The Eagles' triumph
My sense of the matchup seems to have been off, how did Philadelphia dominate the Chiefs?
By halftime I had a very clear identification on what it was that I missed about this matchup, I’m sure everyone else did as well. I don’t feel too bad, I barely watched the NFL this season, but was certainly surprised by what proved to be the most important dimension of this game.
As it turns out, “the Eagles are built to force teams to dink and dunk down the field but the Chiefs are built to dink and dunk down the field” proved much too shallow an analysis of how things would go on that side of the ball. At halftime the Chiefs had something pitiful like 27 total yards and I think zero first downs?
Patrick Mahomes had also thrown a pair of interceptions, including a pick-6 to Cooper DeJean, Philly’s famously white defensive back. Btw, he’s technically playing nickel and not cornerback and there is a real difference.
My major argument, that Kansas City was better built to adjust in game due to having a more flexible and direct command structure from the head coach and his field general Patrick Mahomes, never even came into play. The plan laid out in advance by the Eagles knocked the Chiefs out quickly and late game decision-making never mattered.
Also notable, the Chiefs had a plan to stop Saquon Barkley and it worked about as well as you’d reasonably expect. Dude had 25 carries for 57 yards at 2.3 ypc and was targeted seven times for six catches yielding another 40 yards at 5.7 ypt. Kansas City made a bet Jalen Hurts couldn’t beat them (except perhaps with tush pushes, which are unstoppable).
Hurts made them pay:
17-22 passing for 221 yards at 10.0 ypa with two touchdowns and one interception.
11 carries for 72 yards at 6.5 ypc with one touchdown on what I believe was the sole tush push of the day.
The total workload wasn’t too bad, Barkley did a lot of the grunt work, but Hurt landed real damage against 1-on-1 coverage to make the Chiefs pay for loading the box and he converted a few big third downs. I’ve doubted him every step of the way but he executed a college-style attack supremely well last night.
Let’s talk about the Eagle defense…