Here was our starters that game lol

Michael Danna
Chris Jones
Derrick Nnadi
Jarran Reed
Anthony Hitchens
Nick Bolton
Mike Hughes
L'Jarius Sneed
Deandre Baker
Tyrann Mathieu
Daniel Sorensen

No doubt Mahomes is an awesome QB. But the Niners secondary is below average, which worked right into Mahome's and Reid's tendencies. Which is why Mahomes passed for over 400 yards in that game. Eagles have the top ranked secondary.

However, I will agree that the Eagles have not faced much in way of elite QB play. They have the roster to defend it, but Gannon (their DC) believes in a bend-don't-break philosophy of zone and soft coverages against the better QBs, which IMO doesn't put his best players in the best position. So in the past two years they have struggled more with the great QBs. But to be fair, who doesn't?

Brown and Smith were 4th and 9th respectively in yards this year. Chase and Higgins were 17th and 20th. And that was with missing Hurts for two games. Chase and Higgins are great receivers, but I think you might be underestimating Brown and Smith.

I think that's fair.

Higgins and Chase were plastered all game and still put up yards because they're phenomenal in the air.

Brown and Smith are different animals than that.

This is a challenge. I think Spags is going to make Hurts beat us with his arm. We are going to have to score points to win...their Offense is going to score some.

This is what you drafted and played all those rookies in the secondary all year for.

I'm gonna devote all I can to the front 7, do all I can to stop the run. Make Hurts stay in and beat them from the pocket.

They were drunk?

Chase is probably the best receiver in the league right now...

And Chase missed 5 games. Your point?

I've said it before and I'll say it again, this isn't all that different from playing the Ravens. Hurts has better weapons on the outside than Lamar has ever had but Hurts also isn't as dynamic as Lamar was at his peak.

Hurts threw for 120 and less than 5 YPA.

His shoulder isn’t right in the slightest.

Game sets up nicely for the Chiefs.

There’s only one ball to go around.

You’re forgetting that Tyler Boyd also put up nearly 800 yards. Hurst also caught 52 balls for 400+ yards. Chase only played 12 games and still had a 1,000+ yards.

Goedert only caught 3 more passes than Hurst, but obviously did more with those catches. Brown and Smith both played 17 games, unlike Chase. Goedert + Watkins caught 22 fewer passes than Hurst and Boyd, which left more opportunities for Smith and Brown. Smith and Brown had like 40 more targets than Chase and Higgins.

The total yardage comparison across the top two wide receivers doesn’t tell the whole story. Both duos are sensational any way you look at it.

They've 100% protected the hell out of him throwing and are very lucky they weren't in any close games.

Which made zero sense as to why they were running him in the game against the 49ers.

Says to me he probably needs surgery on his labrum so it isn't gonna get better or worse and he just has to deal with it.

Also the Eagles are treating Hurts like he's a throwaway QB. I wonder if this is gonna become a thing in the NFL going forward. Team drafts young athletic QB, runs him into the ground for 4 years and when it's time to get paid they just draft another one. To basically avoid the big QB contract..

He was pretty clearly feeling each run as well, unless he just has the worst case of resting bitch face ever known to man

How physical will Cheffers' crew allow them to be? Against Tampa in the SB, they didn't allow the DBs to play at all.

Top-ranked secondary is something you have to apply context to. Who have you played, and what type of passing attack did they have? That's the context that matters.

Did you have a lot of games against top 10 QBs with good weapons? (That's a no and where the schedule may be masking how dominant the Eagles' D actually was).

Buffalo had the top-ranked secondary coming into the 2021 playoffs and the Chiefs lit them up all night... because it was a soft zone-based coverage that played bend and not break and tried to rely on mistakes by the opposition or pressure by its front to work. Which had worked really well because the Bills played a lot of bad QBs/passings attacks (their entire division was full of them, so six games right there) and backup QBs.

I see some similarities to the Eagles' schedule this year.

Don’t forget Jalen vs Jaylen.

I love ESPN selling that the Eagles defense is dominant, their run game is dominant, 3rd down conversion all because of their playoff numbers....cmon guys they played garbage, so those numbers are fools gold.

Hurts is a better passer than Lamar and their offensive coaching is much better. Baltimore runs a high school offense with Lamar. Plus, I don't think the Ravens defense was ever stronger with Lamar than the current Eagles DL. The two teams aren't similar at all.

It will hopefully help us that Mahomes>Hurts, there is no Brady and honestly this game is for Mahomes legacy.

the battle of the busted MVPs

Absolutely correct. In no way was I trying to diminish the Cin receivers. Only that some here were underestimating both Brown and Smith.

