Sooners in the NFL – Championship Sunday

Oklahoma players competed for all four teams and made big plays all over the field, resulting in a Super Bowl rematch between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles.

No school populates the NFL Playoffs like the Oklahoma Sooners. For the third year in a row, that goes for the Super Bowl as well.

Thanks to Kansas City’s reliance on OU talent — and the Chiefs’ unprecedented dominance in the postseason — the Sooners have more players than any school playing in the league’s ultimate game three years running.

Kansas City outlasted Buffalo 32-29 on Sunday night in the AFC Championship game, sending six Sooners to the Super Bowl: wide receiver Marquise “Hollywood” Brown, center Creed Humphrey, offensive lineman Wanya Morris, running back Samaje Perine and long snapper James Winchester. Rookie offensive lineman McKade Mettauer is on the Chiefs’ reserve/injured list.

In the NFC Championship Game, three former Sooners punched their ticket to New Orleans as Philadelphia routed Washington 55-23: tight end Grant Calcaterra, quarterback Jalen Hurts and right tackle Lane Johnson. Calcaterra retired from football at OU due to concussions, then resurfaced at SMU.

In Sunday’s action, former Sooners were making big plays all over the place.

Hurts rushed for three touchdowns and completed 20-of-28 passes for 246 yards and another score as the Eagles obliterated the Commanders at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.

Johnson started at right tackle and played 64 of the team’s 71 offensive snaps.

Meanwhile Tress Way, Washington’s long-time punter extraordinaire, got to step outside his special teams bubble when he threw a perfect fourth-down pass to tight end Ben Sinnott on a fake punt in the second quarter. The Eagles’ lead was only 14-3 at the time and it allowed the Commanders to tack on a field goal that made it 14-6 before the score got out of hand.

At Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, the Chiefs pulled out their 17th consecutive one-score victory thanks in large part to Perine, who played just one play in the final seconds — but clinched KC’s third straight Super Bowl trip.

With the Chiefs leading by three and trying to run out the final seconds of the game clock, the Sooners’ all-time leading rusher came in on third-and-9 from the Buffalo 35. At the snap, Perine lined up on quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ right, then leaked out of the backfield to his left, behind the offensive line, and was completely uncovered. Mahomes calmly floated a pass to Perine, who turned it upfield for a 17-yard gain and the game-clinching first down with 1:30 to play.