Photo by Rob Carr-Getty Images
Nick Sirianni is in his third season as the Eagles’ head coach. He promoted Brian Johnson to offensive coordinator this past offseason and together they run the offense, which features an incredibly diverse rushing attack at its foundation. It all begins with their dominant offensive line, which was recently ranked the best in the NFL by The 33rd Team.
The Eagles are a heavy zone power running team with plenty of RPOs and designed quarterback runs. D’Andre Swift is the workhorse back, who ranks seventh in the league in rushing yards. Then there’s Jalen Hurts, who isn’t running quite as much this season (with the exception of the “tush push” play) but is still a threat.
The heart of the Eagles’ game plan will no doubt be to establish the run. As good as the Chiefs’ defense has been this season it has been mediocre against the run, ranking 17th against it and surrendering 4.6 yards per carry. Getting a strong push and winning one-on-one matchups will be crucial for K.C.’s front seven.
Hurts is having another stellar year throwing the ball, completing 69 percent of his passes and averaging 7.7 yards per completion. He has a pair of elite wide receivers in A.J. Browns and DeVonta Smith to work with, which could present the Chiefs’ secondary with its biggest challenge to date.
Brown is a physical and fast receiver who can outmuscle a DB at the high point of the catch and can also burn defenders deep. L’Jarius Sneed has the physicality to match up against Brown and has done an awesome job against some elite receivers this year, including Justin Jefferson and Tyreek Hill.
Smith is a burner who is also one of the better route runners in the league. We could see Trent McDuffie, the Chiefs’ quickest cornerback, matched up against Smith often. Hurts will certainly take a handful of deep shots in this game, as he does every game.
It will be critical for the Chiefs’ defensive backs to keep the Philadelphia receivers in front of them and compete for the ball when given the opportunity. With how frequently the Eagles use RPOs, it makes sense for the Chiefs’ DBs to play a lot of man-to-man so that every player on the Eagles’ offense is accounted for no matter who has the ball.