The Eagles numbers are inflated because they played a garbage schedule, their defense isn't nearly as good as it looks. On top of that Hurts shoulder is ****ed, watch him throw.

Mahomes will be 3 weeks removed from his high ankle sprain.

Hurts has had a lingering, probably surgical shoulder injury for the last 2/5ths of the season.

And Andy has the NFC’s number generally and the East specifically.

Uh...I'll type more slowly for you...my point is exactly what I said. That Chase and Higgins are great but some are undervaluing Brown and Smith...sheesh.

Mahomes seemed about 75% at Cinci.

I expect 90% in the SB.

You can’t really rehab a torn rotator or labrum like an ankle.

Mahomes definitely looked better than I thought.

He made three amazing throws off his right foot that were lasers.

The one to MVS for six, the one to Hardman rolling to his left, the one to Kemp late in the game.

I'm hoping he gets more of his ability to pick up 10 yards when we need it going forward.

As long as we can at least limit their pass rush we'll be fine.

I don't think Hurts can beat Mahomes unless Mahomes is getting crushed behind our line.

Some...sure. I've already stated that the Eagles have a damn good team. AJ Brown has usually given this team issues in the past and Smith is kind of the unknown. I'm also not discounting Goedert either.

Perhaps, but word in the Philly media is that Hurts has been demanding to play since he got hurt. Front office and coaches said no until they lost the two games with the mustached wonder behind center. And then they wanted to get that first round bye and so he played the last game of the season.

I don't know that they're treating him like a throwaway QB, but I imagine it's in their head that he's about to get paid. As you know, once you pay that QB it's harder to build around them. Take your best shot now, if he needs surgery later then so be it? Cant' say I'd do anything different.

I haven't gotten to watch much of the Chiefs recently. What's your current evaluation of their WRs. Mahomes looked dang good even with the bum ankle, but still need dependable people to catch the ball besides Kelce. I assume Reid still runs alot of screens? He fricking loved screens in Philly.

The Andy Reid special, baby.

He has a million tricks of the trade to negate ferocious passrushes and even weaponize it against them.

They're going to be tough as hell up front but the Chiefs are going to have a lot of solutions. Brown will get his butt kicked some on the island, Wylie will get help, and the interior will either hold the fort down or die trying.

Mahomes will likely just have to navigate heat off the left edge, which he is smart and tough enough to do.

Of course, the Eagles have a lot of talent in their secondary, but that static zone has failed against Mahomes literally every time he's seen it in his career. It's a bad, bad scheme to play him with.

Assuming we get most of our guys back healthy, with a limited Hurts, I think this game is 60/40 Chiefs favor.

We talk about their vaulted Oline but they were 11th in sacks given up with 44. Denver was the worst with 63. We gave up 26, which was 3rd best.

If their line is so good, how did they give up that many sacks?

JuJu Smith-Schuster is #1, possession guy who can convert first downs consistently. Plays the X

MVS is the Z. Speed, speed, and more speed. Has iffy hands at times, but dropped absolutely nothing against Cincy... was overall top receiver for the weekend, statistically.

Toney/Hardman/Watson/Moore are slot guys with speed, shifty, and super dangerous on jet sweeps. Latter two are used on deep passes and posts, respectively.

Kemp is a big body that can high point passes, but rarely sees the field.

Kelce is the top receiving target in this offense, and is a top receiver in the league, but plays from TE position. Dude is an absolute stud. First ballot, HoF, GOAT.

Gray and Fortson are "backup" TEs that can kill you as a receiver. They are patterned after Kelce, so their game is eerily similar.

Bell is the big bruiser prototypical TE.

Another receiving threat that you really have to plan for = RB McKinnon. His nickname is "Jet"; he is one of the most dangerous red zone receivers in the league.

Pacheco has shown excellent hands out of the backfield as well.

If that looks like a lot of potential targets/options, it is... Mahomes regularly spreads the ball around to 8-10 different receivers per game. That makes this passing attack nearly impossible to stop. You can gameplan to take away one or two guys, but it just means Mahomes will shred you elsewhere.

So I dug into the Eagles pass protection and pass rush a bit. Some interesting things I found:

On 5 occasions they played a team that ranked in the top 10 in sack percentage allowed. They tallied 14 sacks in those games. 6 came against the Cowboys in Week 16, when they allowed 40 points. 4 came against the Jaguars in Week 4 at the beginning of a 5 game losing streak for the Jags. They managed 4 total in the other 3 games.

44 of their 70 sacks came against the 9 teams they played who ranked 18th or worse in sack percentage allowed. 37 came against the 7 games against teams they played ranked 25th or worse.

