Mama always told me to accentuate the positive… sometimes that’s hard to do if you’re an Eagles fan.
But we were right there step-for-step with the Chieves through 3 quarters. Then one horribly-timed gaffe turned the tide.
It was 13-all in the fourth quarter and Philadelphia had the ball when Carson Wentz threw a pass that bounced off the Chiefs’ Justin Houston and into the arms of Chris Jones. The pick gave Kansas City the ball deep in Eagles territory, and Travis Kelce hurdled into the end zone five plays later.
I hated that play call. I think it was a bubble screen—whatever it was, it was poorly executed, and besides, the Chiefs’ defense had it read anyway—almost as if they KNEW OUR PLAYBOOK! (which of course they do, and Doug Pederson should have known that the Chieves knew, etc.)
Why we were not more aware that it was time to probe the middle of the field at that point, as the Chieves were anticipating the horizontal “conservative” call?
Anyway, things fell apart from there.
Chiefs rookie Kareem Hunt reached the end zone twice, Travis Kelce took a shovel pass 15 yards for the go-ahead touchdown and Kansas City held on to beat the Philadelphia Eagles 27-20 on Sunday.
Alex Smith had 251 yards passing for the Chiefs (2-0). Cairo Santos was 2 for 2 on field goals.
Wentz finished with 333 yards and two touchdowns passing, despite facing relentless pressure all afternoon. He also led the Eagles (1-1) with 55 yards rushing…which is not necessarily a good thing.
Alshon Jeffery appeared to get on the same page with Wentz at Arrowhead Stadium. He finished with seven catches for 92 yards. That’s a good sign of things to come, I reckon.
Eagles tight end Zach Ertz had five catches for 97 yards, including a 53-yard catch late in the first half that ricocheted off the Chiefs’ Terrance Mitchell. That play appeared to have set up a chip-shot field goal, but Jake Elliott‘s attempt missed as the half expired.
That miss hurt because it changed the math affecting the way the Eagles would run their offense in the 2nd half. If that FG was made, maybe that bum screen call by Doug in the 4th never has to be made.
The Eagles defense lost two more players when starting safety Rodney McLeod and backup cornerback Jaylen Watkins left with hamstring injuries in the first half.
Eagles’ secondary backups stepped up, though. It wasn’t their fault this game got away from us.
Final:
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PHI | 3 | 0 | 7 | 10 | 20 |
| KC | 3 | 3 | 7 | 14 | 27 |
Scoring Summary
| FIRST QUARTER | PHI | KC | |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
FG
11:22
Cairo Santos 34 Yd Field Goal
8 plays, 73 yards, 3:38
|
0 | 3 |
 |
FG
4:28
Jake Elliott 34 Yd Field Goal
11 plays, 58 yards, 6:54
|
3 | 3 |
| SECOND QUARTER | PHI | KC | |
|
FG
0:17
Cairo Santos 39 Yd Field Goal
4 plays, 3 yards, 0:49
|
3 | 6 |
| THIRD QUARTER | PHI | KC | |
|
TD
4:08
Alshon Jeffery 16 Yd pass from Carson Wentz (Jake Elliott Kick)
7 plays, 81 yards, 4:20
|
10 | 6 |
|
TD
1:20
Kareem Hunt 53 Yd Run (Cairo Santos Kick)
5 plays, 83 yards, 2:48
|
10 | 13 |
| FOURTH QUARTER | PHI | KC | |
|
FG
11:57
Jake Elliott 40 Yd Field Goal
10 plays, 44 yards, 4:23
|
13 | 13 |
|
TD
6:25
Travis Kelce 15 Yd pass from Alex Smith (Cairo Santos Kick)
5 plays, 31 yards, 2:51
|
13 | 20 |
|
TD
2:14
Kareem Hunt 2 Yd Run (Cairo Santos Kick)
6 plays, 56 yards, 3:13
|
13 | 27 |
|
TD
0:08
Nelson Agholor 9 Yd pass from Carson Wentz (Jake Elliott Kick)
13 plays, 75 yards, 2:06
|
20 | 27 |
| Matchup | |
|
|---|---|---|
| 1st Downs | 27 | 16 |
| Passing 1st downs | 19 | 10 |
| Rushing 1st downs | 6 | 6 |
| 1st downs from penalties | 2 | 0 |
| 3rd down efficiency | 8-15 | 5-12 |
| 4th down efficiency | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| Total Plays | 69 | 51 |
| Total Yards | 406 | 344 |
| Total Drives | 11 | 10 |
| Yards per Play | 5.9 | 6.7 |
| Passing | 299 | 232 |
| Comp-Att | 25-46 | 21-28 |
| Yards per pass | 5.8 | 7.3 |
| Interceptions thrown | 1 | 0 |
| Sacks-Yards Lost | 6-34 | 4-19 |
| Rushing | 107 | 112 |
| Rushing Attempts | 17 | 19 |
| Yards per rush | 6.3 | 5.9 |
| Red Zone (Made-Att) | 2-5 | 2-3 |
| Penalties | 4-30 | 5-40 |
| Turnovers | 2 | 0 |
| Fumbles lost | 1 | 0 |
| Interceptions thrown | 1 | 0 |
Possession 30:49 29:11
Philadelphia Passing| C/ATT | YDS | AVG | TD | INT | SACKS | RTG | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carson Wentz | 25/46 | 333 | 7.2 | 2 | 1 | 6-34 | 83.0 |
| TEAM | 25/46 | 299 | 7.2 | 2 | 1 | 6-34 | 83.0 |
