Super Bowl 2023: Jordan Mailata reacts to loss, slams slippery surface
Aussie star Jordan Mailata was far from impressed with the slippery surface on which the Chiefs defeated his Eagles in the Super Bowl. But was Rihanna a reason for the ‘terrible’ field?
Australian NFL star Jordan Mailata has taken aim at the slippery surface after his Super Bowl dream with the Philadelphia Eagles ended in bitter heartbreak for the man dubbed the Bankstown behemoth.
The Super Bowl is billed as the biggest showpiece in world sport and while the NFL spent over $1.16 million over two years preparing the State Farm Stadium field in Arizona, the surface was widely criticised after the Kansas City Chiefs claimed a stunning 38-35 victory.
Players regularly slipped over during the game as fans questioned whether the NFL was more interested in getting the field ready for Rihanna’s halftime show than the football itself.
Although his quest to become the first Australian to play in and win a Super Bowl fell agonisingly short, Mailata’s magic play at the line of scrimmage was among the highlights even if the man himself was among the chorus calling out the surface.
“It was terrible, but the Kansas City Chiefs had to play on it too, and to be fair they kind of said it was terrible too in the tv timeouts, so I was glad we were on the same page,” Mailata told reporters after the defeat.
“It was slick, you couldn’t anchor, you had to get your whole foot on the ground, if you try to use just your toe you’d slip right away. You saw the receivers, it was like a water park out there and we’re playing on grass.”
Mailata bravely fronted the world’s media not long after the Eagles surrendered a 21-14 lead at half-time as MVP Patrick Mahomes crafted a second half Chiefs comeback to win their second Super Bowl in four years.
“I’m not a grass expert but it was pretty slippery,” Mailata said.
“It is whoever can weather the conditions. If it’s windy, rainy, it comes down to who can handle the conditions the best.”
“We can’t control the field. We just have to accept the reality of the situation and whoever can perform the best wins the game and we fell short.”
Mailata may not have won the Super Bowl but his bullocking blocking in American Football’s showpiece event could have laid the platform for more rugby league converts to join the NFL.
From unwanted Rabbitohs also-ran to Philadelphia’s US$64 million left tackle, the Bankstown brute’s rise from NRL outcast to NFL superstar was nearly capped with a Super Bowl ring on Monday.
Fellow Aussie and former St Kilda AFL player Arryn Siposs’s meek 37-yard punt in the fourth quarter proved the match-turning play that ultimately cost the Eagles victory against Kansas City, but Mailata was one of the major reasons Philadelphia stood a chance at all.
Drafted 233rd overall by the Eagles in the 2018 draft, Mailata did not play a snap in his first two seasons in the NFL – considered a practice squad player at best by pre-draft analysts.
Now, after usurping former first round pick Andre Dillard for the starting left tackle spot, and grading out as one of the best players at his position in the NFL, the 25 year old is changing the game.
His eye-catching display at the line of scrimmage, using all the tools of his former rugby league trade, helped the Eagles offence sing in the first half.
Jalen Hurts became the first quarterback in Super Bowl history to rush for two touchdowns in the opening half and Philly opened up a 21-14 lead at the major break.
Mailata’s ability to get low to the ground and stuff the defensive line helped open gaps for Hurts and the Eagles’ running backs to find space.
Rated the number one offensive line in the league, the Eagles play the position in a unique way and the Aussie’s influence is a big reason why.
The Eagles are also the best team at short-yardage situations and it showed again in the Super Bowl, with Hurts able to steal crucial first downs off QB sneaks – including the opening touchdown of the game – courtesy of the grunt work up front, led by Mailata.
Mailata credited Eagles coach Nick Sirianni as he immediately looked towards redemption next season.
“We really built a great brotherhood and that started with Sirianni,” Mailata said.
“Our locker room is a very tight-knit group and I’m just proud of the guys.
“(Sirianni) is quite young and we can relate. He is very approachable. Some will say he is a players’ coach and I 100 per cent agree. He is just amazing.”
