Week 4 Preview: Kansas City Chiefs (1-2) at Philadelphia Eagles (1-2)

When was the last time you saw two teams with 1-2 records have such a large talent discrepancy between them? Yes, your record says who you are. But, you’d be a fool to think that because both teams have the same record that means they’re on similar playing fields. The Chiefs, who have been the AFC’s representative in back-to-back Super Bowls, seem to be in a whole different football stratosphere compared to the 2021 Eagles.

 

The Eagles, losers of two straight, are coming off of an absolute beatdown at the hands of their most hated rival on national television. The Birds could seemingly do nothing right a week ago. The moment seemed to be too big across the board for both players and coaches. An embarrassing performance on so many levels, yes, but still only game three of the Sirianni era. Don’t give up on him yet.

 

As for the Chiefs, they are also coming off of two straight losses. Unlike the Eagles, Kansas City has lost heartbreakers in consecutive games and likely should have won both. Despite losing two games in a row, something that has been highly unlikely with Patrick Mahomes, the main concern after the game had nothing to do with football.

 

Chiefs head coach, and the Eagles all-time winningest coach, Andy Reid, was taken to the hospital following Sunday’s loss to the Chargers. While Reid did not disclose the medical reasoning for his trip to the hospital, he is back at the facility and has taken no steps back from coaching. It’s encouraging to see Reid has kept that same sense of dry humor. I’m glad he’s okay.

 

 

Eagles Offense vs. Chiefs Defense

 

Monday night’s game was an abomination of an offensive showing for so many reasons. Jalen Hurts played his worst game as a pro, missing open receivers and throwing two piss poor interceptions. I’m still not exactly sure what Nick Sirianni’s game plan was, but clearly it had nothing to do with running the ball.

 

Miles Sanders had two carries. I’m not even sure how that’s possible.

 

Regardless, Sirianni and the rest of the offense needs to move on from last week’s performance. Hopefully, they learned something and are able to adjust heading into Sunday afternoon. If not, they’re in for another long three hours.

 

If There Was Even An Opportunity To Bounce Back…

 

Jalen Hurts showed his shortcomings to the nation on Monday night. Whether his performances the last two weeks is the beginning of a trend, or are just anomalies remains to be seen. If there was ever a chance at a bounce back performance, this would be the week.

 

The Eagles are going to have to put up points if they want any chance of staying in this game, let alone winning it. The good news for the Birds is that the Chiefs have had one of the worst all-around defenses in the league so far this year. Their passing defense is no exception, as they have allowed the third most net passing yards per attempt in the league. They trail only the Jacksonville Jaguars and Detroit Lions in that category. Those two teams have a combined record of 0-7.

 

Eagles receivers have done a decent job of getting open through three weeks. Jalen Reagor has looked a lot better than he did all of last season. Quez Watkins is proving that he deserves the starting position he was given. Devonta Smith has gotten separation and gotten open pretty consistently, yet has not gotten as many targets as he should and has suffered from Hurts’ struggles the previous two weeks.

 

Both tight ends, Dallas Goedert and Zach Ertz, have also been getting open fairly regularly. Goedert, in particular, has run some really great routes and has even been doing a lot of damage after the catch. While Ertz still looks slower than molasses, he had his best game Monday night as he hauled in his first touchdown of the season to go along with five catches.

 

Against a Chiefs back seven that is among the worst in the league, Eagles receivers should be able to get open rather consistently yet again. The Eagles tight ends will have a significant advantage over a Chiefs linebacker group that has been vandalized in just about every facet of the game so far this season.

 

The Chiefs cornerbacks include failed Vikings first round pick Mike Hughes and a second-year, fourth-rounder named L’Jarius Snead. Tyrann Mathieu is by far the Chiefs best player in the secondary. As bad as Kansas City’s back end is, he is an elite safety. He struggles a bit against the pass against faster players, but he still has good coverage ability and makes tackles consistently. He had two interceptions in week two against the Ravens.

 

As for the running game, it’s as simple as this. The Chiefs have allowed the second most rushing yards and yards per attempt in the entire league through three weeks. Miles Sanders had two carries last week, Kenneth Gainwell had one. If Nick Sirianni remembers to use his own play sheet and not Doug Pederson’s, they will run the ball a lot more this week.

 

I don’t understand why Miles Sanders hasn’t been trusted by any play-caller so far in his NFL career. He was in the top five in yards per carry a season ago. This year, he’s eighth in that same category despite a criminally low sample size. Jalen Hurts is third in yards per carry. Run the damn ball.

 

 

If there was any defense that the Eagles offense could rebound against, theoretically, this would be the one. It will, however, require a much better and more balanced gameplan from Sirianni, as well as a far more accurate Jalen Hurts. Whether the Eagles get either of those is a lot easier said than done.

 

Banged Up Offensive Line

 

A position that was considered a strength heading into the season always came with a caveat: if they stayed healthy. Heading into week four, they have done the exact opposite of that. Brandon Brooks is going to miss extended time with a pec injury. Landon Dickerson struggled mightily in his place in his first NFL start.

 

Jordan Mailata missed Monday night’s game with a knee injury that seemingly came out of thin air. He has yet to practice this week, and will not play on Sunday. Andre Dillard started in his place on Monday night, and actually played pretty well. This was quite shocking given how bad he looked in training camp and how quickly he lost the battle for his position with Mailata. Dillard will start again on Sunday.

