When the Philadelphia Eagles take on the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl 57, a lot of focus will be on the quarterbacks. The Eagles Super Bowl chances won’t come down to their own QB, Jalen Hurts, though. It will be about how much pressure the Philly defense can put on Patrick Mahomes. That’s why the team’s X-factor in the Eagles-Chiefs Super Bowl won’t be Hurts. It will be pass-rusher Haason Reddick.

Edge-rusher Haason Reddick is the Eagles X-factor in the Eagles-Chiefs Super Bowl

The Eagles had an excellent offense all season. The unit ranked second in scoring (477), second in yards (6,641), ninth in passing yards (4,105), fifth in rushing yards (2,509), and seventh in fewest turnovers (17).

On the other side of the ball, the defense was just as good. The Eagles D was eighth in scoring (344), third in yards allowed (5,125), first in passing yards allowed (3,057), 17th in rushing yards allowed (2,068), and fourth in takeaways (27).

The most important number, though, is 70.

The Eagles D led the league with 70 sacks in 2022. That was 15 ahead of the Chiefs in second place (55) and the third-best total of all time. Only the 1984 Chicago Bears (72) and the 1989 Minnesota Vikings (71) had more QB takedowns in a single season.

No one on the Eagles had more of those sacks than Haason Reddick with 16.0. That was five more than Brandon Graham, Jevon Hargrave, and Josh Sweat, who all had 11.0. That number put Reddick tied for second in the NFL in 2022. He finished with the same number as Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett and a sack and a half shy of the San Francisco 49ers' Nick Bosa.

In this Eagles Super Bowl, the storylines all revolve around Chiefs quarterback and reigning NFL MVP Patrick Mahomes. The QB hurt his ankle in the Divisional Round against the Jacksonville Jaguars, yet recovered quickly enough to lead his team past the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC Championship.

Mahomes already has one Super Bowl under his belt and is looking for a second in this Eagles-Chiefs game on Sunday. And while Jalen Hurts and the Eagles offense can try and outduel him, only one man can stop him, and that’s Haason Reddick.

Pressuring Mahomes doesn’t usually guarantee success. The QB is the best in the league — and probably ever — at moving around in the pocket, scrambling when necessary, and throwing at weird body and arm angles. Straight-up bringing the heat against Mahomes can often do more harm than good.

That said, Mahomes will not be fully in this Eagles-Chiefs Super Bowl. Despite looking OK physically against the Bengals and having an extra week to recover, the MVP will be at something less than 100% with the type of ankle injury (high ankle sprain) he suffered against the Jaguars.

This doesn’t mean that we won’t see Mahomes scramble backward and then to his right and then pivot, hop on one foot, and throw a sidearm dime to Travis Kelce in the Super Bowl. We certainly will. However, with the injury and Mahomes need to make the big play in the biggest games, if Reddick can keep the heat on and keep Mahomes feet moving, maybe once that throw will come up a little short or a little long, and Darius Slay, C.J. Gardner-Johnson, James Bradberry, Avonte Maddox, or Reed Blankenship will be there to grab it.

And that’s how an Eagles Super Bowl win comes to fruition. This is going to be a back-and-forth affair that comes down to one or two plays that win the game for either side. Sure, Jalen Hurts could make that play over the top to A.J. Brown or with his feet on a scramble. But the best way to make something happen on the other side of the ball is for Eagles X-factor Haason Reddick to be on Mahomes’ heels all day.

That’s not to say that all the Eagles D-linemen should be pinning their ears back either. This strategy has to be a team effort where Graham, Hargrave, Sweat, and Fletcher Cox all stay disciplined in their rush lanes to not allow holes for Mahomes to scamper into. If they can do that, then the Eagles Super Bowl X-factor, Haason Reddick, can do what he does best go full bore at the Chiefs QB.

And the final thing to consider about Haason Reddick being the Eagles Super Bowl X-factor is that he is the defensive player with the lowest odds of winning Super Bowl MVP since his potential impact on the game is so big. That said, whereas Jalen Hurts’ odds are around +140, Reddick is still a lucrative longshot at around +3500.