The Eagles (8-1) are coming off a bye week and will face the Kansas City Chiefs (7-2) in a rematch of Super Bowl LII.
Let’s move on to the match:
Eagles midfield vs. Travis Kelce
It was impossible to ignore the success CeeDee Lamb had in the midfield against the Eagles before the bye week. In the Eagles’ win, Lamb had 11 catches for 191 yards. But what may be a bigger concern going forward is that tight end Jake Ferguson had seven catches for 91 yards and a touchdown. Travis Kelce is on the schedule this week, so that’s a concern.
The Chiefs don’t have the offensive power they’ve seen in years past, but their biggest weapon – so far – has 57 catches for 597 yards and four touchdowns in eight games this season. It’s Kelce. Kelce is already a Hall of Fame tight end, and even at age 34, he doesn’t seem to be slowing down. In last year’s Super Bowl, Kelce had an impressive performance with six catches for 81 yards and one touchdown.
How will the Eagles try to stop Kelce? It’s certainly not an easy proposition considering their struggles in the middle of the field. Nicholas Morrow and Zach Cunningham have played well this season, but you probably don’t want to see too much of them in Kelce. The Eagles safeties are also still learning how to play together. What’s scary is how well Kelce seems to find weaknesses in zone coverage, yet Patrick Mahomes always seems to have the ability to find him. These two sometimes play a different game than everyone else.
Eagles pass rush vs. Patrick Mahomes
The Chiefs have two new offensive tackles since the last time the Eagles saw them in the Super Bowl. Orlando Brown and Andrew Wylie are gone, replaced by Donovan Smith and Ja’Wuan Taylor, who rank 56th and 62nd in the NFL in tackles, according to Pro Football Focus. That seems like a potentially disastrous combination for the Eagles’ edge rusher duo, Josh Sweat and Haason Reddick, who have been great this season.
However, Mahomes was not fired. The Eagles couldn’t get to him on a slick field in Super Bowl LVII, but Mahomes hasn’t been beaten this season either. He was sacked just 12 times in nine games. There are 32 more quarterbacks sacked in the NFL this season.
So Mahomes should be getting the ball right away, right? mistaken. Mahomes’ average pitch time is an astonishing 3.02 seconds. Mahomes has been great at avoiding sacks this year. His ability to avoid pressure and play backyard football is truly unparalleled and should frustrate opposing defenses.
The problem is, Mahomes is going to take some hits. Mahomes doesn’t actually get sacked, but he has been hit 38 times, which ranks third in the NFL, and he has been sacked 40 times, which leads the NFL. So the Eagles can only hope to speed up Mahomes’ process and attack him when they can. You also have to realize that he has the ability to scramble for yards if you let him run.
Eagles top run defense vs. Isaiah Pacheco
The Chiefs aren’t a great team, but Pacheco, a South Jersey native, is having a decent season. He has rushed for 525 yards and three touchdowns in nine games, averaging 4.2 yards per carry. He also caught 24 passes for 160 yards. Meanwhile, the Eagles boast the No. 1 run defense in the NFL, giving up just 66.3 yards per game.
Even when you’re playing against one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, you want to make your opponent’s offense one-dimensional. The good news is the Eagles should be able to do that against the Chiefs. Mahomes is still very good in known passing situations, but his goal has to be to get him there.
Cam Jurgens, Landon Dickerson vs. Chris Jones
The Chiefs defense is legitimately good this year. When you think of the Chiefs, you think of a high-flying offense and a defense that does just fine. Not so in 2023. The Chiefs’ defense was the team’s strength. Many members of Steve Spagnuolo’s unit have gone under the radar, but their star is Jones.
Jones, who missed the first game of the season due to a contract dispute with the team, returned in Week 2 after working out the terms of a new one-year deal with the Chiefs. And he immediately recorded 5 1/2 sacks in his first five games this year. Even though he hasn’t had a sack in the past three games, Jones has established himself as the dominant interior defensive lineman. He is a four-time Pro Bowler, was named first-team All-Pro in 2022 and finished third in Defensive Player of the Year voting. He once again led the league in total pressures as an Interior Defensive Lineman with 32.
Jones is one of the players the Chiefs want to find on every snap because they won’t keep him in one place. He plays left defensive tackle, right defensive tackle and even lines up on the edge. The advantage Jones has on the edge might not be as effective against the Eagles and their leading tackles Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata, but the Chiefs might still try it from time to time. For other snaps, it will be up to the Eagles’ interior linemen to deal with Jones. It’s probably reasonable to expect Cam Jurgens to return after missing five games with a foot injury. It helps.
Jalen Hurts vs. Impressive Secondary
Before the bye week, Hurts was starting to string together some really impressive games. However, he nevertheless admitted that the bye came at a good time for him due to a lingering knee injury. But before the bye, Hurts had back-to-back games with a passer rating above 130 for the first time in his career. He threw some great football in wins over the Cowboys and Commanders.
But this Chiefs secondary is a legitimate threat. The Chiefs have the NFL’s fifth-best pass defense, giving up just 176.0 yards per game this season. The Chiefs boast a very good one-two punch at cornerback with Trent McDuffie and Jarius Sneed, but the third cornerback position is more of a weakness, whether it’s Jalen Watson or Joshua Williams. be. And lately, there have been a lot of Watsons.
When McDuffie starts, he slides inside on nickel down and Watson plays on the outside. Without Dallas Goedert, the Eagles are expected to use as many as 11 personnel for this game, leaving the Chiefs with three corners on the field. That means the Eagles could use Watson’s matchup with AJ Brown or DeVonta Smith, and that might be their best bet in this game. Of course, the Chiefs also practice high-level safety play. This is a good versus good matchup that could decide the outcome of the match.
D’Andre Swift vs. Chiefs run defense
The Chiefs have a very good pass defense, but they aren’t as good against the run. They have the NFL’s No. 17 rushing defense, giving up 112.2 yards per game. However, they are 27th in the NFL in yards per attempt, giving up 4.5 yards per pop.
The Eagles have not been able to get their run game going in recent weeks. After great performances on the ground in Weeks 2 and 3, the Eagles have averaged just 86.8 yards per game in their last four games. There are likely several reasons for that, including Hurts’ knee injury, Jurgens’ absence, and Swift’s uncertain play. But this is the week they could break out.
Swift had 175 and 130 yards in Weeks 2 and 3, but hasn’t surpassed 70 yards in any game since then. Believe it or not, Swift actually had more rushing yards in the first three games of the season than in the next six games. He averaged 6.8 yards per attempt from Weeks 1 to 3, but just 3.4 yards per attempt from Weeks 4 to 9. But this could be a big game for him. Another Swift might finally steal the headlines in Kansas City.
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