Don’t give up on this team. Don’t give up on the team. Don’t go to bed early because they have 10 points against a team that doesn’t lose at home and has a Hall of Fame coach and quarterback.
Owls never give up. Always.
A national TV audience watched the Eagles rally from 10 late in the third quarter to defeat the mighty Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium.
The 21-17 win doesn’t make up for the Super Bowl loss, but it does prove that the Eagles are the best team in the NFL and a legitimate Super Bowl contender.
They couldn’t do anything right. So they couldn’t do anything wrong. And now they’re 9-1 and 2-0 on a six-game hitting streak that we all know will define their season.
Bring the Bills. Bring on the 49ers. Bring on the Cowboys. Bring them all. Eagles are not going away.
1. This win means a lot in many ways. The most obvious way is that it gets the Eagles to 9-1 on weekends when all of their official NFC opponents – the Cowboys, 49ers and Lions – all won. And that means the Eagles are 2-0 in a six-game hitting streak that we all circled on the calendar when the schedule came back in April. But more than anything, it’s word that the Eagles won’t back down from playing on the road in the loudest outdoor arena in the NFL against a team that has been to three of the last four Super Bowls and is coached and supported by Hall. of Famers and knocked off the Eagles in the Super Bowl nine months ago. It was all about the offense against the Eagles on Monday night at Arrowhead, and the Eagles looked it all in the face and earned themselves a big win. It’s two games in a row now that the Eagles have found a way to beat a top team that has given them nightmares lately. They haven’t beaten Dak Prescott since 2019 and they haven’t beaten the Chiefs since 2009. It’s one thing to be 9-1, it’s another thing to be 9-1 and have a winning streak against teams that have combined. 13-4. The Bills, 49ers, Cowboys again and Seahawks are close, so things will not be easy, but what many of us have been believing for a few weeks now – that the Eagles are the best team in the NFL – has been confirmed. It doesn’t guarantee anything, but if you can beat the Cowboys and Chiefs you can beat anybody, that’s a good place to be.
2. This win amplified what the Eagles do best, and that’s not throwing the ball or stopping the run or pressuring the quarterback or covering wide receivers. It’s winning. They’ve done it all year and they did it again. No matter how bad the game gets, no matter how bad they play, no matter what, no matter what, this team never stops fighting and never stops grinding and there is a deep confidence in the room. that comes from Nick Sirianni and Jalen Hurts and helps them win games that may not have the business of winning. He did it again Monday night in Kansas City against a Chiefs team that was 62-6 under Andy Reid when he led by 10 or more at halftime and 65-8 under Reid when he led in the fourth quarter. I honestly don’t know how they did it. A couple of Chiefs runs in the final minutes didn’t hurt. But these were all characteristic of the Eagles. One thing that doesn’t stop them.
3. Two weeks after holding the Cowboys to six points in the second half, this offensive defense shut out the Chiefs in the second half on Monday night. Sean Desai knows what he’s doing. The Cowboys scored 17 before halftime, six after halftime. The Chiefs scored 17 before halftime, none after halftime. This is against two of the most powerful offenses in the NFL. Taking out Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid and the Chiefs in the second half in their own stadium is incredible. I know this isn’t the old Chiefs offense, but this is the 29th ranked defense in the NFL and they shut down the 2nd half against Mahomes. Wrong. The Eagles were boosted by Bradley Roby, who played for the first time since the Jets game and was successful, and another freshman in the secondary, Kevin Byard, was better than his first two games. Mahomes threw two TDs in the first half and after halftime he threw 22 times for 99 yards. He caught Travis Kelce for 44 yards, didn’t allow a play longer than 17 yards and allowed just four more touchdowns after halftime. An amazing performance by the defense and especially the second one who has taken his lumps this year.
4. The offensive line deserves a lot of credit for bouncing back after a terrible first half. The Chiefs recorded five sacks in the first quarter, including four on six plays in the second quarter. The Eagles had just 78 rushing yards before halftime and — get this — just 20 passing yards. But when you have Jeff Stoutland on your side, you have everything. A few changes, and after falling behind 17-7, the Eagles put together TD drives of 61 and 80 yards to take the lead and guess how many sacks they allowed on those two drives. That’s right. There is none. Zip. Zero. There is none. I mean the Chiefs were destroying the Eagles front, and it got so bad that for a while the Eagles just stopped throwing, especially on third down. He didn’t attempt a 3-down pass until midway through the fourth quarter, and by then the o-line had settled in and started to dominate the Chiefs. Football is a funny game. You can look really bad for a long time but as long as there’s time on the clock and you’re just playing hard, strange things happen. After gaining 78 yards, 20 yards and seven points before halftime, the Eagles had 160 yards and 104 yards and 14 points at halftime. Keep fighting. Keep grinding.
