NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Super Bowl 2025 kicks off almost a week before the big game with its opening night in New Orleans. Players and coaches from both the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles will have the opportunity to answer questions from reporters ahead of Sunday’s game.
Here’s the latest:
DeVonta Smith wishes he could teleport
A young reporter from Nickelodeon presented Eagles wide receiver DeVonta Smith with a big necklace, then got to the real question that needed asking.
“Are there any superpowers that you think would help you on the big day?” she asked.
Smith’s reply: “If I could teleport.”
Let’s face it: That would be a difficult weapon for any secondary to deal with.
Big Dom won’t play on Sunday. You’ll see him anyway
Perhaps one of the most recognizable figures on the Philadelphia sideline has zero catches this season, zero tackles and probably doesn’t have a great time in the 40-yard dash.
And the Eagles think he’s indispensable.
Big Dom. That’s how everyone knows Eagles security chief Dom DiSandro, who has a cult following in Philadelphia.
“I would say this: Nobody does their job better in the National Football League than Big Dom does his,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said. “He’s awesome. He truly just wants to help other people.”
DiSandro joined the Eagles in 1999. He’s a broad-chested guy who tends to find his way into television shots on the sideline. He oversees all safety and security matters for players, coaches and executives.
“I couldn’t do my job without Dom. That’s for sure,” Sirianni said.
Eagles’ Fangio feared the worst during power outage at Superdome 12 years ago
Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio has “vivid” memories of the last Super Bowl played at the Superdome.
He had the same role for San Francisco when a power outage forced a long delay in the third quarter against Baltimore 12 years ago.
“I thought it was a terrorist attack,” he recalled.
The 49ers mounted a big comeback after the stoppage but fell short at the end.
Did a reporter kiss Nick Sirianni? Chad Johnson did.
It’s hard to get a question at Super Bowl opening night. There are a lot of people yelling at once.
One method that works: Kissing the coach.
Really.
Former NFL wide receiver Chad Johnson, working as a reporter for the CW, jumped onto Eagles coach Nick Sirianni’s podium to ask a question. And before he asked — it was about strategy involving the Kansas City secondary — the man known as “Ochocinco” smacked his lips on the side of Sirianni’s head.
“I was trying to call you,” Sirianni told Johnson. “I didn’t ever get your number, though.”
Johnson remembered there were a lot of microphones around and didn’t give Sirianni his number. Maybe he will later. And then he left with just a handshake, no kiss.
Most call it the tush push. Jalen Hurts does not
The most unstoppable and perhaps most reviled goal-line play in football right now is Philadelphia’s famed tush push, where quarterback Jalen Hurts follows about a ton of offensive linemen into the end zone.
Some want it banned. The Washington Commanders tried jumping offside multiple plays in a row to stop it (to no avail) in the NFC championship game.
Hurts knows most people don’t like the tush push. Perhaps that’s why he doesn’t call it that.
“That’s what you call it. I call it the quarterback sneak,” Hurts said. “I keep it very standard.”
Graham expects to play after he was sidelined by triceps injury
Super Bowl 52 hero Brandon Graham is ready to return less than three months after tearing his triceps.
The Eagles defensive end said his first two practices went well and that he will play Sunday as long as he has no setbacks this week.
Graham’s strip-sack helped seal Philadelphia’s win in the Super Bowl against New England seven years ago.
Saquon speaks: He ‘definitely envisioned’ making Super Bowl with Eagles
Eagles running back Saquon Barkley admitted this much: He didn’t think about the scene at Super Bowl opening night.
But Super Bowl Sunday, yes, he thought about that.
“Never this, but definitely envisioned playing in this game,” the Philly star told FS1 before taking the podium. “That’s why me and my family made the decision to come to Philadelphia, to have an opportunity to play in the Super Bowl. And here we are.”
Barkley has made headlines all year for his stellar numbers, but his preference is to be considered a team guy. And it’ll take the team to win it all, he said.
