The Philadelphia Eagles are 2-0 after BEATING the Kansas City Chiefs at “GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium” on Sunday evening. Final score: 20 to 17.
This win clearly wasn’t as easy as it was for the Eagles when they absolutely dominated the Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX.
Nevertheless, this was a big win for the Birds.
Patrick Mahomes had previously NEVER lost three games in a row. He previously had NEVER started a season 0-2.
And yet the Eagles pulled it off.
In no small part to Travis Kelce’s bobbled pass that was intercepted by Andrew Mukuba, which ended up being a 14-point swing in the game. Kelce catches that and it’s a four-point Chiefs lead early in the fourth quarter. Instead, the Eagles capitalized on the turnover to go up 10 points.
There’s still plenty for this Eagles team to work on. The offense simply has too much talent to not be better. They gained just 216 yards at 3.7 per play.
Vic Fangio’s defense was mostly good but had some costly mistakes, such as the blown coverage for KC’s final touchdown to make the game closer than it should’ve been.
Next up for the Eagles: a home game against the Los Angeles Rams, who they defeated at home in the snow in the Divisional Round last season.
Read on for a recap and stay tuned for BGN’s postgame coverage.
FIRST QUARTER
- The Chiefs won the coin toss and elected to defer to put the Eagles on offense first. The Eagles took over at their own 31-yard line after a kick return by John Metchie. Jalen Hurts fumbled on the first play of scrimmage (ball hit his own leg) but Grant Calcaterra was able to jump on the ball. A bubble screen to Metchie resulted in no gain. Facing 3rd-and-13, Landon Dickerson reacted to Chris Jones jumping offside to shorten the distance. Facing 3rd-and-8, Hurts to A.J. Brown (hey, there he is) came up just short of the sticks. Facing 4th-and-1 ( a long one), the Eagles lined up for the Brotherly Shove from their own 40-yard line … and got it. Nice job by Nick Sirianni to be aggressive. The Chiefs got called for being offside anyway. Facing 3rd-and-11 after Hurts overthrew Calcaterra, the Eagles’ protection held up against a blitz but Hurts only managed to hit DeVonta Smith short of the sticks. Lot of effort for 19 yards and a punt.
- The Chiefs took over at their own nine-yard line. They went three-and-out with Patrick Mahomes missing his first two throws. Kudos to Cooper DeJean for a big hit that helped to force a third down incompletion.
- The Eagles took over at their own 22-yard line after a booming Chiefs punt. Hurts missed a short completion and then checked down to Saquon Barkley in the flat for no gain. Facing 3rd-and-10, Hurts’ arm hit Tyler Steen’s helmet while throwing and his downfield throw to Brown was incomplete. DPI could’ve been called but there was no flag. Another Braden Mann punt. Nine plays for 19 yards on the first two Eagles drives.
- The Chiefs took over at their own 35-yard line. Mahomes scrambles for multiple first downs into Eagles territory. Za’Darius Smith and Andrew Mukuba flying into the backfield combined for a TFL. Facing 3rd-and-11, the Chiefs got called for a false start. Facing 3rd-and-16, Andy Reid opted for a coward’s draw to set up a 58-yard field goal attempt. Pretty weird choice to me when you have Mahomes. The Football Gods punished the Chiefs with Harrison Butker kick that went wide.
- The Eagles took over at their own 48-yard line. Facing 3rd-and-1, the Brotherly Shove attempt was good. The Eagles ran a screen to DeVonta that went for a first down thanks in part to a nice block by Jordan Mailata. Then Barkley broke a 13-yard run to the end zone for a touchdown! Big hole created by the offensive line. Great job to capitalize on the Chiefs’ miss. EAGLES 7, CHIEFS 0.
- The Chiefs took over at their own 31-yard line and ran for a short gain to end the first quarter.
SECOND QUARTER
- Mahomes took off running up the middle for 22 yards with no Eagles defender remotely nearby to force him to go down. Facing 3rd-and-8, Fangio brought the blitz (yet again) and Mahomes got taken down by the combination of Andrew Mukuba and Za’Darius Smith (who made a strong debut). The Chiefs settled for a 56-yard make by Butker. EAGLES 7, CHIEFS 3.
- The Eagles took over at their own 24-yard line. Barkley unfortunately stepped out of bounds after making a short catch and running through a tackle to otherwise gain a first down and then some. Facing 3rd-and-6, Hurts ran for a first down but it was called back due to holding on Cam Jurgens. Facing 3rd-and-15, Sirianni went with the coward’s draw to bring up a punt. Two OL penalties (Jurgens holding and Dickerson false start) contributed to killing the drive.
