We are quite literally playing one of the best rushing teams in NFL history in the Eagles. Our guys better be ready to get off blocks, tackle, and play assignment sound.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The 2022 Eagles offense recorded the 5th highest rushing success rate since the 2002 season and the highest since the 2017 Patriots.<br><br>Sidebar: good lord the run game of those early-2000s Chiefs teams <a href="https://t.co/zZm7Mj3mSZ">pic.twitter.com/zZm7Mj3mSZ</a></p>&mdash; Nate Tice (@Nate_Tice) <a href="https://twitter.com/Nate_Tice/status/1618361973359665154?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 25, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Eagles fans underestimating the significance of their team playing a JV schedule of opposing QB’s all season.

That allowed them to hide Hurts’ liability as a passer since they were able to mostly play with leads which also allowed their pass rush to tee off on shitty QB’s (and inflate their sack #’s).

Looks like the 2006 Colts are the only Super Bowl winner on the list.

Also, how is this calculated? Anyone know?

I believe it's an 'ahead of the sticks' analysis.

Runs that gain 4+ yards or get a 1st down qualify.

EDIT: Not quite; it IS an ahead of the sticks analysis, but it's percentage based:

40% of the yards needed to gain a 1st on 1st down.
60% of the yards needed to gain a 1st on 2nd downs.
100% of the yards needed to gain a 1st down on 3rd or 4th downs.

Not a bad little metric, really.

Gotcha. That’s interesting.

From what the stats show, they don’t break many long ones but they’re pretty consistent.

They were 2nd in rushing first downs, but “only” averaged 4.6 yards per carry (19th in the league). 17 runs of 20+ (tied for 7th in the league), but only 2 runs of 40+.

So basically a lot of consistent pretty good runs. Not many bad carries. Not many home runs.

Agree that they are a very good team and deserve to be here. What weaknesses do Eagles fans think they will exploit in order to win?

Some of those more drilled down stats can be pretty fascinating.

Not long ago someone came up with a stat that tracked how frequently a team got at least one first down on a possession. It tracked really well with the best teams in the league.

It was essentially saying "hey, these squads just don't have many 3 and outs) and while that doesn't necessarily guarantee any points or even speak to any yards past the first 10, it does suggest a team that should typically win ToP and can move the ball in a variety of different ways/circumstances.

My guess is that it's all about the pressure on Mahomes. Their strength is defensive line and our OTs aren't the greatest. Add in that Mahomes isn't 100% to move around like he does for the entire game....and that's what they're aiming to do.

On the offensive side, it's probably hammer the run and get the ball to Brown. Goedert isn't a slouch either.

That makes sense and if I was an Eagle’s fan I would probably be thinking along those lines. They might see something that we are missing though.

What were the odds?

It was so obvious what he was up to. Last week the Bengals were some powerhouse that Mahomes and his rag-tag group of misfits couldn't hope to beat. Now they were just meh.

He's not a Chiefs fan - he's a Mahomes fan. So it behooves him to pre-emptively shift blame to anything NOT Mahomes going into the games. The easiest way to do that is to just say the rest of the team can't handle all the [insert opponent awesomeness] that they're going to run into.

It's fairly lame.

Nail on the ****ing head. He's not fooling anybody.

Boy this sure sounds like 49ers SB doesn’t it?

49ers were 2nd in the league in rushing
Scored most TD’s rushing in NFL
Talented team that made carried a QB who basically did the bare minimum
Strong pass rush
Game manager QB that is not elite

Eery how similar this is

All that really needs to be said about the Mahomes 'debate' is that any time a quarterback beats him, that quarterback starts to get talked about as "The best in the NFL..."

Beat Allen or Burrow or Herbert or whoever else it is they're trying to prop up and there's really nothing that comes of it. But every time someone has beaten Patrick Mahomes (other than Matt Ryan), that guy suddenly gets "You know, I think [x] might be the best in the league right now..."

It's the corollary to the idea that "You judge greatness by its graveyard..."

The fact that guys get boosts simply by virtue of beating Mahomes says all that needs be said.

Can Hurts connect on that pass to Sanders that Grapes misfired on?

It's really an unknown at this point. But there's an EXCELLENT chance that the game comes down to Hurts' right arm at some point and probably a single play made/not made.

Except Hurts can run where Grapes could not.