“It took everyone,” Barkley said. “And for us to do what we want to do, it’s going to take everyone again.”
Get your phones out: For Eagles, opening night is a memory to savor
The Eagles were the first team to hit the field for opening night. And two things immediately stood out: One, they were all in new white sweatsuits. And two, just about everyone had a phone out to capture the scene.
Assistant coach Clint Hurtt, one of the toughest guys in the game, was smiling broadly — a rare sight for him on the field — when he came out for the festivities. Yes, he had his phone out, video rolling to remember it all.
It seemed about 80% of Eagles players were either snapping photos or taking video of the scene for the first major event of Super Bowl week.
On opening night, Cooper Kupp reflects on an era closing
Cooper Kupp was Super Bowl MVP three years ago. As this Super Bowl week was getting underway, he found out the Los Angeles Rams plan to trade him.
“I was informed that the team will be seeking a trade immediately and will be working with me and my family to find the right place to continue competing for championships,” Kupp wrote on social media. “I don’t agree with the decision and always believed it was going to begin and end in LA.”
Kupp had eight catches for 92 yards and two touchdowns in Super Bowl 56, leading the Rams to a 23-20 win over the Cincinnati Bengals.
Local band has Superdome crowd dancing
The introduction to the Super Bowl opening night included some local music.
The eight-member Soul Rebels brass band, dressed in all white, played an original number, “Greatness,” from a makeshift stage in what would normally be front-row sideline seats. Fans in the stands and some media members danced nearby.
The band was followed by Eagles cheerleaders performing a dance number on a raised stage on the field shortly before players and coaches filtered out of a tunnel to take part in interviews.
The Soul Rebels also were slated to do a closing performance.
Here’s who will speak on the risers
Nearly all players and coaches will be available for interviews with the media, but only a select few from each team will be available on the risers.
For the Eagles, those will be:
1. DeVonta Smith
2. A.J. Brown
3. Jalen Hurts
4. Saquon Barkley
5. Lane Johnson
6. Jordan Mailata
7. Dallas Goedert
8. Zack Baun
9. Darius Slay Jr.
10. Nick Sirianni
11. Brandon Graham
And here’s who’s up for the Chiefs:
1. Chris Jones
2. Nick Bolton
3. Patrick Mahomes
4. Travis Kelce
5. Justin Reid
6. Trent McDuffie
7. Isiah Pacheco
8. Harrison Butker
9. DeAndre Hopkins
10. Andy Reid
11. Xavier Worthy
Super Bowl tradition of combined media day began at Superdome
The NFL says the first time both teams took part together in media day was at the Superdome before Super Bowl 20 between Chicago and New England in 1986.
This Super Bowl will be the eighth played at the dome in New Orleans and the first since 2013.
Goodell: Idea that refs favor Chiefs is ‘ridiculous’
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell shot down the perception that officials favor the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Chiefs are going for a three-peat Sunday in a rematch against the Philadelphia Eagles, who lost to Kansas City 38-35 two years ago.
The two-time defending champions have benefited from calls that have gone their way in the playoffs, including officials’ ruling that the Buffalo Bills came up short on a critical fourth down in the AFC championship game.
“It’s a ridiculous theory for anyone who might take it seriously,” Goodell said. “But at the end of the day it’s something we have to work at, how do we make our officiating better.”
Saquon Barkley could set more records in Super Bowl
Saquon Barkley has already produced the greatest season by a running back in Philadelphia Eagles history. He can only boost his credentials with his performance Sunday in the Super Bowl against the Kansas City Chiefs.
The numbers are already impressive, starting with his 2,005 yards rushing and his seven (postseason included) touchdown runs of 60-plus yards. He is one of only two players in NFL history with at least 400 yards rushing and five touchdowns in a single postseason. The other is former Denver Broncos star Terrell Davis.