5. It was encouraging to see D’Andre Swift match the D’Andre Swift of the first month of the season. Swift’s production dropped — from 108 yards per game and 5.8 yards per drive from Week 2 to Week 5 to 45 yards and 3.1 carries over the last four games. But the Chiefs are the 4th-worst in the NFL to defend the run at 4.6 yards per carry, and on a cold, windy, rainy night, Swift took advantage, with 12 carries for 76 yards – his best performance since Week 3 – and added. 31 receiving yards. It helped get Cam Jurgens back and have Jalen Hurts healthier than he’s been and showing some early rushing ability. But Swift also looked sharper than he has in recent weeks as he read defenders and slowed down and ran with authority. He was 5-for-33 on the Eagles’ 1st-quarter touchdown drive – about as many yards as he has in a game since Week 6. The Eagles need to be able to run the ball better than they are if they’re going to. and this was a great beginning.
6. A couple of special teams plays that shouldn’t be overlooked: With three minutes left and the Eagles up 21-17, Josh Jobe made a spectacular play against Kadarius Toney for no gain at the 9-yard line. Toney has killed the Eagles on the ensuing kickoff – his three longest wins have come against the Eagles – but Jobe’s punt forced the Chiefs to drive 91 yards for the win, and they never got closer than 34. The biggest play of Jobe’s career. And how punter Braden Mann put together another big game. After a slow start he has been a threat of late since replacing Arryn Siposs. He averaged 47.7 on seven punts Monday night, and it was tough because if you give Patrick Mahomes a short field you’re asking for trouble. What about Britain Covey? That kid just makes plays. Three rebounds averaged 17.7 points per game when the field position was large. Great stuff from the Michael Clay team.
7. On a day when AJ Brown caught just one pass for eight yards, DeVonta Smith stepped up. Smith caught six passes for 99 yards, including a 41-yarder down the right field to set up the go-ahead game with 6 ½ minutes left. It’s easy for Smith to be overlooked playing against the top three WRs in the league, but he’s going to take every chance he gets.
8. We talked all week about how the Eagles can’t win without multiple carries and not win the turnover battle. And they got two red zone interceptions – Bradley Roby stripped Travis Kelce and Kevin Byard sacked Mahomes in the end zone – and without two new Eagles receivers they didn’t win the game. The Eagles have now won 22 straight games under Sirianni when they are 1-1 or better. Caps have been a problem for the Eagles this year. They came into the weekend 31st in passing, 26th in possessions and 16th with a negative-2 in turnover percentage. If this team can start getting takers, forget it. No one is beating them.
9. Jalen Hurts’ stats were terrible. His 64.6 passer rating is sixth in his career. He only threw for 150 yards. Don’t throw a touchdown pass. He had trouble recovering and throwing a route that probably wasn’t his fault. But Hurts has a rare ability to overcome any adversity he faces — fouls, turnovers, penalties, injuries, double-digit deficits — and make big plays late in the game. No one goes to Kansas City and comes back from 10 points down in the third quarter. The Chiefs’ dominance in the early stages of the game was devastating. Hurts had a big hit, getting sacked five times in the first 12 starts where he returned and endured drives of 13, 6, 5, 3, 1, negative-3 and negative-5 yards before switching gears. When he does, you can’t stop him. On Monday night, he faced off against a formidable defense in one of the loudest outdoor stadiums in the NFL and inspired the Eagles to an unexpected victory in the Super Bowl. Hurts is 30-4 in his last 34 starts. It should be impossible. He is amazing.
10. It was on Oct. 27, 2021, when Sirianni secretly spoke the words of his flowers and many people were ridiculed for this. Google “Fire Sirianni” and you’ll find social media results from Oct. 27, 2021. The Eagles were 2-5 at the time heading into Detroit. They won in Detroit and closed out the season 7-2 in the key games. So 14-3 last year. So 9-1 this year. Math is crazy. Since negotiations with the team began, the Eagles are 30-6 in key regular-season games. Think about that for a moment. It’s really unbelievable.