Iggles Blitz

by Tommy Lawlor

2025 Game Review – PHI 20, KC 17

Posted September 18th, 2025 | Comments Off on 2025 Game Review – PHI 20, KC 17

The Eagles have beaten the Chiefs three straight years. There is no magic formula. The Eagles are better on the line of scrimmage. We saw that again on Sunday in Kansas City. Patrick Mahomes was hit 10 times and under regular pressure. Jalen Hurts generally had time to throw. KC got pressure on him when they blitzed. If you think back to the painful SB loss to KC, the game was lost in the second half when the Chiefs ran the ball on the Eagles over and over. It wasn’t Mahomes.

It is funny to think about the Eagles not playing their A-game and still going to KC and winning. That tells you the Chiefs aren’t what they were in the past and the Eagles aren’t either. The Eagles are now a team that finds ways to win. After years (maybe decades) of seeing the Eagles come up short, it feels wild to be confident that the team will make the plays needed to win. That’s what happens when you have a strong roster and a really good QB.

There was a tough, tense atmosphere in this game. The crowd noise was a major factor. The Eagles were late in getting lined up on offense for a lot of the game. There were times when the offense looked out of sync. That will happen when you play in a stadium like that and the defense is blitzing relentlessly. The Eagles kept penalties under control and didn’t turn the ball over. They avoided the kind of mistakes that can lose you a game like that.

There is a lot of noise about the Eagles using the Tush Push from that game. I’m not going to waste too much time on that. The Eagles did jump offside on a couple, but it wasn’t called. Call the penalties next time.

The Chiefs have been to 5 Super Bowls in the last 6 years. Chris Jones and Travis Kelce will be headed to the Hall of Fame when they retire. They are great players. They are also cocky and talk a lot of trash. I have to admit it was fun to see Kelce ticked off after his drop led to a game-changing INT. He was running around giddy after some catches earlier in the game. I liked sad Kelce. Jones wagged his finger after they got a stop. He talked trash to Jalen. Hurts told him to shut up since they were losing. Beautiful.

COACHING

Nick Sirianni was more conservative than in some other games. Late in the half he settled for a long FG rather than trying to get closer or go for a TD. The Eagles ran draws on a couple of third-and-long plays. It felt like Sirianni embraced this game being a defensive battle and coached accordingly. The Eagles went for it on one fourth down. Sirianni challenged one play. It looked like Hurts scored a TD on a Tush Push, but it was hard to see on replay so the call was upheld.

Kevin Patullo had a mixed day. He called a deep shot on the opening play, but poor blocking wasted a wide open AJ Brown. Overall the passing attack wasn’t as creative or aggressive as you’d like. KC was good in coverage so the Eagles had to settle for short throws and checkdowns for most of the game. That is something Patullo must work on. The run game was effective, with the Eagles running for 122 yards and 2 TDs.

Vic Fangio drove Mahomes crazy in the SB with tight coverage and a relentless 4-man rush. Fangio mixed things up this time and turned his blitzers loose. The Eagles had double-digit blitzes. Coverage was mostly good. Mahomes wasn’t comfortable in the pocket and had quite a few off-target throws. Even when he had time, he wasn’t comfortable.

Mahomes gave the Eagles fits in the first half by running. He was 5-60-1. Fangio and his players adjusted. They quit flying upfield and focused more on controlling rush lanes. Mahomes was limited to 2-6 in the second half. As crazy as it sounds, the Eagles forced Mahomes to throw the ball. He did, but with mixed results.

The Eagles clearly won the STs battle in the opener. It was more of a draw in KC.

OFFENSE

Jalen Hurts made plays when it mattered. He finished 15-22-101 as a passer and 9-15-1 as a runner. This game will not be studied by future generations. Hurts did fumble the ball on the opening play, but the Eagles recovered. He generally protected the ball and made sound decisions. The passing game was not good. Hurts didn’t have any great throws. His one big play was a 28-yard pass to Smitty. Hurts arm got hit as he threw so the ball was short. KC didn’t get Hurts much room to scramble. Most of his runs came on the Tush Push.

Saquon Barkley finished 22-88-1. He caught 2 passes for 6 yards. One of them almost turned into a big play, but Barkley couldn’t keep his foot inbounds as he made his way up the sideline. Great effort. He had a couple of runs where he was close to breaking one. His long run was a 13-yard TD. AJ Dillon finished 3-19 on the ground.

