We did not truly anticipate this at the end of their 2021 season, when they were thumped, 31-15, by the Buccaneers in the wild-card round, however the Eagles come into Super Bowl LVII having completely made their location in this videogame as the NFL’s most total group on both sides of the ball. General supervisor Howie Roseman hasactually done an incredible task in filling the lineup holes, the training personnels haveactually been terrific in putting all those properties in the right locations, and Jalen Hurts hasactually addressed the franchise’s most essential concern by endingupbeing the franchise quarterback everyone hoped he might be.
As reliable and as dynamite as the Chiefs can be at any provided point in time — and the Eagles will have to counter that in all kinds of methods — it’s likewise real that Philly simply has more courses to success in this videogame. This doesn’t instantly provide the Eagles the 2nd Lombardi Trophy in franchise history, since their challenger has an estimable cadre of ability gamers, and there are methods in which the Chiefs can pull off what appears like a bit on an distressed.
We’ve offered Kansas City a punch sheet of things they requirement to do in order to win Super Bowl LVII.
Here are 4 things the Eagles will have to do to a higher or lower degree if they’re to surface their season with the NFL’s biggest reward.
(All innovative metrics courtesy of Pro Football Focus, Sports Info Solutions, and Football Outsiders unless otherwise showed).
(Tom Horak-USA TODAY Sports)
There are methods to stop Patrick Mahomes — or at least, limitation the damage he can do to your defense — however blitzing is certainly and extremely NOT one of them. This season, when dealingwith 5 or more pass-rushers, Mahomes hasactually finished 113 of 171 passes for 1,247 backyards, 511 air backyards, a league-high 18 goals, simply 2 interceptions, simply 8 sacks, and a passer score of 117.8.
This is less of an concern for the Eagles’ defense than it is for others — this season, they’ve put up 65 of their 78 sacks (solo and integrated) and 232 of their 318 overall pressures with 4 or less rushes. This is simply a caution for Eagles defensive planner Jonathan Gannon in case he desires to get charming.
Blitzing Mahomes is a issue not particularly because he has any desire to destroy your additional pressure with the deep ball. He can do that if you leave it open, as the Bengals did in Week 13 on a Cover-1 blitz in which Mahomes played Spot the Huckleberry with slot cornerback Mike Hilton, and Marquez Valdes-Scantling came out on leading…
…it’s more that Mahomes has such faith in the YAC beasts in this offense. This season, both the Texans and the Broncos attempted guy blitzes versus Mahomes that left protective spaces to the flat locations, and Mahomes was completely delighted to dump the ball to Jerick McKinnon.
It worked for 24 lawns versus Denver…
…and it worked for 21 backyards versus Houston.
Gannon understands 100 times more about football than I do, so I understand that if I can figure this out, he’s all over it. Against Patrick Mahomes, you pressure without blitzing, and you make him wait for his preferred targets.
Let’s get into that 2nd point.
(Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports)
The last time the Eagles’ defense had to offer with Travis Kelce, it was Week 4 of the 2021 season. Philly lost, 42-30, however that was far more about Jonathan Gannon’s defense finding no responses for Tyreek Hill (who went off for 11 captures on 12 targets for 186 lawns and 3 goals) than anything Kelce did. Kansas City’s marquee tight end had 4 captures on 6 targets for 23 backyards.
The Eagles’ defense is much muchbetter total than it was then, however Kelce is playing at as high a level as he has throughout his NFL profession. With Hill gone to the Dolphins in trade, the Chiefs are running far more 2- and three-tight end sets, and Kelce is at the center of it all. If Gannon and his gamers are to include Kelce, it will have to be by bumping him off the line of skirmish to upset the timing of the Chiefs’ brief and intermediate death videogame, and by bracketing him when he gets upfield.
The 49ers’ quarterback circumstance was an injury-riddled catastrophe in the NFC Championship videogame, the Eagles restricted Georgie Kittle — like Kelce, a leading tight end who truly is the main getting danger in that offense — to 3 captures on 4 targets for 32 backyards. How did they do it? By bumping Kittle off the line of skirmish with linebackers, and bracketing him up top to make those looks harder for the quarterback.
With 9: 48 left in the veryfirst quarter, Brock Purdy finished a nine-yard pass to Kittle, however linebacker Kyzir White minimal that play by staying on Kittle individually through the path. This was Cover-1, and linebacker T.J. Edwards was accountable for Christian McCaffrey out of the backfield. The 49ers extended Philly’s secondary with 3 receivers running longer paths away from the middle of the field, so this was all on White, and he got it done.
On this 10-yard conclusion to Brandon Aiyuk with 8: 07 left in the veryfirst quarter, watch how White and safet