They allowed 13 sacks in 4 games against the teams they played in the top ten in sacks. Another oddity from the Cowboy loss is that they allowed 0 sacks in that game, despite the Cowboys ranking 3rd in sacks. The Cowboys tallied 4 sacks in their loss. They allowed 6 sacks to the Saints who ranked 5th in sacks.

They allowed 2 or fewer sacks in 8 games. Of those games, only two of the opponents ranked in the top half of the league in sacks (Cowboys as mentioned before and Commanders). The other 6 ranked 18th or lower. 3 of them ranked 26th or lower.

They allowed 3 or more sacks in 9 games. The average sack rank for those teams was 12. 7 of the 9 ranked 10th or worse. 3 were 16th or worse.

For reference, the Chiefs ranked 2nd best in both sack percentage allowed and total sacks.

Probably because their QB scrambles so much. He's elusive but is bound to get sacked more frequently than pocket passers with quick triggers.

Look how awful Kinlaw is in the run game...I doubt they do this to us at all..

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Javon Kinlaw is a certified bust. <a href="https://t.co/J7qn55KE4P">https://t.co/J7qn55KE4P</a></p>&mdash; Marcus Whitman (@TFG_Football) <a href="https://twitter.com/TFG_Football/status/1620130652711698432?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 30, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Like this? <a href="https://t.co/W7g8DHPpnP">https://t.co/W7g8DHPpnP</a></p>&mdash; Marcus Whitman (@TFG_Football) <a href="https://twitter.com/TFG_Football/status/1620143620044263425?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 30, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

That's a prime reason I ain't into doing the Buckner style trade for Jones. Kinlaw sucks.

Well you are you know suppose to actually pick a good player.

Jason Kelce is elite.

Yeouch.

Karlaftis isn't great against the run (yet), and Nnadi and Saunders are not anything to write home about either. But they're not doing that. That is atrocious.

I'd like to see big Williams in on all obvious run downs. Williams is punishing dudes.

I wish I had anything insightful to say, but I really know nothing about the Eagles. Other than they're stacked with talent. Gonna need to get healthy.

Hurts is no slouch. He’s a better passer than he gets credit for. Their line play is solid. Handled SF pass rush without much issue, granted that SF defense was gassed af with the short offensive possessions. That being said if we force Hurts to beat us with his arm we win. Gotta control the line of scrimmage and take away those underneath routes. Make Hurts air it out. When he tucks and runs God bless his soul.

You also need to make them play from behind, they're entire setup on offense is about playing with a lead.

I know the Eagles have Haason Reddick and he makes a big difference, but their lines were the same minus him last year and we seemed to do very well against them.

I’d say the 49ers DL was much better than this Eagles line. Reddick is good but in no way is he Bosa.

Also noticed blitzing Hurts forced him to make quite a few mistakes. He’s gotten better but he’s still very vulnerable there.

Chiefs Running game was a disaster in the AFCCG, however a good omen has been they've always bounced back with strong running performance the next game. We will need it can't have quick 3 and outs against Philly

Bosa was noticeably in pain after that weird fluke injury against the Eagles. We didn’t see him at his best in that game.

The Chiefs' WR group, when healthy, is deep and has a variety of skills. But 3 of their top 4 WR were not available by the 4th quarter on Sunday.

Kadarius Toney tweaked his ankle in the 1st quarter and didn't return.

Mecole Hardmann re-aggravated his pelvic injury in the first half and didn't return.

Smith-Schuster's knee got dinged and he missed the 4th quarter, too.

Smith-Schuster gives them a physical receiver who can work underneath, is really good against zone, and can make contested catches/back shoulder catches.

Hardman is a pure speed/gadget guy. If he's healthy, he adds an "every blade of grass" threat to the offense.

Valdes-Scantling's the deep speed guy. He can be schemed up really well against zone to stretch or beat it. In man, he forces the safeties to respect the deep areas of the field.

And Toney can give them a little of all of that.

Overall, at full strength, it's a much healthier WR room.

And you also have to consider the TEs. Travis Kelce is the top dog receiving target, obviously, regardless. Noah Gray gives them a receiving threat/movement TE in 12 sets. And Jody Forston is a large converted WR who is dangerous in the red zone and when he gets the opportunity to take a LB vertically without help over the top.

If that whole group is available, the Chiefs' have a lot of cards/approaches to pull in the passing game.

Don't undersell the TD pass to MVS. It was one of the best throws Mahomes has ever made, injured or not.

Even my wife was on the floor in amazement.

