Chiefs Super Bowl preview, part 1; What do we really know about the Eagles defense?
Examining an interesting (and talented) opponent through the lens of who they've played and how they've performed against their best opponents.
The Chiefs are playing in the Super Bowl… again.
What a strange time it is to be a Chiefs fan. By once again making it to the NFL’s biggest stage, Kansas City has solidified themselves as the most successful franchise over the NFL’s last 5 seasons. Even in a year that was to be a “retooling” (not a rebuild, of course!), where they overhauled the defense and made a big change on offense, all roads lead back to Mahomes and company taking a shot at the Lombardi.
It’s an exciting time and of course I’ll be doing what I can to preview things that interest me about the Super Bowl. I’ll be writing a pair of “if I were Reid/Spags” articles similar to what I did prior to the AFC Championship, with ideas as to how I’d attack Philadelphia on both sides of the ball. But first, I want to talk about the Eagles a bit. More specifically, the Eagles defense.
For starters, it’s a very imposing group on paper. They have an embarrassment of riches along the defensive line and have been by far the best pass rushing team in the league this year.
Not only that, the Eagles have multiple cornerbacks they trust in Darius Slay, James Bradberry, and Avonte Maddox (last I’ve heard, Maddox is expected to play in the Super Bowl), not to mention another secondary chess piece in C.J. Gardner-Johnson. Top to bottom, they are stacked with talent and well coached.
But… and please, Eagles fans who somehow arrive here, read the previous several paragraphs before yelling at me… do we know how good the Eagles defense actually is?
I don’t ask that question trying to imply that I think they’re bad. By Football Outsiders’ efficiency stats, they’re one of the best defenses in football (though the “weighted” metric brings them from 6th, to 9th, meaning they performed better earlier in the season). They’ve got star power at multiple spots, particularly the defensive line.
But in preparing to look at Philadelphia heading into Sunday, something became abundantly clear… This Eagles defense, for all its talent, hasn’t been tested much by top offenses this season. And when they’ve faced teams with above-average offenses, the results have been… well, interesting.
Let’s talk about what Philadelphia’s defense has faced this year, how it’s performed, and what (if anything) that tells us about Sunday’s game.