Smitty went 4-53 and delivered the only explosive play. He had to make a good adjustment on an underthrown ball and did that. Huge play that set up the key TD in the game. That allowed the Eagles to go up 20-10 and finally have some separation. AJ Brown was 5-27, with one of those being an incredible catch. It only gained a few yards, but was remarkable.

Wow. Amazing reaction and one-hand grab. AJ did not block well. There were multiple plays that would have been more successful if he blocked better. You don’t expect him to be Lane Johnson, but he needed to be better. Jahan Dotson had 1 catch for 4 yards. Darius Cooper was used as a blocker on some run plays. He was feisty.

No Dallas Goedert meant TE play was going to be erratic. Grant Calcaterra was awful early in the game. He missed the block on the first play. If he slows the blitzer down, AJ has a long TD. Calcaterra struggled as a blocker for a while, but did get better in the second half. He was 1-6 as a receiver. Kylen Granson was 1-5 as a receiver. His blocking was okay. Cameron Latu played as a FB/TE and had the best block of the game.

That is sexy. Get that man more playing time.

The OL mostly had a good day. They gave Barkley room to run and Hurts time to throw, when the Chiefs went with a 4-man rush. Blitzes sped things up, but Hurts still had time to get rid of the ball.

Landon Dickerson is struggling a bit right now. He just doesn’t look right. His back looks stiff. I’m hoping that goes away the more he plays and gets used to games. He missed multiple blocks on Chris Jones, some on runs and passes. He jumped offside. Dickerson isn’t a liability or anything to that extent, but he’s not playing to the level we’re used to seeing. Tyler Steen was the best OG on Sunday. He did have one scary moment. A rusher drove Steen back into Hurts and his arm hit Steen’s helmet. The throw was off-target, but Hurts was fine.

Jurgens had great block on TD run. Doubled, then released and got the LB. Big area for Saquon to run through. The OTs were good. Lane Johnson did have a false start penalty.

DEFENSE

Jalen Carter finally decided to play some snaps and made his presence felt. He had 2 tackles, 1 TFL and 3 QB hits. He should have drawn multiple holding calls, but the refs just do not like calling holding on his opponents. Carter got banged up in the game and got worn down, but he still had a real impact on the game. Special player.

Jordan Davis had another strong performance. He had 5 tackles and 2 pass deflections. I was especially impressed with his ability to shed blocks and stuff RBs.

Davis is making plays based on size and strength. You also see him pushing the pocket on pass plays and chasing runs that go outside. He really has taken his game to the next level. Moro Ojomo was regularly disruptive. He had 2 tackles, 2 QB hits and a sack. His quickness and ability to get into the backfield make him tough to block.

The edge rushers didn’t make a lot of highlight plays. Nolan Smith had 3 tackles and a FF. He does everything pretty well. He’s stout vs the run. Good pass rusher. They ask him to play in space and drop into coverage at times. Smith isn’t putting up gaudy numbers, but he is a good player. You really appreciate him when you re-watch the games. Jalyx Hunt had a QB hit. Za’Darius Smith made his Eagles debut and looked good. He had 4 tackles and half a sack. He brought good energy to the field. I think Eagles fans will enjoy watching him. Josh Uche had another good outing. He had 4 tackles and played the run well.

I didn’t think Zack Baun did that much watching live, but that guy was all over the place. He had 6 tackles and a QB hit. He flew all over the field. He was good vs the run. He covered well. Baun had several blitzes and was good on those. Probably my favorite player. Jihad Campbell had 7 tackles and a QB hit. He was called for a ticky-tack roughing penalty. Another good showing by him.

Rookie Drew Mukuba made his presence known to the NFL world. He had 6 tackles, half a sack, a TFL and an INT. Not bad, rook.

Mukuba read that play correctly and got to the right spot. Yes, he got lucky that Kelce dropped the ball, but it wasn’t luck that he was in the right place to pick it off. Mukuba had the hit of the game when Hollywood Brown caught a short pass on third-and-one. Drew hit him square and didn’t give up an inch. Mukuba did miss a tackle of Mahomes out in space. Tried to hit him instead of wrapping up. He will learn from that. Reed Blankenship had a couple of tackles.

Adoree Jackson played better this week. He was credited with 1 PD, but actually broke up 2 passes. One was a bit of luck. He covered more aggressively. There was a play late in the game where he ran into someone and left his guy wide open. Mahomes made a bad throw. Quinyon had another good game. He was credited with 3 tackles and covered well. Jakorian Bennett played a little. He did a poor job of getting off block on Mahomes TD run. Not ideal effort.