Cincy's D deserves credit for that. They closed gaps and made tackles (their D was near the top in the league in that category). The good news was we returned the favor: their rushing attack was absolutely shut down by our defense. :D

What we absolutely need to get away from is running the exact same "up the center's ass on first down" play. I'm not sure if we are actually calling that, or if it is an option Mahomes is calling at the LoS?

A split second late and that's a deflection. That shit was crazy.

The Texans played the Eagles close most of the game and it was tied at halftime.... not exactly "manhandling" them.

Hey Karlaftis haters, this is what a bust DL ACTUALLY looks like. Note the difference, thanks.

Yeah, I thought we'd see more 3 TE sets; especially with all the WR injuries.

LMAO 49ers effectively traded Buckner to draft Kinlaw and pay Dee Ford. Oooooof

We ran a few and made plays... just not on the ground.

IDK what's happening there, but even my daughter who was pretty much watching her first football game, said, "Why does he just keep running into that bunch of guys? Wouldn't he do better if he ran where there aren't any other players?" LOL "Why, yes, dear. That would be better."

Let’s be honest with ourselves…Reid’s not going to let Philadelphia beat him in a Super Bowl.

Better analysis than you’ll find on ESPN anymore tbh

Wonder if Reid goes full crazy and lines up Niang at RT and Wylie at TE to do some road grading.

Eh, it only happened twice the other night, and that was after both speed/gadget guys went down, JJSS, on top of Mahomes and Kelce's injuries.

I do really hate when they run up the gut on 2nd and long to make it 3rd and long (think they also had a screen blown up), but at some point you've really narrowed down play calling, and the Bengals had started throwing in some wrinkles on defense, too.

The interior OL is the Chiefs' strength. Running down the middle should be more effective, especially on short yardage. It's just not working on those plays though.

Maybe if we were a tad less predictable on first down?

Creed Humphrey is a much better pass blocker than run blocker, Thuney is also..OBJ and Trey Smith are the better run blockers.

Not the same as last year. Reddick is a huge upgrade obviously (tied second in the league in sacks). Three other guys in double digits. Sweat wasn't a starter last year and has proven himself this year. They added Davis, Suh and Joseph to the middle of the line. The biggest difference from last year though is that they are now so deep on the line that they are able to rotate players more often with little to no loss in talent. This has kept them all fresher so that even in the 4th quarter they're still going strong and able to take advantage of a tired lineman more often. For example, last I saw Brandon Graham only plays about 38% of the total defensive snaps but has 11 sacks this year. And staying fresh is even bigger this late in the season.

And agreed that Hurts is still vulnerable to the blitz. He still has some growing there.

And when the run game struggles...it's usually tied to Trey Smith and how well he's playing.

It's almost impossible to understand how the Chiefs are so bad on 3rd and 1.

It makes no sense.

National media is all on the Eagles dicks right now. Got to love that we get Petty Pat

Rain Man made a joke in the AFC Championship GDT about taking a delay of game on 3rd and 1 to make it 3rd and 6.

I'm starting to wonder if it's ****ing genius at this point.

Man, we got two weeks.

Week 1: Basking in the glory of being AFC Champs

Week 2: Think about the Eagles.

Im still in week 1, but everyone keeps asking me how i feel about playing the Eagles.

I don't ****ing know. I'm still busy laughing at the Bengals. But what little thought i have given it, i feel pretty good about it.

Other than Keyshawn Johnson, so far from what I've seen.

What a surprise, a bunch of coastal talking heads picking the team close to them?! I am shocked, shocked I say!

You should be happy! Good teams like the two here typically do better when they are underdogs with a chip on their shoulder. Last thing I want is for the young Eagles players to start thinking this thing is in the bag because for two weeks the media is telling them how special they are. That's a good way to get your butt handed to you in a game. Thankfully there are a number of veteran guys like Kelce, Cox and Lane Johnson, who already won a SB, who can ideally keep those young guys' heads from swelling too much.

Exactly this. :thumb:

The thing we don't know about the Eagles defense is can they confuse Mahomes.

That's kinda the key to beating Mahomes at this point, you have to get him off balance. Of course, if everyone is injured, they can just man us up and no one will get open so it wont matter.

A huge part of that is because Reid refuses to QB sneak Mahomes. As such they don’t have the opportunity to pick up some of those easy 1st downs. Also teams don’t have to worry about them QB sneaking either so they can focus more on stopping whoever is our RB back there. We have to manufacture trick plays to pick up a yard.

Not doing a QB sneak because of a fluke injury 3 years ago is some old woman superstition from our coaching staff. A QB is more likely to get injured doing anything else besides a QB sneak. They need to get over this mental hurdle, especially if it's affecting performance.

No time like the Super Bowl to bust it out if necessary.

Could likely take the edge off from using it in the future too.