9-1 (Eagles’ Version) — Eagles take down Chiefs in Kansas City

Somehow, somehow, the Eagles won that football game. The Eagles are leaving Kansas City 9-1 after a 21-17 victory over the Chiefs.

The Eagles certainly have a lot of things to figure out, but beating Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid is no easy feat.

Second Half Shutout

The Eagles’ defense did just about everything that could have been asked of them and more. The Eagles’ defense held the Chiefs’ offense scoreless in the second half of this game. While they did get lucky by a late dropped touchdown, the defense made play after play to keep the offense in the game.

Kevin Byard had an up-and-down game, with a lot of ups. Early in the game, he gave up a touchdown on a miscommunication. While he is still learning the defense, he has to know where he needs to be in that situation. However, Byard more than made up for it with his play the rest of the game. He had a clutch interception of Mahomes in the end zone and also deflected another pass. Byard also did a very good job hanging with Travis Kelce in coverage. Overall, Byard played a massive part in winning the game of the Eagles, and hopefully, it’s a sign of good things to come.

While the Eagles’ defensive line struggled at times, they made plays when it mattered most. Haason Reddick got the sacks started early as he sacked Mahomes on the first drive of the game. Josh Sweat had a ton of great pressures, including getting a few holding calls. He then made the biggest play late in the game forcing an intentional grounding call on Mahomes, which essentially iced the game. Jalen Carter also had some great pressures on Mahomes, including a tackle that may get changed to a sack later in the week. No more tee shirts.

In His MVP Era

By no means was this Jalen Hurts best game, but he did what it took to win. When the Eagles needed a play late in the game, Hurts came through. The deep pass to Devonta Smith that eventually won the game is an MVP-type play by Hurts. With pressure in his face, he stayed in the pocket and delivered a strike to Smith down the sideline. When the Eagles were down 10 and needed to get back into the game, Hurts delivered a touchdown to get them right back into the game. It was far from his best game, but the now MVP frontrunner delivered an MVP performance.

The biggest difference in this game was that Devonta Smith made a big catch, and Marquez Valdes-Scantling did not. Smith had a big game tonight catching 6 passes for 99 yards. Smith was the safety blanket for Hurts tonight, and he came up big in the biggest moments.

D’Andre Swift returned to early season form tonight as he rushed for 76 yards on 12 carries, while also catching 3 passes for 31 yards. Swift was able to carry the offense at times with explosive runs, and great run after the catch ability. Swift was able to make multiple people miss at the line of scrimmage, and continually gain positive yards. Hopefully with Cam Jurgens back we will also see the D’Andre Swift back we saw early in the year.

Screen, Draw, Screen, Screen

One of the biggest takeaways from this game has to be the questionable playcalling of Brian Johnson. While yes the Chiefs were getting a lot of pressure, calling a screen pass in 5/6 plays is just unacceptable. There were too many times that the offense went three and out without even moving the ball. Teams will start to notice that they call a QB Draw on 3rd down just about every time. It seemed as if they had 3 plays on the call sheet at times in the game, and there was just no creativity to get the offense going. Johnson has been under fire a lot this year from fans, despite doing a pretty good job. But tonight was a step in the wrong direction. Yes, the Chiefs have a very good defense, but at times, the play-calling made them look even better.