Chiefs are first team to get to Super Bowl with chance at three-peat
Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs are the first team ever to win back-to-back Super Bowls and then get back to the title game with a chance at a third. They are one win away from pulling the rare three-peat.
The last team in the NFL, NBA, MLB or NHL to win three straight championships was the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers from 2000-02, led by Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant. The New York Yankees pulled it off in baseball from 1998-2000 and the New York Islanders were the last NHL team to win three straight titles — they won four consecutive Stanley Cups from 1980-83.
No team has done it in the Super Bowl era in the NFL. Green Bay won the NFL title in 1965 in the season before the first Super Bowl and followed that up by winning the first two Super Bowls in the 1966-67 seasons. The Packers also won three straight NFL titles from 1929-31 before there was a postseason.
Jalen Hurts would join select company with a win after loss in first Super Bowl start
Jalen Hurts is back on the Super Bowl stage for the second time in his young career.
The Eagles quarterback produced four total touchdowns in a losing effort two years ago against the Chiefs and bucked recent history by getting back this far.
Out of the last 19 QBs who lost their first Super Bowl start, Hurts is the only one to get back to the title game as a starter. With a win on Sunday, he would join Hall of Famers Len Dawson, Bob Griese and John Elway as the only QBs to win a Super Bowl as a starter after losing their debut.
Goodell: NFL will look into ‘serious’ allegations against Ravens’ Tucker
Commissioner Roger Goodell said the NFL will look into the “serious” allegations that Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker engaged in sexually inappropriate conduct with several massage therapists.
Nine massage therapists from five spas and wellness centers have told the Baltimore Banner that Tucker engaged in sexually inappropriate conduct during sessions from 2012-16.
Tucker said in a statement last week that he has never received any complaints from a massage therapist or been told he was not welcome at a spa or other place of business.
“They are obviously serious issues and he is taking that seriously as are we,” Goodell said Monday.
Goodell says NFL could have both franchise and Super Bowl outside the U.S.
Commissioner Roger Goodell said the NFL could hold a Super Bowl outside of the United States if the league expands to have an international team.
The NFL has made big efforts to expand its footprint worldwide with games played in England, Germany, Mexico and Brazil in recent years. A game is scheduled in Spain next season.
But as of now, the Super Bowls have been played in NFL stadiums and international sites haven’t been considered.
“I do think there’s potential that someday we will have an international franchise. If we do, it would not surprise me at all if a Super Bowl follows and is played there,” Goodell said.
Chiefs and Eagles meet again, with Eagles trying to buck trend in Super Bowl rematches
For the second time in three seasons, it’s Kansas City against Philadelphia for the Super Bowl title.
Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs got the win two years ago in Arizona and will try to do the same this week in New Orleans. This is the fifth time teams have met in the Super Bowl twice in a span of five seasons or less, with all four previous times ending in sweeps.
Goodell: ‘A lot of work’ before an 18-game season
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell says there’s “a lot of work to be done” before the NFL possibly expands its season to 18 regular-season games.
Goodell said at a pre-Super Bowl news conference that the league hasn’t had formal negotiations with the NFL Players Association about adding a game to the season but that he has had informal discussions with the union’s executive director, Lloyd Howell Jr.
The NFL added a 17th game and cut the preseason from four games to three before the 2021 season and Goodell has indicated an interest in eventually adding another regular-season game.
Goodell says league will look into rules surrounding Brady’s dual role
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell says the league will look into whether rules surrounding Tom Brady’s role as both an analyst for Fox and a minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders need to be altered in any way.
Brady played a big role during the team’s search for a new coach and general manager that led to the hiring of Pete Carroll and John Spytek.
Brady is also in his first season as an analyst for Fox and is under rules that prevent his access to team facilities and production meetings with players and coaches.
Goodell said Monday that Brady is under the same tampering rules as any other member of the league and has checked in frequently to make sure he isn’t violating any rules.
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