more yards 350-300) but Hurts runs for 2 TDs and 90 yards. Travis Kelce has a good game 10-100-1 and still kisses Taylor Swift on National TV.
Hendricks is the author of Fantasy Football Guidebook, Fantasy Football Tips and Fantasy Football Basics, all available at ExtraPointPress.com, at all major bookstores, and at Amazon and BN.com. He is a 30-year fantasy football veteran who participated in the National Fantasy Football Championship (NFFC) and finished 7th and 16th overall in the 2008 and 2009 Fantasy Football Players Championship (FFPC). He won the Fantasy Index Open in 2013 and 2018.
MIKE NAZAREK
In an upset, Philadelphia will defeat Kansas City, 27-24. Saquon Barkley will be the MVP with more than 100 rushing yards and two scores.
Nazarek is the CEO of Fantasy Football Mastermind Inc, celebrating 29 years online! His company offers a preseason draft guide, customizable cheat sheets, a multi-use fantasy drafting program including auction values, weekly in-season newsletters, injury reports and free NFL news (updated daily) at its website, www.ffmastermind.com. He has been playing fantasy football since 1988 and is a four-peat champion of the SI.com Experts Fantasy League, a nationally published writer in several fantasy magazines and a former columnist for SI.com. He's also won $36K in recent seasons of the FFPC High Stakes Main Event. Nazarek can be reached via email at miken@ffmastermind.com.
SCOTT SACHS
Eagles win the toss, defer, go on defense first and hold KC to zero or one first down, force a punt, then score a TD to gain a huge mental boost. They will score just before halftime, then receive the 2nd half kickoff and score again. Eagles will easily cover the spread and win the game. The Philly defense is fierce and their offense is elite. Predicting 31-20 win for Philadelphia. Hurts runs for one, throws for two, Barkley scores twice, on a run and a pass.
With 2 perfect seasons and multiple league championships to his credit, Scott Sachs runs Perfect Season Fantasy Football, featuring LIVE Talk & Text Advice. He is a 3-time winner of the Fantasy Index Experts Auction League, as well as a previous winner of the Fantasy Index Experts Poll.
ANDY RICHARDSON
It's going to be a close, competitive game. All of Kansas City's games have been this season, so why would this be any different. And as a fan, I'd like to see the Eagles win. (Someone -- a KC fan, of course -- said to me this week, "Don't you want to see a threepeat?" And I said, no, not really.) I tend to root for underdogs, and I like to see wealth and trophies and accolades spread around. Isn't more players getting to be champs fun? I think so. But betting against Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid's team hasn't worked out well. The Texans (remarkably) and the Bills (less remarkably) had their chances. Maybe the Eagles will too. But week after month after season of seeing Kansas City getting the necessary plays on offense or defense or special teams to pull it out has me thinking they'll probably do so again. I hope I'm wrong, but I'll go Kansas City 27, Philadelphia 24.
Richardson has been a contributing writer and editor to the Fantasy Football Index magazine and www.fantasyindex.com since 2002. His responsibilities include team defense and IDP projections and various site features, and he has run the magazine's annual experts draft and auction leagues since their inception. He writes a weekly gambling newsletter, Index Bets, during the NFL season and also previews all the games on Saturdays and writes a wrap-up column on Mondays.