By Mike Johnson >>
- A Super Bowl rematch already in Week 2, the NFL schedule makers really were in their bag this year.
- Kansas City’s receiving corps has been decimated by injuries and suspensions, while their backfield is a bit of a mess as well leaving Patrick Mahomes to play “Superman” to keep the Chiefs afloat.
- Chiefs head coach Andy Reid has not started a season 0-2 since 2014, which was also the last time the Chiefs missed the playoffs.
- Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert missed practice both Wednesday and Thursday this week, leaving his status in doubt.
How philadelphia Will Try To Win ::
The approach for the Eagles is very straightforward and has not changed since last season. They are going to run the ball at their opponents and break them down physically and mentally with their All-Pro backfield of QB Jalen Hurts and RB Saquon Barkley. The last two Eagles games were their dominant Super Bowl victory over the Chiefs and their close win over the Cowboys in Week 1. In those two games, Barkley and Hurts combined for a 66% and 63% utilization rate, respectively. Second year running back Will Shipley sustained an oblique injury in the season opener and has not practiced yet this week, which led to the team trading for Tank Bigsby from the Jaguars early this week. Considering how new Bigsby is to the team and how inept AJ Dillon looks at this point in his career, we can expect this massive utilization of Hurts and Barkley to continue. Simply put – if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
The matchup for this week does shed some promise for the Eagles passing game which was put on the back burner in Week 1. The Eagles always have a low pass rate, but game context usually drives how aggressive those passes are, as well as how efficient and successful they are likely to be. The Cowboys blitzed on only 18% of their defensive snaps in Week 1 (bottom-10 in the league) and played the sixth highest rate of zone coverage across the NFL at 82%, per PFF. The nature of their zones was very conservative as well, with them playing very soft and keeping everything in front of them – basically eliminating anything down the field. Due to this conservative approach and Dallas dropping so many players into coverage, Hurts simply played dink and dunk ball, with all of his 23 pass attempts being within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage. He was highly accurate and efficient, completing 19 passes, and his four incompletions consisted of three passes he threw away on scrambles and one drop.
The Chiefs defense was true to form in Week 1, blitzing at the fourth highest rate in the league and playing a high rate of man coverage. This is what we have seen from them consistently over the last few years. It is only Week 2, and while we can hypothesize about a change in philosophy for this game/matchup, the reality is that Kansas City is unlikely to drastically change its approach this early in the season as they try to work out the kinks. This defensive style significantly increases the likelihood of the Eagles downfield passing game opening up in Week 2. It also opens the door for Jalen Hurts to make some big plays with his legs as Kansas City’s man coverage will leave open running lanes when quarterbacks break contain, as evidenced last week when Justin Herbert sealed the game on a late scramble. The Eagles are likely to be without veteran tight end Dallas Goedert, who has not practiced yet this week. His absence will likely funnel targets to Eagles wide receivers A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith. While the Chiefs have historically been very good against wide receivers, tending to funnel receiving production to opposing tight ends and running backs, they were dusted up by the Chargers in Week 1 and appear to have vulnerabilities in the secondary after multiple key players were lost this offseason.
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