Cooper DeJean had a terrific game. He led the team with 7 tackles. DeJean gave up a few completions, but limited RAC yards with strong tackling. He was physical and made life hard on the KC receivers.

ST

Jake Elliott is back to being a great kicker. He nailed a 58-yarder and a 51-yard FG. Both were impressive kicks.

Braden Mann averaged 54.8 yards per punt. His long went 70 yards. He is having a great year.

Cameron Latu made his presence felt several times. He was good on kick coverage. He ran through a blocker and almost blocked KC’s first punt. He later did that from the other side. Just missed both punts.

The return game was pretty quiet. Dotson did return a punt for 14 yards. KC kicked away from Tank Bigsby so we only got to see him as a blocker.

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Focus On The D

Posted September 15th, 2025 | 4 Comments »

Heading into the 2025 season I was a bit nervous about the defense. The Eagles were missing a handful of starters/key players. It is hard to remain a great defense because that is such a high variance side of the ball. Defense is about strong execution by all 11 players. They need to be on the same page and need to play well as a group. That’s tough to do over and over. It is even harder when you lose some key players.

Vic Fangio is a great defensive coordinator and Howie Roseman has given him plenty of talent to work with. Still, I was curious to see how this group would perform. Could they be a Top 10 unit? Top 5?

After two games, the Eagles are 11th in points allowed and 9th in yards. That is a great start for Fangio and his new gang of marauders. He has two rookies in the starting lineup and three players in just their second season. The fact this group has come together quickly and is playing well is very encouraging. I feel confident in saying the numbers would be even better had Jalen Carter not been ejected in Week 1.

The defense still has plenty to work on. There have been blown coverages in both games. Patrick Mahomes burned the defense with his legs in the first half. Fangio and his players adjusted at halftime. Mahomes went from 5-60 to 7-66. That shows improvement within the game.

I’ve been very impressed with the tackling so far. The back seven has shown real promise in coverage. The Eagles still need to figure out CB2, but Adoree Jackson seemed better yesterday than the opener. Fangio is mixing up his gameplans and challenging the players. He used blitzes effectively in KC and they gave the Chiefs fits.

I’m excited to see where this defense will be in a few weeks. As the young players get more experience, they will improve. As the unit gets more time together, it will improve. Fangio could end up with another outstanding defense.

While I had some reservations about the defense, I was confident the offense would be one of the best in the league. After two weeks the offense is a mess. There is reason for some concern, but there still a tremendous amount of talent and potential.

Jalen Hurts is a good QB. Saquon Barkley might be the best RB in the league. AJ and Smitty are the best WR duo in the league. Dallas Goedert is a good TE. The OL is one of the best units in the league. I understand that Kevin Patullo is new and it is easy to blame him for the slow start. He certainly deserves some of the blame. The players haven’t done a great job of executing so far.

I do think the first two opponents have had a chip on their shoulder. Dallas got swept last year. They got embarrassed in both games. The coaches had that team fired up and ready to battle the Eagles. KC also got embarrassed by the Eagles a few months back. Their defense was aggressive and played well on Sunday. They had great crowd noise as well.

The Eagles offense has not looked comfortable on the field for parts of both games. I think that will change and they will settle down. The Rams have a really talented defense so they will be a good challenge for the Eagles. Thankfully the game is at The Linc so that will help. If the offense doesn’t start trending in the right direction, it will be time to get seriously concerned. I still have faith in the unit after two weeks.

Do you remember who had the best offense in the NFL after two weeks last year?

It was the Saints. They scored 91 points in those games and people wondered if they could be the surprise team to watch. The Eagles held them to 12 points in Week 3 and the Saints finished 5-12 after a 2-0 start. September football can be a mirage, good and bad.

*****

There is a lot of discussion about the Tush Push after Sunday. The Eagles clearly jumped offside on multiple plays. They should have been flagged, but weren’t. You can bet the officials on Sunday will be under a lot of pressure to watch everything closely and enforce any infractions. The Eagles better be clean or there will be flags this time around.

All the critics are out now and ripping the play left and right. It’s bad for football. It’s bad for the economy. It’s bad for the environment. Children shouldn’t be exposed to it. Some of the criticism is legit, but the hatred and hyperbole are a bit much.

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