Eagles Super Bowl Slip: Mike Florio's Weird Chiefs 'Secret' Conspiracy Theory

The slipping experienced in the Super Bowl by both the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles isn't the fault of the NFL's playing surface in Arizona, but rather, a result of the teams wearing the wrong cleats? PFT tries to take us into a goofy Deep Throat-level NFL cover-up.

In the world of NFL media, nobody wears a tinfoil hat while on the lookout for black helicopters better than our friends at ProFootballTalk.com. The latest evidence of this? PFT's claim that the slipping and sliding experienced in the Super Bowl by both the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles isn't the fault of the NFL's playing surface in Arizona, but rather, a result of the teams wearing the wrong cleats. ... and more, that its "investigation'' has revealed a Deep Throat-level NFL cover-up.

Oh, and PFT doesn't offer this as some random or casual cocktail-party discussion item; Mike Florio uses the word "private'' (shhhh!) as he presents this as some sort of cloak-and-dagger etched-in-stone NFL policy when it comes to the slick field, writing, “The NFL has an unofficial excuse for the situation, one that has been communicated when owners ask about it. Per a league source, the league blames the players for not wearing the right shoes.”

We've talked to an assortment of "league sources'' in recent months about the Super Bowl field conditions. And we'll be frank: We've never heard this nonsensical baloney until now.

The Eagles lost that game - as Patrick Mahomes won another Lombardi Trophy - amid open discussions by Philly players about the slippery field conditions. State Farm Stadium's setup has been a frequent point of discussion, with most recently Philadelphia's Brandon Graham saying Kansas City "got blessed'' to have survived in part due to the slickness of the playing surface on its way to a 38-35 win.

Legendary NFL turf guy George Toma has put the blame on NFL field director Ed Mangan, saying the field was overwatered to the point it had a "rotten smell."

Said Philly's Haason Reddick: "I'm not going to lie, it was the worst field that I've ever played on. It was very disappointing.''

That it was. And yet ... We are trying to picture an NFL world in which there is a top-secret organized and conspiratorial owners-level decision to place blame at all on anybody, as Florio of PFT alleges. So ... Commissioner Roger Goodell huddled with, say, powerful Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones to create some "Protect the Shield'' fiction ... and they got Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt to sign off on it ... and then Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie agreed to stay mum on it, too ... lest everybody sleep with the fishes, or something?

Oh, and Mike Florio is the only one who has dug deep enough to unearth the "classified info'' conspiracy? What is this, the sports version of HBO's Watergate parody "White House Plumbers'' meshed with a Peter Sellers "Inspector Clouseau'' revival?

We know that players - with the help of team equipment guys, who are masters of this art - changed their cleats multiple times in an attempt to match up with the field conditions. We also know that doing so, while rather unusual when dealing with an indoor field, is a common occurrence for players and equipment managers, who arrive at games with literally crates full of shoes and cleat-length options.

The field conditions at the Super Bowl were an issue and frankly embarrassing considering the magnitude of the game. These are just some examples. pic.twitter.com/Qd7Wjk8WgS

— Brandon Thorn (@BrandonThornNFL) February 13, 2023

But then the game happened. The field was slippery ... so players slipped. It didn't happen because of a Cigarette Smoking Man or because of a J. Edgar Hoover sinister whisper or because State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, is but 300 miles from Area 51. We're pretty sure owners know - and PFT ought to know - that the reason players slipped in Super Bowl LVII is because ... players slipped.

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