Iggles Blitz

by Tommy Lawlor

Chiefs No More

Posted September 14th, 2025 | 4 Comments »

The Eagles went to Kansas City and beat a desperate Chiefs team on Sunday afternoon. It wasn’t easy or pretty, but that was one heck of a win. KC drops to 0-2 for the first time since 2014. The Eagles are now 2-0. There are still a lot of issues to address, but this team is playing winning football, as Nick Sirianni might say. They aren’t turning the ball over and they are making clutch plays in all three phases of the game.

The Eagles have now beaten the Chiefs three years in a row.

2023 – 21-17
2024 – 40-22
2025 – 20-17

The common denominator in all three wins…good defense. Last year the Chiefs were shutout in the first half. On Sunday the Eagles really shut them down in the second half. The Eagles were able to pressure and bother Patrick Mahomes in both games. The Eagles sacked Mahomes twice on Sunday and were credited with 10 QB hits. That made him uncomfortable in the pocket and he finished just 16 of 29. Even some of his completions were off target.

With a leaky OL and limited weapons, the Chiefs needed Mahomes to play like a superstar. He didn’t do that. He did run well in the first half and gave the Eagles some fits with his scrambles. He was 5-60 in the first half, but finished 7-66 for the game. The Eagles adjusted their defense and took away his running lanes.

The Chiefs could have won the game if they made a few more plays and cleaned up some mistakes. But that’s part of the point. They used to be the team that did those things. They found a way to win when they shouldn’t. That version of the Chiefs isn’t around right now. They are good enough to keep things close and to compete, but the magic that made them special seems to be gone. Maybe they’ll get some of that back when their WRs get healthy. Still, this team just feels different.

This game made you appreciate Vic Fangio even more than you already did. He shut down KC with good coverage and a strong pass rush back in February. This time around he let his defense do more attacking. We saw Zack Baun and Jihad Campbell both blitz. We saw Drew Mukuba blitz and get part of a sack. There might have been others as well. Fangio gave Mahomes different looks and that strategy worked brilliantly.

Speaking of Mukuba, he had a huge impact on the game. He had 6 tackles, half a sack, a TFL and a game-changing INT.

What a game. Not bad for a rookie. Or a veteran. Mukuba is a playmaker. He has a knack for being in the right place at the right time and he’s got great awareness. There were a couple of plays in the early games where guys didn’t seem to see the ball or know how to play it. Mukuba grabbed that sucker and took off running. The Eagles scored a TD after that and took control of the game.

Mukuba made a huge tackle on a third down that set up a fourth down, which the Eagles stuffed. He did miss a tackle on Mahomes in the open field. He’ll hear about that.

While the defense was great in KC, the Eagles offense was not. They finished the game with 216 yards, with 122 of those coming on the ground. The passing attack is struggling right now. Only one completion went for 10 or more yards. There were some plays when Jalen Hurts had a ton of time and no one to thorw to. There were other plays when KC blitzed and Hurts got the ball off for a short completion. He finished 15-22 for 101 yards. AJ and DeVonta combined to go 9-80. That’s a step in the right direction, but still not good enough.

There will be a lot of focus on Kevin Patullo this week. I think we have to give the Chiefs a lot of credit here. Their secondary covered much, much better than Week 1. And their homefield advantage made a difference. The Eagles repeatedly snapped the ball right before the clock went to 0. It sure seemed like all the noise affected the Eagles operation.

While Hurts wasn’t shredding the Chiefs defense, the Tush Push did give them fits. The Eagles used it effectively to score the key TD and then to close out the game. The Eagles got away with false starts on a couple of those plays and Eagles-haters are all over social media pointing out those plays. Enjoy the Tush Push this season. The NFL will do whatever it takes to get that play out of the game next season.

Hurts didn’t run much outside of the Tush Push. Saquon Barkley and the conventional run game was pretty good. He finished 22-88. AJ Dillon was 3-19.

We have to give Jake Elliott a lot of credit for his performance. He hit FGs from 51 and 58 yards. That last one would have been good from at least 65, if not further. His struggles from last year are gone.

The Eagles have a really tough schedule. Getting off to a 2-0 start could make a big difference. They aren’t playing consistently good football right now, but are finding ways to win. Give them time to round into shape and get to the level they need to. Remember that they started 2-2 last year and didn’t look great in Game 5 when they beat the Browns 20-16. You don’t want to peak in September.

Hurts and the offense will explode at some point. And the defense can continue to get better.

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Gameday – PHI at KC

Posted September 14th, 2025 | Comments Off on Gameday – PHI at KC

The two biggest kids on the block are about to do battle again. The winners of the past three Super Bowls will face each other at 4:25 today in Arrowhead Stadium. The Eagles are more talented. The Chiefs are more desperate. It will be interesting to see how those things play out. KC does not want to drop to 0-2 so they may approach this game with a greater sense of urgency.

If you think back to February, it was mind-blowing to see the Chiefs offense struggle the way they did. They didn’t cross midfield until the third quarter. The Eagles had more points than they did yards at halftime. That was fun, but also an anomaly. Do not expect anything like that today.

The Chiefs think they have fixed their OL and that makes a big difference. They also can study that tape to get a good feel for how Vic Fangio covered them. The Eagles have a rebuilt secondary. The guys who locked up KC back then are not all back. You know Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes are excited to attack Adoree Jackson. I’m sure they want to test rookie Drew Mukuba as well. The Eagles do catch a bit of a break with several key Chiefs receivers out for this game. Great plays only work if you have the guys to execute them.

Fangio is masterful with his gameplans. He’s also great at teaching his players. The defense should play better than they did in the opener. Getting Jalen Carter back will make a big difference. Adding Za’Darius Smith will help as well. The rushers do need to play under control. Mahomes used his legs a lot in KC’s opener. You need to collapse the pocket and try to keep him in there. Power rushes will be the key to getting after Mahomes.

It will be critical for the Eagles to be prepared for Steve Spagnuolo’s blitzes. His LBs and DBs do an outstanding job of getting after the QB when they are turned loose. The Eagles did a pretty good job vs the blitz last season, but had issues with it in the past. Dallas had some success with blitzes last week. This is an area where Kevin Patullo and Jalen Hurts need good answers.

Dallas Goedert is out for the game. What might that mean for the offense?

Interesting note.

The national reporters all said this morning that the Eagles are expected to target AJ Brown early and often today. Someone on the Eagles leaked that intentionally. Might have just been a PR move. Also might have been something to get inside the Chiefs head. Do you now come out and pump fake to AJ, then throw to DeVonta or someone else? We’ll see.

Rookie DT Ty Robinson will make his NFL debut today. Tank Bigsby will make his Eagles debut. Epps helps them on STs and possibly defense. Veteran edge rushers Azeez Ojulari and Ogbo Okoronkwo are inactive again.

This is a fascinating game. The obvious angle is the SB rematch. Neither team looked great in the season opener so we aren’t sure what to expect from them today. One of the key reasons for that is lots of changes on both rosters. Today’s game will give us an idea of which team found better replacements for the guys that left in free agency.

The intangibles all point to the Chiefs, but the tangibles point to the Eagles. I’ll go with the Birds, but I do expect this to be a tough game.

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