Well OK then
By 
I did not like the holding call that effectively ended the game in real time, but when Bradberry concedes that the hold was material I guess I can’t argue:
James Bradberry didn’t blame anyone else. He didn’t make excuses. He didn’t try to hide.
He admitted it.
“I mean, I pulled the jersey,” Bradberry said. “They called holding. I was hoping they would let it ride but it was a hold.”
Bradberry was called for a crucial defensive hold with under 2 minutes remaining in the Eagles’ 38-35 loss in Super Bowl LVII on Sunday at State Farm Stadium.
Standing by his locker in the Eagles’ somber locker room, Bradberry was asked about the holding call in several different ways. He kept coming back to the same thing: It was a penalty and he just hoped the refs wouldn’t call it.
It’s an unsatisfying conclusion to what was a fantastic game, but I also don’t believe that refs shouldn’t call penalties they would otherwise call because they would then be “deciding the game.” Non-calls impact the games just like calls. (It’s also worth noting that a defensive holding penalty there is much worse for the Eagles than allowing a TD because it allowed KC to run down the clock in chip-shot field goal territory, so you really need to be extra sure not to take a penalty in that spot.)
Anyway, 1)the Chiefs offense having a near-perfect second half despite Mahomes aggravating his ankle injury was pretty remarkable, and 2)the Eagles played a hell of a game and I’ll be surprised if this core and coaching staff don’t make it back to the Super Bowl.
Is Mahomes already the best NFL QB ever in terms of peak value? I don’t know but he’s up there:
Patrick Mahomes’ 8,192 DYAR over the past five seasons is the fourth-most in history (well, not including overlapping stretches).
2003-07 Peyton Manning had 9,999
2009-13 Tom Brady had 8,939
1984-88 Dan Marino had 8,360— Bryan Knowles (@BryKno) February 13, 2023