- The Chiefs took over at their own 31-yard line after Braden Mann’s 70-yard punt (!) was returned 25 yards. KC quickly moved past midfield. Facing 3rd-and-7 after Jordan Davis deflected a Mahomes pass at the line of scrimmage, Mahomes checked down to Kareem Hunt and Cooper DeJean made a great open field tackle to prevent a first down. Pretty good player. Facing 4th-and-4, Reid decided to go for it … and Mahomes hit Kelce for a first down with Mukuba trailing. Tough cover for the rook. Facing 3rd-and-5, the Eagles sent a blitz that got to Mahomes … but offsetting penalties on the Chiefs (holding) and Mukuba (holding) wiped out the stop. Facing 3rd-and-5 again, Mahomes bounced off a Mukuba hit (no wrap up attempt) and ran for the first down. Then Mahomes took off running to the end zone for a touchdown. The Eagles’ defense made KC work for their score but just couldn’t get a stop. 10 plays, 69 yards, TD. 60 rushing yards for Mahomes in less than one half. EAGLES 7, CHIEFS 10.
- The Eagles took over at their own 23-yard line with 2:39 on the clock and three timeouts to work with. The Birds hit 2:00 mark with a first down at their own 45-yard line. Hurts had plenty of time to throw and went deep to DeVonta … and a flag was thrown for DPI … and then it was picked up. Would’ve been a weak flag but weird to call it and then pick it up. Facing 3rd-and-3 after a short Hurts completion to Brown, Hurts got rid of it quick against a blitz and the ball was caught by Brown … while he was slipping to the ground. Just an insane catch! The Eagles got bailed out of a delay of game penalty by taking their first timeout. Hurts, not looking very happy, immediately went up to Tyler Steen to talk about the miscommunication. Hurts had all day to throw and checked down to Brown for just one yard. With Brown going out of bounds backwards, the clock didn’t stop but Reid called a timeout. Facing 3rd-and-9 at the plus 44-yard line, Hurts hit Brown short of the market but it looked like Brown rolled over the Chiefs defender to get a first down?! Despite having two timeouts, Sirianni let the clock run down to 0:02. Why only play for the long field goal?! Veteran long snapper Charley Hughlett got called for a false start to knock the field goal attempt back to 58 yards. Didn’t matter. Elliott made it anyway to end the first half. Clutch. But don’t love the game management there. EAGLES 10, CHIEFS 10.
THIRD QUARTER
- The Chiefs took over at their own 27-yard line to begin the second half. Facing 3rd-and-1, Mukuba laid a big hit on a crossing Hollywood Brown short of the sticks. Facing 4th-and-1 from their own 36-yard line, Reid went for it … and the Chiefs were STOPPED by Nolan Smith setting the edge and Jordan Davis helping to clean up Kareem Hunt for a stop! Wow. Side note: Interesting how the official rushed to review this spot that was clearly short and not the A.J. Brown spot towards the end of the first half.
- The Eagles took over at plus 35-yard line. Facing 3rd-and-8 after a short Barkley run and short Barkley catch, Hurts floated it up to DeVonta against an all-out blitz and the WR couldn’t make the leaping catch that hit his hands. DeVonta appeared injured (back?) after the play. Would’ve been a pretty big grab. Elliott drilled the 53-yard field goal attempt to take the lead. Three points is nice and all but you really need to take full advantage of a short field while going up against Mahomes at Arrowhead. EAGLES 13, CHIEFS 10.
- The Chiefs took over at their own 29-yard line. Facing 3rd-and-6 after Jordan Davis knocked down another Mahomes pass, Tyquan Thornton couldn’t catch a pass thrown a little high along the left sideline with Adoree’ Jackson trailing. Three-and-out. Nice stop.
- The Eagles took over at their own 10-yard line after a Sydney Brown holding penalty on special teams. The Eagles pounded the rock with Barkley for multiple first downs. A Lane Johnson false start knocked the offense back. Then Hurts tried to take off running but got met with a BIG hit for a loss. Facing 3rd-and-16, Sirianni went with a coward’s draw to A.J. Dillon to bring up a punt. Because why try to get a first down?
- The Chiefs took over at their own 20-yard line after a Mann punt went into the end zone. Wasn’t close to pinning the KC offense deep. The Chiefs moved past midfield with a chunk gain from an apparently not washed Kelce. The Chiefs moved into the red zone to end the third quarter.
FOURTH QUARTER
- Facing 3rd-and-2, Joshua Uche got to Isiah Pacheco for a third down stop. Facing 4th-and-1, the Chiefs went for it …. and Hunt picked up the first down up the middle. Mahomes had a touchdown completion to Kelce that the veteran tight end up batted up into the air … and into the hands of a waiting Mukuba! Mukuba took the ball 41 yards before getting knocked down by fellow rookie Josh Simmons. Wow, what a break to prevent what would’ve been a 14-play, 80-yard TD drive.