Kansas City Passing| C/ATT | YDS | AVG | TD | INT | SACKS | RTG | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alex Smith | 21/28 | 251 | 9.0 | 1 | 0 | 4-19 | 113.8 |
| TEAM | 21/28 | 232 | 9.0 | 1 | 0 | 4-19 | 113.8 |
Philadelphia Rushing| CAR | YDS | AVG | TD | LONG | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carson Wentz | 4 | 55 | 13.8 | 0 | 24 |
| Darren Sproles | 10 | 48 | 4.8 | 0 | 12 |
| Wendell Smallwood | 3 | 4 | 1.3 | 0 | 8 |
| TEAM | 17 | 107 | 6.3 | 0 | 24 |
Kansas City Rushing| CAR | YDS | AVG | TD | LONG | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kareem Hunt | 13 | 81 | 6.2 | 2 | 53 |
| Alex Smith | 4 | 21 | 5.3 | 0 | 12 |
| Tyreek Hill | 1 | 6 | 6.0 | 0 | 6 |
| Albert Wilson | 1 | 4 | 4.0 | 0 | 4 |
| TEAM | 19 | 112 | 5.9 | 2 | 53 |
Philadelphia Receiving| REC | YDS | AVG | TD | LONG | TGTS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zach Ertz | 5 | 97 | 19.4 | 0 | 53 | 10 |
| Alshon Jeffery | 7 | 92 | 13.1 | 1 | 18 | 13 |
| Torrey Smith | 4 | 66 | 16.5 | 0 | 24 | 8 |
| Mack Hollins | 3 | 32 | 10.7 | 0 | 13 | 3 |
| Darren Sproles | 2 | 30 | 15.0 | 0 | 16 | 4 |
| Trey Burton | 1 | 10 | 10.0 | 0 | 10 | 1 |
| Nelson Agholor | 1 | 9 | 9.0 | 1 | 9 | 3 |
| LeGarrette Blount | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Wendell Smallwood | 1 | -3 | -3.0 | 0 | -3 | 2 |
| TEAM | 25 | 333 | 13.3 | 2 | 53 | 45 |
Kansas City Receiving| REC | YDS | AVG | TD | LONG | TGTS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Travis Kelce | 8 | 103 | 12.9 | 1 | 44 | 10 |
| Chris Conley | 4 | 55 | 13.8 | 0 | 35 | 4 |
| Tyreek Hill | 4 | 43 | 10.8 | 0 | 18 | 6 |
| Kareem Hunt | 3 | 28 | 9.3 | 0 | 16 | 3 |
| Albert Wilson | 2 | 22 | 11.0 | 0 | 12 | 3 |
| Ross Travis | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| TEAM | 21 | 251 | 12.0 | 1 | 44 | 27 |
Philadelphia Defense| TACKLES | MISC | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TOT | SOLO | SACKS | TFL | PD | QB HTS | TD | ||
| Malcolm Jenkins | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Mychal Kendricks | 4 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| Vinny Curry | 4 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Rasul Douglas | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Corey Graham | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Nigel Bradham | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Brandon Graham | 4 | 2 | 0.5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Tim Jernigan | 4 | 2 | 0.5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Jordan Hicks | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| Fletcher Cox | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Patrick Robinson | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Jalen Mills | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Rodney McLeod | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Jaylen Watkins | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Chris Long | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Dexter McDougle | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Beau Allen | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Derek Barnett | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Darren Sproles | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Chris Maragos | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Brandon Brooks | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Mack Hollins | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| TEAM | 54 | 40 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 9 | 0 | |
Philadelphia Kicking| FG | PCT | LONG | XP | PTS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jake Elliott | 2/3 | 67.0 | 40 | 2/2 | 8 |
| TEAM | 2/3 | 66.7 | 40 | 2/2 | 8 |
Tim McManus of ESPN.com was harsh in his criticism of the Eagles game plan:
“Quarterback Carson Wentz had to shoulder the load once again, following up his 39 passes in Week 1 with 46 throws Sunday, completing 25 for 333 yards, two touchdowns and one interception in a 27-20 loss.
“The projected top back, LeGarrette Blount, did not have a single carry. Coach Doug Pederson instead turned to the 34-year-old Darren Sproles. While Sproles was fairly effective (10 carries, 48 yards), he can only be leaned on so much.
“The Philadelphia Eagles have a balance problem [on offense], and there’s no sign of a cure in sight.”
Fix it, Doug!—-the New York Giants have tape on us!
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