Eagles vs. Chiefs: Dominant Philadelphia defense drops Mahomes, Kansas City to 0-2

By Jesse Newell, Brooks Kubena, Zach Berman and Bob Harkins

If Sunday’s Super Bowl rematch between Philadelphia and Kansas City is any indication, the Eagles remain the NFL’s team to beat. The defending champs shut down Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs, pulling away late for a 20-17 victory in a defensive struggle at Arrowhead Stadium.

While the Eagles handled the Chiefs with ease in Super Bowl LIX in February, cruising to a 40-22 victory, Sunday’s game was more of a slugfest. The score was 10-10 at halftime thanks to a 58-yard field goal by Philadelphia kicker Jake Elliott two seconds before the break. Kansas City outgained the Eagles 294-216 and held Jalen Hurts to just 101 yards passing, but the Chiefs struggled to move the ball.

Mahomes completed just 16 of 29 passes for 187 yards, with a touchdown and an interception. Mahomes padded his numbers late, with 49 of those yards coming on a touchdown pass to Tyquan Thornton with barely more than three minutes left. Kansas City’s best offense was Mahomes’ legs: He led his team with 66 rushing yards and a touchdown on seven carries.

The Chiefs, who lost their season opener to the Los Angeles Chargers in a neutral-site game in Brazil, are now 0-2. The Eagles improved to 2-0 and have allowed only 37 points this season.

Eagles’ offense disjointed under OC Kevin Patullo

The Eagles’ offense looks disjointed under first-time offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo. They averaged 4.03 yards per play in the first half, which appeared to prompt Nick Sirianni to opt for a 52-yard field goal attempt at halftime instead of going for it on fourth-and-1 with two timeouts and the Brotherly Shove in his pocket. The second half was marginally better.

Were it not for a prayer of a third-and-10 completion from Jalen Hurts to DeVonta Smith that went for 28 yards and led to a touchdown and two-score lead in the fourth quarter, Patullo could very well have been making adjustments under the scrutiny of a road loss. — Brooks Kubena, Eagles beat writer

Unfamiliar territory for 0-2 Chiefs

The Chiefs suddenly have an unexpected — and pressing — situation following this season’s 0-2 start.

Yes, the Chiefs have some valid excuses for their disappointing record, if they’d like to use them. The team opened its season against a tough Chargers team in Brazil. The Chiefs also have had to play without three of their top wideouts in Rashee Rice (suspension), Xavier Worthy (shoulder) and Jalen Royals (knee).

None of that changes what the team faces now.

K.C. has started the season 0-2 for the first time since the 2014 season. For reference, the Chiefs have lost their first two games 15 times in team history; they’ve made the playoffs on those instances just once.

Those previous teams, of course, weren’t coming off three consecutive Super Bowl appearances. And the schedule at least lightens up a touch next week when the Chiefs travel to face the New York Giants on Sunday Night Football.

That, however, now becomes nearly a must-win, especially with a Week 4 matchup against the Baltimore Ravens looming.

It’s obviously too soon to count the Chiefs out. It’s still not too premature, however, to say the pressure will be on next week to start turning the season around. — Jesse Newell, Chiefs beat writer

Game turns on a rookie’s big play

The Super Bowl in February turned on an interception from a rookie, when Cooper DeJean intercepted Mahomes for a pick-six. Sunday’s win turned in a similar fashion. Drew Mukuba, playing his second NFL game, caught a dropped pass from Travis Kelce while the Chiefs were on the verge of scoring. The ball might have floated into Mukuba’s hands, but the second-round pick showed keen awareness to adjust and continued a track record of takeaways that was apparent in training camp and part of why the Eagles were so intrigued by Mukuba coming out of Texas. The Eagles’ offense has much work to do, and the Chiefs’ offense might be in decline. It’s still hard to discredit an Eagles defense that replaced key starters from last year’s Super Bowl team and picked up where they left off against Mahomes for most of the game. — Zach Berman, Eagles beat writer

Chiefs’ defense bounces back

A week after the Chiefs secondary was torched by Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert, the group responded in a significant way Sunday.

K.C.’s coverage was lockdown from the start against Philadelphia. That included standout efforts by cornerbacks Trent McDuffie, Jaylen Watson and Chamarri Conner, along with safety Bryan Cook.

Eagles quarterback Hurts, even when the Chiefs blitzed, couldn’t find many openings. Hurt mustered just 62 passing yards in the first three quarters, and the most significant portion of credit for that should go to the Chiefs’ back-end defenders. — Newell

Jalen Carter’s big play provides major swing

Philadelphia is a team that prides itself on mastering the little things. There were a lot of little things that could’ve undone the Eagles, were it not for one big-little thing.

First, the mistakes. Jalen Hurts had the ball slip from his one-handed grip on the first play of the game. The Eagles recovered, but later punted. That set the tone for a sloppy offensive day. Holding penalties on both offense and defense negated major plays. For the offense, a third-and-5 Hurts scramble was erased and followed by a punt. For the defense, a holding penalty on Quinyon Mitchell that negated a sack and led to a Chiefs touchdown.

And then the big-little thing: Just as the Chiefs were prepared to re-take the lead, Jalen Carter tipped a red-zone pass from Mahomes that altered the football’s path and appeared to complicate Kelce’s attempt to catch it. Kelce bobbled the football and rookie Mukuba intercepted it. It was a major swing in the game. The Eagles flipped the turnover into a touchdown and a two-score lead. Nick Sirianni gets to, again, correct mistakes after a win. How long can the Eagles get away with them? — Kubena

Monumental mistake by Kelce

There’s just no way around it: The game changed on a drop by Chiefs tight end Kelce.

K.C. was driving inside the red zone with a chance to take a fourth-quarter lead when quarterback Mahomes aimed a pass over the middle to Kelce, who appeared not to be quite ready for it. After the ball bounded off Kelce’s hands, it caromed up to Mukuba, who came away with an interception before returning the ball 41 yards down the sideline.

It’s the type of gaffe that’s almost impossible to overcome late in a close game. According to the win-probability calculator at rbsdm.com, the Kelce drop-turned-interception was worth negative-7.1 points for the Chiefs, while also moving their expected win probability from 53 percent to 24 percent.

Kelce’s dejected sideline reaction afterward reflected the reality of the situation; he knew he’d let his team down at the worst possible moment. — Newell

(Photo of Jalen Hurts surveying the field before a play against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday: David Eulitt / Getty Images)

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