Eagles-Chiefs matchups to watch in Week 2
The Eagles (1-0) are heading to Kansas City to face the Chiefs (0-1) in a rematch of Super Bowl LIX. The Eagles won that game 40-22 and it wasn’t that close.
While the Eagles were able to survive in Week 1 to pick up a 24-20 win over the Cowboys, while the Chiefs lost 27-21 to the Chargers in São Paulo.
Here are some key matchups to watch in Week 2:
Eagles CBs vs. Chiefs depleted WRs
The Chiefs entered the season without receiver Rashee Rice, who is serving a six-game suspension. And now they’re likely down Xavier Worthy, who suffered a dislocated shoulder after colliding with Travis Kelce in their Week 1 loss. (Worthy did practice on Thursday but had extra padding on his shoulder.) While Patrick Mahomes has gotten by without star receivers before, it’s obviously not a great situation for the Chiefs to be in this early in the season. Their top receivers right now are Hollywood Brown, JuJu Smith-Schuster and Tyquan Thornton. Brown is clearly their top receiving option; he had 10 catches on 16 targets for 99 yards in their opener. The Chiefs will also look to get the ball to Travis Kelce. At 35 years old, Kelce isn’t in his prime anymore but still had 2 catches for 47 yards and a touchdown in Brazil.
Facing a depleted receiving corps is coming at a good time for the Eagles because they have an issue at CB2. Veteran Adoree’ Jackson ended up winning that job but really struggled in Week 1, giving up 5 catches on 7 targets for 103 yards. The Eagles have a good pair in Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean but the Cowboys really attacked Jackson.
The Eagles went into Week 1 with a sensible plan. They had Mitchell following George Pickens, while CeeDee Lamb was covered by DeJean in the slot and Jackson out wide (with some help). But the Cowboys were able to attack Jackson and the help didn’t do enough. In Week 2, it’s worth nothing that Brown plays inside and out. Against the Chargers, 30 of his snaps came in the slot and 27 came out wide. So it’s not as easy as asking Mitchell to follow him, because Mitchell likely won’t be following receivers inside.
Jalyx Hunt vs. Josh Simmons
The Eagles got close a few times but weren’t able to get a single sack against Dak Prescott in Week 1. Of course, maybe having Jalen Carter on the field would have helped.
In this matchup, the Chiefs are starting a rookie at left tackle. The Chiefs drafted Simmons out of Ohio State with the No. 32 pick and he won that starting job. Against the Chargers, Simmons didn’t give up a sack but did give up a team-high four-pressures. And the Chiefs’ left guard, Kingsley Suamataia gave up 3 pressures. That side of the line is something to watch in this game.
If you remember back to the Super Bowl, the Eagles’ constant attack on Patrick Mahomes was the story. Mahomes in Super Bowl LIX was sacked a career-high six times as the Eagles beat up on the Kanas City offense. The Eagles’ pass rush wasn’t that dominant for much of the 2024 season but they came through in that game. Although 4 1/2 of those sacks came from Milton Williams and Josh Sweat, who cashed in with pig paydays elsewhere in free agency.
Vic Fangio vs. Patrick Mahomes
The Eagles’ defense had an incredible game against Mahomes in the Super Bowl and Fangio put together an absolute masterclass. But Mahomes is still an excellent player, even without his top two receivers. And even though the Chiefs lost in Week 1, Mahomes was able to make some plays with his legs, picking up 57 yards and a touchdown on 6 scrambles. It’ll be interesting to see the Eagles’ plan for limiting those kinds of plays in this game. It might be worth using either Zack Baun or Jihaad Campbell to spy Mahomes from time to time.
During the Super Bowl, Baun had an incredible play. He peeled off his responsibility and picked off a Mahomes pass. That was one of two Mahomes interceptions that day; the other was Cooper DeJean’s pick-6.
Eagles WRs. vs. Chiefs CBs
While his numbers weren’t very impressive in Week 1, Jalen Hurts had a really good and efficient game against the Cowboys. He completed 19 of 23 passes for 152 yards and also made plays with his legs. The problem with the Eagles’ offense is that A.J. Brown didn’t have a single target until late in the fourth quarter. In the past when Brown hasn’t gotten much action, the Eagles take steps to rectify that quickly in the next game.
The Chiefs cornerbacks are Trent McDuffie, Jaylen Watson and Chamarri Conner. While McDuffie began his career as a nickel corner, he’s mostly a full-time outside corner these days. So it’s McDuffie and Watson outside with Conner taking most of the snaps inside. In the Super Bowl, Watson was on DeVonta Smith for the dagger as well as on Jahan Dotson for that 27-yard near-touchdown early in the game. So keep an eye on Watson and Conner in this game. In Week 1, Conner was charged with giving up 7 catches for 100 yards, per PFF. So the Eagles could try to sneak Smith or Brown inside from time to time.
An interesting note on the Chiefs’ defense from Week 1, per NFL NextGen Stats: They were in zone coverage on 85.7% of dropbacks in the first half but were in zone just 35% of the time in the second half. The Eagles saw a ton of zone coverage from the Cowboys in their opener.
If you think back to Super Bowl LIX, the Chiefs actually did a pretty good job on Saquon Barkley. They held him to 57 yards on 25 carries. The Chiefs will try to do that again in this game and it might come down to Hurts beating them with his arm.
It’s worth watching the receivers in this game, especially because the status of Dallas Goedert (knee) is up in the air.
Eagles iOL vs. Chris Jones
Chris Jones is 31 now but he has been to six consecutive Pro Bowls and has been a first-team All-Pro each of the last three seasons. Jones had a rough moment in Week 1, giving up a Justin Herbert run on 3rd-and-14 to basically ice the game.
While that play against the Chargers came with Jones lining up outside, he still gets most of his snaps at defensive tackle and in Week 1, most of them came at right defensive tackle. That sets up a matchup against a hobbled Landon Dickerson. Dickerson started in Week 1 but left in the second half with the back injury he has been dealing since before the start of the season. Dickerson had meniscus surgery on Aug. 13 and healed from that but now the back is an issue. Against the Cowboys, we saw Brett Toth get into the game when Dickerson excited. So that’s clearly the plan if he has to miss anymore time.
On the other side of the center, Tyler Steen did give up a sack against the Cowboys but was mostly pretty solid. He is now the full-time right guard after Mekhi Becton left in free agency. Steen really settled into that position during training camp but a matchup against Jones is a tough test.
Jalen Hurts vs. Chiefs LBs
Not only was Hurts efficient in the passing game in Week 1 against the Cowboys but he hurt them with his legs on some very well-timed scrambles. Hurts was just in total control when it came to his decisions to leave the pocket. Those can be back-breaking plays for defenses and Hurts made a lot of the offense happen on his own in Week 1. He scrambled on 39.4% of his dropbacks against the Cowboys, his highest rate in a game since 2023, per NFL NextGen Stats. And both of his touchdown runs came on scrambles.
If you think back to the Super Bowl, Hurts was also very good with his legs. He was the leading rusher in Super Bowl LIX with 72 yards and a touchdown on 11 attempts.
Eagles-Chiefs matchups to watch in Week 2