 

Now, Isaac Seumalo is set to miss the remainder of the season after suffering a Lisfranc injury on Monday night. A Lisfranc injury is the result of broken bones in the midfoot, or if ligaments that support the midfoot are torn. Clearly, the Birds are going to miss Seumalo on the field and in the locker room.

 

 

Nate Herbig is expected to start in Seumalo’s place at left guard. Herbig replaced Seumalo last week, and did well in his limited snaps after the injury. In 2020, Herbig actually did pretty well filling in for seemingly every injury the Birds had along the offensive line, allowing just two sacks.

 

While the Eagles missing three starters along the offensive line obviously isn’t a good thing, they match up this week against a defensive line that can be pushed around. The Chiefs have just four sacks as a team on the season, second fewest in the league. Defensive end Chris Jones has two of them. If the Eagles can neutralize Jones, they should be able to hold their own in run and pass blocking.

 

Then again, that’s what was said against a weak defensive line last week, and look what happened.

 

Eagles Defense vs. Chiefs Offense

 

This has a very strong, very realistic chance to get very ugly, very quickly.

 

The Chiefs offense is led by a quarterback that is truly a generational, one-of-a-kind talent. His name is like, Mahomes or something, you may have heard of him. If for some ungodly reason you’ve read this far on this blog and have never seen Mahomes play, here is seven minutes worth of highlights from his 2020 season. He’s unlike anything anyone has ever seen before at the quarterback position.

 

 

Naturally, as if trying to stop Patrick Mahomes wasn’t hard enough, the Chiefs have one of the greatest offensive minds in football in head coach Andy Reid.

 

They also have the best tight end in football, and arguably one of the most athletically gifted at the position in the history of the sport, in Travis Kelce (brother of the Eagles Jason Kelce).

 

Oh, and they also happen to have the fastest wide receiver in NFL history, who has totalled nearly 3,900 yards and 35 touchdowns since Mahomes became the full-time starter in Kansas City in 2018. His name is Tyreek Hill. He’s a pain in the butt to play against in fantasy.

 

To make matters even worse for the Eagles defense, they are coming off of one of their most embarrassing performances in recent memory. They allowed nearly 400 yards of offense and 34 points to the Cowboys on Monday night, and likely would have given up a little bit more had the Cowboys not stopped trying.

 

Even the Chiefs offensive line that was put together with spit, bubble gum, and duct tape has held up fairly well so far this season. They’ve allowed just four sacks so far this season, third fewest in the league. It should be a good matchup against an Eagles defensive line that has seven sacks so far on the year, good enough for 12th in the league.

 

Javon Hargrave, who has had a pro bowl caliber season to this point, could wreak havoc yet again. If he and Fletcher Cox aren’t able to do just that, they’ll have an even tougher time stopping Mahomes. As for the rest of the defensive line, we’ll see if Derek Barnett is able to lodge his head out of his anus long enough to not commit a stupid penalty.

 

 

You’re right, coach! It quite literally is always him. Do you want to know some Derek Barnett stats? No, you don’t? Well, I’m going to tell you anyway.

 

Derek Barnett has:

-23 penalties in his career.

-19.5 sacks in his career.

-13 penalties against him since 2019, while no other Eagles d-lineman has more than six.

 

Long story short, the Eagles defense is in for a long afternoon on Sunday. The only advantage the Eagles might have against the Chiefs is in the run game. However, after watching Monday night’s game, that might not even be true. Oh, and also the fact that if the Chiefs running game isn’t working, they can simply just throw the ball with the most physically gifted quarterback in NFL history makes that advantage a moot point.

 

At least Rodney McLeod’s back!

 

My Prediction

 

I hope the scoreboard operator sleeps well on Saturday night. He’s going to be put to work often on Sunday.

 

The Eagles offense has a good opportunity to rebound against a Chiefs defense that is, quite frankly, not good. The same can’t be said for the Eagles defense. I’m confident that the Eagles can score 20+ points on Sunday afternoon. However, if you’re going to beat Kansas City, you’re not going to win in a shootout.

 

The only way I could see the Eagles winning this game is if they are able to do something that no one else in the NFL has been able to do other than the 2020 Tampa Bay Bucs: stop the Chiefs offense. You’re not going to beat this team in a shootout, no matter how bad their defense is.

 

Unfortunately for the Eagles, they simply don’t have the ability to do the things necessary to beat Mahomes. Sure, they create a good amount of pressure, but not nearly enough to stop Mahomes and this offense. The Eagles have one forced turnover this year. If you don’t create takeaways against the Chiefs, you’re not winning.

 

I’m sorry, I just don’t see an upset happening. The Chiefs win this one convincingly, and the final score doesn’t even indicate how much of a blowout it really was. Chiefs 37, Eagles 24.

 

Hey, at least the Colts and Dolphins play each other this week! As long as Carson Wentz plays the whole game, one of those teams creeps closer to the top of the draft order! Good news for the Birds!

 

If I Were A Betting Man

Chiefs -7 (I can’t believe how low this line is)

 

Broadcast Information

Time: 1:00 P.M. EDT

TV: CBS (Ian Eagle, Charles Davis, and Evan Washburn)

Radio: 94.1 WIP

Stream: NFL Game Pass

 

 

By Matt Szczypiorski | October 3, 2021
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