FROM ‘SPACESHIP’ MANUALS TO NFL STAR
Peter Badel
Jordan Mailata is tipped to dominate the NFL for the next decade as the Australian giant revealed how he had to overcome a battle with “burnout” to become an American Football sensation.
The NRL reject is on the verge of living out an unfathomable fairytale, with Mailata just one win away from becoming the first Australian in history to win a Super Bowl as a starting player.
Mailata and Melbourne-born teammate Arryn Siposs, a former AFL forward at St Kilda, will turn out for Philadelphia against Kansas City in Super Bowl LVII at Arizona’s State Farm Stadium on Monday morning (AEDT).
More than 6000 journalists from 24 countries will cover the blockbuster event and an estimated global audience of 200 million will tune in as Mailata and Siposs chase Australian sporting immortality.
For Mailata, the journey from virtually broke rugby league rookie to a $92 million NFL superstar is as unbelievable as his 203cm, 166kg physique.
Five years ago, the boy from Bankstown had never touched an American football, let alone taken part in a snap.
Now, at age 25, Mailata is the 14th highest-paid of 163 offensive tackles in the NFL – he is on $10.2 million this year – and American football experts believe he has the potential to be the No.1 left tackle in the league.
The monstrous Mailata will be star Philadelphia quarterback Jalen Hurts’s bodyguard in the Super Bowl and Siposs says his countryman is on track to be one of the kingpins of the NFL.
“Jordan is awesome. What a story it is,” Siposs said on the eve of the Eagles-Chiefs decider.
“If he stays healthy, he will be good to go for 10 years in this sport. He is an incredible athlete and he will be a true star of the NFL for a long time.
“The journey for him has been remarkable. Who knew what was going to happen when Jordan came here, but now he is one of the best left tackles in the game.
“It blows me away how quickly he has adapted to this sport.
“He is an absolute beast. It’s been great to build a friendship, too, and if we can do this together and win a Super Bowl, two Aussies succeeding in the NFL, it would be surreal.”
Mike Jensen is a senior journalist at the Philadelphia Inquirer. He has covered NFL and NBA for decades and says it is difficult to truly explain the significance of Mailata’s ability to succeed in the NFL with no experience in the sport.
“As nuts as you think it is ... I’m telling you, it is just impossible what he has done,” Jensen said.
“We are now talking about one of the best left tackles in the NFL.
“It is as crucial a position in American Football as there is - your job is to protect the life of your quarterback. So for Jordan Mailata to pick up the position in the time that he has, it is an insane story.
“In Philadelphia, Mailata is now as big as the rest of them.
“Ten Philadelphia players (out of the Eagles’ 53-man squad) were picked to come on podiums at the media event and Jordan was one of them. He is a very recognisable figure in Philadelphia. It is a crazy sports town and the Eagles are one, two, three, four and five in the pecking order.
“Think of the most important sports team in Australia and that’s the Eagles in America.”
Since his NFL debut for Philadelphia in September 2020, Mailata has become a starting fixture and will play his 46th game for the Eagles in the Super Bowl.
Asked what makes Mailata so competent, Jensen said: “He blocks out the sun.
“His opponents simply can’t get around him. He is extremely quick for a huge man.
“On the snap, you have to jump so quickly and Jordan moves quicker than any big man.
“He is an extraordinary athlete for a big guy. He is perfectly built for the NFL.”
While he has become the most extraordinary story in Australian sport, Mailata admits the road to the Super Bowl has been lined with potholes.
The toughest part was not the physicality. At 365 pounds, Mailata was big enough for explosive collisions. It was the emotional intelligence, and football IQ, required to make sense of the strategic mania swirling around him.
Former coach Jon Gruden, who steered Tampa Bay to Super Bowl glory in 2002, once said an NFL playbook is as thick as the Los Angeles Yellow Pages.
Most teams, he says, select 75 to 100 pass plays per match and 15-20 running routes when assembling a game plan for a given week.
Aside from learning the basics of a foreign sport, Mailata needed the smarts to download, process and remember every given play for any given game.
“I knew very little,” Mailata said.
