Mahomes Obliterates the Eagles Defense
After allowing 41 points on Monday Night Football to the Cowboys, Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs one upped that by dropping 42 points. This Week 4 matchup with the Chiefs had some bright spots, but there were also so huge concerns for Philly.
Many fans complained about the lack of a running game, but the Eagles identity is not that of a ground and pound team. The Eagles ran the ball 19 times, but 8 were Hurts, and a Jalen Reagor end around was mixed in as well. Nick Sirianni likes to run a lot of runs-pass options to get the ball out quick and into the hands of his playmakers. When Hurts gets the ball on the perimeter to a back or receiver for a screen pass or quick completion, it is essentially a run for on the outside for the Eagles. Sirianni's offense is based around run-pass options to maximize Hurts's skillset, so it should be taken into account that on a lot of the quick slants or shallow crossers, Hurts has the ability to hand the ball off or throw it. On Monday Night in Dallas, Hurts did not make the right decisions on the run-pass options, but the same thing can't be said about this week. Hurts finished 32/48 for 387 yards passing and 2 touchdowns, committing no turnovers, to go along with 8 carries for 47 yards. Hurts played much better than the stat sheet indicated, however, the Eagles shot themselves in the foot.
The Eagles committed 9 penalties, and that played dividend. Three touchdowns were wiped off the board on an unnecessary OPI on a block, ineligible receiver (lineman) downfield that was also unnecessary, and an awful illegal touching call on a 50 yard bomb from Hurts to Smith. It is impossible to play a completely clean game in the NFL, but the self-inflicted wounds need to stop. The Eagles gave away 18 points due to unnecessary flags that had no impact on the play. On defense, Derek Barnett is keeping his streak of having personal fouls alive, and the Eagles defense also got Kansas City into several 3rd and longs, but the offsides penalties gave the Chiefs offense a fresh set of downs.
The penalties were a killer for the Eagles, but they likely still don't win without them due to the lack of defensive effort. The Chiefs had eight drives, seven of which ended with a touchdown, and the eighth ended with a bad throw by Mahomes that turned into an interception. Jonathan Gannon played an extremely vanilla zone defense that allowed Mahomes to do whatever he wanted. Gannon brought no pressure all game long, allowing Mahomes so sit in the pocket and carve up the Eagles. Kansas City also ran the ball right down the Eagles throughs for 200 yards on 32 carries. The Chiefs were 9/10 on 3rd down, but that was because they were getting into 3rd and short yardage situations almost every time, and the few occasions that the Eagles were on the verge of getting the Chiefs off the field, that either got negated by an offsides penalty or Mahomes pulled something out of the hat. Through four games this season, the Eagles are allowing 150 rushing yards per-game, and they have allowed 180 per-game in the last two games. Jonathan Gannon needs to figure something out for the defense quickly or the Eagles could keep accumulating losses.