Eagles’ Jake Elliott showed up six hours early for the Super Bowl, and delivered a record-setting performance

About 5½ hours before the Super Bowl, Jake Elliott was on the field kicking. He doesn’t always arrive that early — only sometimes, when the team is on the road — but on this day, he wanted to make sure he left himself plenty of time.

“I just didn’t want to be rushed on game day,” Elliott said, “so I went with the trainer bus [six hours before kickoff].”

Sunday marked one of the best performances of the Eagles kicker’s career. He went 4-for-4 on field-goal attempts and scored 16 points to eclipse Green Bay kicker Don Chandler’s 57-year record for most points by a kicker in a Super Bowl (15, on Jan. 14, 1968).

Elliott missed only one field goal attempt over the Eagles’ playoff run (a 54-yarder in the NFC title game on Jan. 26 against the Commanders) and is now the most accurate kicker in Super Bowl history (nine field goals in nine attempts in 2018, 2023, and 2025).

But what made his Super Bowl performance even more impressive was what preceded it. Elliott posted a 77.8% field-goal rate this season, the second-lowest of his career. He particularly struggled with kicks from 50 yards or farther (1-for-7) — an area in which he had excelled over his previous seven seasons with the Eagles.

Despite the low percentage, Elliott said this season was not comparable to his struggles in 2020, when he made 73.7% of his field-goal attempts.

“I think I was not kicking well in 2020,” Elliott said. “I think there were times where it was definitely frustrating. This was more — kicks that I want to make, obviously, but a lot of them were longer, and the reality is some of those aren’t going to go through, and some of those got me this year.

“And I still felt good about where I was, every week I got to a good place, and I still was highly confident in my abilities and was able to put my best foot forward every week.

“I just didn’t feel like I was hitting the ball that well. I didn’t have many attempts that year, it was kind of a weird season. With the COVID year, it was hard to find a rhythm in anything. So it was very different.”

Then-Eagles coach Doug Pederson was going for it more on fourth down in 2020, which limited Elliott’s attempts. This year, he had more attempts, but he also had more field goals from 50 yards or farther and worse weather conditions — lots of windy nights, and the snow game on Jan. 19.

Elliott didn’t make excuses — even when a former teammate gave him an opportunity to do so. After the Super Bowl, Beau Allen said on the Green Light With Chris Long podcast that Elliott was playing through injury in 2024.

“Jake Elliott battled through adversity this year, man,” said Allen, a former defensive tackle. “He wasn’t his same consistent self that he’s been. And some of that was due to injury. That’s not reported. I’ll tell you that, because I [expletive] love that guy and was talking to him about it, and he’s a [expletive] grinder.”

Elliott repeatedly was asked about his injury status on Thursday.

“Everyone is dealing with soreness,” Elliott said. “I know Beau put that out there. But everyone’s dealing with soreness throughout the year, little things, and I was able to play through Sunday.

“I’m fine. I’m not injured. I’m good to go. If I need to play Sunday this week, I’d play Sunday this week.”

Elliott is looking forward to getting some rest — and celebrating his second Super Bowl win with the Eagles. Elliott, Rick Lovato, Brandon Graham, and Lane Johnson are the first Philadelphia pro athletes to win multiple championships since the 1970s Flyers.

After a down year, his kicks started to fall when it mattered the most.

“I think I stayed pretty even-keeled every week and kind of just trusted my process,” Elliott said. “A few of the longer ones didn’t go my way, but I don’t feel like the numbers tell the story of my season. But I got to a good confident place every week and put my best foot forward.”