- Needing the offense to really step up (read: do ANYTHING AT ALL), the Eagles took over at their own 41-yard line. The Eagles picked up 15 yards with a weak face mask penalty on the Chiefs. Facing 3rd-and-10 after Trent McDuffie tipped a Hurts pass that was in danger of being picked, Hurts faced a big blitz and aired it out downfield … to DeVonta, who made the catch this time! Facing 3rd-and-goal from the 1-yard line, the Eagles went Brotherly Shove to get to the half-yard line. Sirianni threw his challenge flag to overturn the spot for a score. The ruling on the field was inexplicably upheld even though the review CLEARLY showed the ball over the goal line. No matter, though (well, not exactly because the Eagles were screwed out of a challenge and timeout), because the Eagles went Brotherly Shove again for the TOUCHDOWN. 14-point swing via Mukuba’s interception! MASSIVE. Eagles detractors complained there was no false start call. EAGLES 20, CHIEFS 10.
- The Chiefs took over at their own 26-yard line with 7:43 remaining in the game. Facing 3rd-and-7, a blitzing Jihaad Campbell pressured Mahomes into an incompletion. Rookie also logged a QB hit on the play. Three-and-out! Wow. What a stop by Vic Fangio’s defense.
- The Eagles took over at their own 16-yard line with 6:57 left in the game. Facing 3rd-and-1 after two Barkley runs, the Chiefs wanted a false start called on the Eagles’ Brotherly Shove conversion but there was not one. Weird, too, because Chris Jones punched the ball as Jurgens snapped it? Facing 3rd-and-10 after two Barkley runs to make the Chiefs burn their timeouts, Hurts completed a pass to Calcaterra short of the sticks to bring up a punt.
- The Chiefs took over at their own 28-yard line with 4:24 left and zero timeouts to work with. Moro Ojomo instantly sacked Mahomes. Then the Chiefs quarterback missed a WIDE OPEN Thornton downfield with Jackson and Reed Blankenship running into each other. PHEW. Facing 3rd-and-13, Quinyon Mitchell knocked down Mahomes’ pass. And then the refs called roughing the passer on Jihaad Campbell for the rookie linebacker barely touching the QB’s helmet. Because of course. A flailing Jackson broke up a downfield Mahomes pass despite not even having eyes on the ball. The Chiefs moved past midfield but then got knocked back by Jawaan Taylor flagged for holding Jalyx Hunt. But then Mahomes hit Thornton deep with the Eagles somehow failing to cover the wide receiver until Quinyon Mitchell tried to break up the pass at the last moment. EAGLES 20, CHIEFS 17.
- The Chiefs went onside kick with 3:00 left on the clock. A.J. Brown (!) caught the ball to put the Eagles at the plus 41-yard line. Barkley immediately ripped a run for nine yards. The Chiefs intentionally encroached to try to give the Eagles a first down but Sirianni correctly declined it to try to run more clock. The Eagles went Brotherly Shove … to be ruled just shy via the NFL’s new virtual measurement system at the two-minute warning. Facing 3rd-and-inches, the Brotherly Shove looked like it picked up a first down … but the Chiefs acted like it was an Eagles fumble … but the refs didn’t rule a fumble. The Eagles kneeled it out for the win! Phew.
FINAL SCORE: EAGLES 20, CHIEFS 17
EAGLES LINEUP NOTES
- Tank Bigsby and John Metchie lined up as the Eagles’ kick returners on the Chiefs’ opening kickoff.
- Jalen Carter officially started on defense, unlike he did in Week 2 last year when he was punished for being late to a meeting. There was thought the Birds might punish him for SpitGate by taking away a start.
- Sydney Brown remained the safety in base defense with Andrew Mukuba playing nickel.
- Metchie and Darius Cooper saw some WR3 snaps over Jahan Dotson early on. Seems like the Eagles preferred their run blocking ability.
- Jahan Dotson returned punts for the Eagles again.
EAGLES INJURY REPORT
- Adoree’ Jackson walked off the field looking at his hand/wrist midway through the second quarter. Jakorian Bennett came in at cornerback. Jackson then came back in. But then Bennett was in again.
- Jalen Carter was a little slow to get up at one point in the second quarter but he remained in the game. Carter looked to be in pain late in the third quarter, holding his right wrist.
- DeVonta Smith got banged up early in the third quarter. His back appeared to be in pain after going to the ground on a failed leaping catch attempt. DeVonta was briefly evaluated in the medical tent before returning to the sideline. He then returned to the field on the Eagles’ next drive.
- Jordan Davis went down early in the fourth quarter. Seemed like a hamstring/cramping issue. He came back in the game but then left again and walked to the locker room. He then returned to the field again.