American Football

Much has changed since the last Eagles-Chiefs game

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Kansas City Chiefs v Philadelphia Eagles
Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images

The Philadelphia Eagles have never beaten Andy Reid.

The Birds are 0-3 against their former head coach.

The most recent loss came when the Kansas City Chiefs visited Lincoln Financial Field last season. It wasn’t a good day for Nick Sirianni’s side as his squad dropped to 1-3 with a 42 to 30 loss.

Does that result portend poorly for Philly this weekend? Is there any meaning to be taken from a game that took place 497 days prior to Super Bowl LVII?

Let’s take a look at what’s changed since then.

EAGLES CHANGES

OFFENSE

  • Jalen Hurts is improved and more experienced. He made his eighth career start against KC in 2021. He will be making his 38th career start (including playoffs) against KC in the Super Bowl.
  • Similar sentiment applies to Sirianni, who was in his fourth game as a head coach. Sirianni is now entering his 38th game. One would think Sirianni has learned from being too cowardly in that game. He settled for Jake Elliott field goals from 25, 29, and 31 yards out. Taking three instead of going for seven is not how you beat the Chiefs.
  • The Eagles’ starting offensive line for that game: Andre Dillard (backup left tackle), Landon Dickerson (backup left guard making second career start), Jason Kelce, Nate Herbig (backup right guard), Jack Driscoll (backup right tackle making an emergency start with Lane Johnson unexpectedly having to leave the team due to mental health reasons). That’s a stark contrast to the current unit of Jordan Mailata, Landon Dickerson, Jason Kelce, Isaac Seumalo, and Lane Johnson.
  • Jalen Reagor played 70% of the snaps, third most of any target. He was WR2. The Eagles now have A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith as their top two receivers. Massive difference.
  • Zach Ertz was still on the team, which meant he was splitting playing time and targets with Dallas Goedert. Goedert only played 74% of the snaps in that game. Discounting games where he was taken out early due to garbage time this season, he’s played at least 90% of the snaps in every game.
  • Miles Sanders was being oddly underutilized early in 2021. He only saw two carries (lol) against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 3. He then only saw seven carries (for a mere 13 yards) against the Chiefs in Week 4. Sanders is averaging 15 carries per this game this year; he’s hit double-digits each week save for when he was just one shy in a blowout over the Pittsburgh Steelers.

DEFENSE

  • Jonathan Gannon was in his fourth game as a defensive coordinator. He is now entering his 38th game.
  • With Brandon Graham was on injured reserve, the Eagles’ top edge rushers were Josh Sweat, Derek Barnett, Ryan Kerrigan, Tarron Jackson, and Genard Avery. Man. Not a very inspiring group behind Sweat! The Eagles are obviously much better off now with Graham back and Haason Reddick in the fold.
  • Hassan Ridgeway was the fourth defensive tackle behind Fletcher Cox, Javon Hargrave, and a rookie Milton Williams in his fourth game. Now the Eagles also have Jordan Davis, Linval Joseph, and Ndamukong Suh as interior defenders behind the top trio.
  • The Eagles’ top two linebackers against the Chiefs: Alex Singleton and Eric Wilson. Singleton was allowed to walk in free agency while Wilson was cut by the Eagles about a month after losing to the Chiefs. The Birds are now rocking with T.J. Edwards and Kyzir White as their top two options.
  • Steven Nelson played 100% of the snaps at cornerback. James Bradberry is starting in his place across from Darius Slay.
  • Anthony Harris played 100% of the snaps at safety. He’s on the Eagles’ practice squad this year. Rodney McLeod played the second-most safety snaps in his first game back from an ACL injury. Now the Eagles have C.J. Gardner-Johnson and Marcus Epps on the back end.

CHIEFS CHANGES

OFFENSE

  • Due to his high ankle sprain, Patrick Mahomes is seemingly some amount less than the 100% he was when he passed for five touchdowns against Philly in 2021.
  • Clyde Edwards-Helaire was the Chiefs’ top rusher against the Eagles with 14 carries for 102 yards (7.3 average). CEH hasn’t played since late November but was recently activated from injured reserve. He doesn’t figure to play a feature role as much as he will split playing time with hard-running Isiah Pacheco and pass-catching Jerrick McKinnon, who did not play against Philly last time.
  • Tyreek Hill had 11 receptions for 186 yards (16.9 average) and three touchdowns against the Eagles. To be clear, the Chiefs’ offense hasn’t really missed him at all. But the Birds will still sign up for KC’s current receiving corps featuring the likes JuJu Smith-Schuster and Marquez Valdes-Scantling as opposed to defending Hill again. Hill really helped the Chiefs to break that game open after it had been somewhat competitive.
  • The Chiefs’ offensive line is the same save for Andrew Wylie starting over Lucas Niang at right tackle. No change in terms of RT being the weak point of the unit.

DEFENSE

  • The Chiefs did not have Frank Clark, who ranks second on the team in sacks this season (including playoffs). They were also missing starting cornerback Charvarius Ward, who is no longer on the team.
  • The Chiefs were playing Chris Jones more at defensive end, which wasn’t working out super well. They still move him around but he’s not a full-time edge rusher.
  • The top two linebackers for the Chiefs were Nick Bolton and Anthony Hitchens. Bolton is stil starting but Hitchens is out of the NFL and has been replaced by Willie Gay.
  • KC’s top safeties were Tyrann Mathieu and Daniel Sorensen. Now they have Justin Reid and Juan Thornill, which is an upgrade.

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