In a Super Bowl LVII rematch, and possibly a Super Bowl LVIII preview, the Kansas City Chiefs will host the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday Night Football.
Both teams are coming off of their bye weeks and are atop their respective conferences. The Chiefs are looking to keep up their dominant defensive performance in the second half of the season while working out some kinks on offense. The Eagles will try to maintain their awesome balance offensively while figuring out some struggles they’ve had in their defensive secondary.
Check out our offseason report on the Eagles, where you’ll find information about their offseason moves and key players. Now, let’s see what it will take for the Chiefs to come away victorious.
Chiefs' defense vs. Eagles' offense
Nick Sirianni is in his third season as the Eagles’ head coach. He promoted Brian Johnson to offensive coordinator this past offseason and together they run the offense, which features an incredibly diverse rushing attack at its foundation. It all begins with their dominant offensive line, which was recently ranked the best in the NFL by The 33rd Team.
The Eagles are a heavy zone power running team with plenty of RPOs and designed quarterback runs. D’Andre Swift is the workhorse back, who ranks seventh in the league in rushing yards. Then there’s Jalen Hurts, who isn’t running quite as much this season (with the exception of the “tush push” play) but is still a threat.
The heart of the Eagles’ game plan will no doubt be to establish the run. As good as the Chiefs’ defense has been this season it has been mediocre against the run, ranking 17th against it and surrendering 4.6 yards per carry. Getting a strong push and winning one-on-one matchups will be crucial for K.C.’s front seven.
Hurts is having another stellar year throwing the ball, completing 69 percent of his passes and averaging 7.7 yards per completion. He has a pair of elite wide receivers in A.J. Browns and DeVonta Smith to work with, which could present the Chiefs’ secondary with its biggest challenge to date.
Brown is a physical and fast receiver who can outmuscle a DB at the high point of the catch and can also burn defenders deep. L’Jarius Sneed has the physicality to match up against Brown and has done an awesome job against some elite receivers this year, including Justin Jefferson and Tyreek Hill.
Smith is a burner who is also one of the better route runners in the league. We could see Trent McDuffie, the Chiefs’ quickest cornerback, matched up against Smith often. Hurts will certainly take a handful of deep shots in this game, as he does every game.
It will be critical for the Chiefs’ defensive backs to keep the Philadelphia receivers in front of them and compete for the ball when given the opportunity. With how frequently the Eagles use RPOs, it makes sense for the Chiefs’ DBs to play a lot of man-to-man so that every player on the Eagles’ offense is accounted for no matter who has the ball.
Chiefs' offense vs. Eagles' defense
Sirianni brought in Sean Desai from the Seattle Seahawks to be his defensive coordinator during the offseason. Desai is a disciple of longtime defensive guru Vic Fangio, who spent four seasons together with the Chicago Bears.
Desai’s defense is naturally similar to Fangio’s, but he has also taken elements from former Eagles’ defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon to keep some continuity from last year. Like with Gannon, Desai often employs a five-man front on first downs and obvious rushing situations and is not a heavy blitzer.
The front seven of the Eagles has been dominant this season, ranking first in the NFL against the run. It is also tied with K.C. for a league-low three rushing touchdowns allowed. The Chiefs have been very inconsistent running the ball this season, so this may be a game where they loosen up the defense with the pass first before trying to establish the run.
Back in the secondary, Desai is similar to Fangio with his two-high safety looks with pre and post-snap disguises meant to confuse the opposing quarterbacks, which is meant to eliminate big plays. Desai also often employs the big nickel package, which features three safeties.
It’s been a rough go for the Philadelphia secondary as it ranks 28th in passing defense and has given up more touchdowns through the air (19) than any other team in the league. Safety Kevin Byard, who the Eagles acquired just a few weeks ago, has struggled to adjust to his new defense thus far.
We know that the Chiefs’ passing game has struggled for a good chunk of the season, so it will be interesting to see what gives. It will be crucial for the K.C. wide receivers to find the soft spots against Philadelphia’s two-high zone coverage, and quarterback Patrick Mahomes will have to be patient and take what the defense gives him.