“The only thing I understood from watching the Super Bowl was when they scored touchdowns and first-downs.
“I didn’t understand routes, departure angles or when they run the ball. I was just guessing. I had no idea.
“When I first saw the Eagles playbook, I thought it was an instruction manual on how to build a spaceship.
“All these diagrams and all lines. I was like, ‘What the f*** is this?’”
Mailata concedes the endless study, night after night in his bed after a day of training, almost broke him. He considered going back to Australia.
“I burnt myself out in my rookie year trying to learn the playbook,” he recalls.
“I would go home and sit in my hotel room for hours, just sitting there saying, ‘Okay, what did coach say today? OK, X means this, Y means that’.
“’The two circles on this side means this and the three circles means three by one’.
“I burnt myself out.
“I realised I had to stop doing it. I said, ‘Okay, when I get to my hotel, no more football’ and it helped me process things and find a balance.
“I didn’t become anxious about learning the playbook anymore. I kind of separated work and my time off. When you have your time off, you have to separate that, so it was a turning point for me.
“It took me three years to become comfortable with the sport. Everything was hard. The technique, the terminology, the playbook. I’d never read a book so thick, so I am proud of myself to say I took in all that information.
“Any lineman will tell you how tough it is. You have to learn your body mechanics and how to manipulate yourself. I spent a lot of time understanding my body and how it moves.
“By the 2021 season, I finally understood how I could manipulate my body.”
Mailata has a motto that drives his development in the NFL - ‘Be where your feet are at’. It is a mantra of simplicity. Don’t get carried away. Get the job done. Mistakes in the past. Move forward.
“Coming here was so hard. I had a blank canvas,” he said.
“The advice I got from when I was a rookie was, ‘Be where your feet are at’. I keep using that line because that’s the motto that has helped me survive.
“My biggest fears were missing my family. I am very tight with my siblings. The failing part didn’t scare me. I wasn’t fearful of failing in the NFL because I knew I would give everything I had.
“At the end of the day, if it didn’t work out, I know I would have done my best and that’s all anyone can ask.
“But leaving my family was hard.
“So now I say to all those kids who doubt themselves, ‘Fall forward. Don’t dip your toe in the water, drown it in and learn how to swim’.”
Philadelphia will start as favourites and for the Eagles to clinch their second Super Bowl in six years, Mailata must play a critical role in stopping Kansas City rivals smashing his quarterback Hurts.
“At the end of the day, I don’t want my QB to get hit and I don’t want to see him dirtier than I am,” he said.
“They are my two goals on game day.”
Mailata is asked to whom he will dedicate his championship ring if Philadelphia prevail. He doesn’t hesitate.
“If we win the Super Bowl, I will dedicate it to my parents,” he says of father Tupa’i and mother Maria, Samoan immigrants who will be at the 63,000-capacity State Farm Stadium watching their son chase an American dream they never imagined.
“My mum and dad were the ones who set up the life for us in Australia.
“This is an amazing achievement. I still can’t believe I am part of all this.
“For me, I’m honoured that I get to have this platform and I get to pave the way for Australian kids.
“Polynesian kids in America have greats to look up to but I want ‘Poly’ kids in Australia to know they can do this, too.
“Hopefully I can create a wave to get some more kids from Down Under to play the greatest game on earth.
“To be on this platform and maybe change some kids’ lives in Australia, it’s really humbling. All I know is football and how to play it.
“It’s hard to see the big picture and the ripple effects of being a role model when I am stuck in this moment of the Super Bowl, but if I have an effect on even one kid’s life, I will be humbled.”
More Coverage
‘Under par’: Inside the twists and turns of the Houston bombshell
Dan Houston got his wish to be a Magpie, but it certainly wasn’t that simple, as the story that has dominated the trade period threatened to go off the rails. So how did they get it done?
Massive scorelines, tries galore! Super Rugby U16s, U19s stars, wrap
There was a comeback, great kicking, explosions of speed and crucial results racked up in round three of the Super Rugby U16s and U19s series. Rd 3 wrap, great photos, standouts and scorers