Eagles-Chiefs preview: Can Philly put KC in 0-2 hole?
Yahoo Sports host Andrew Siciliano, senior NFL writer Frank Schwab and NFL Network’s Cynthia Frelund look ahead to Sunday’s Super Bowl rematch in Kansas City. Hear the full conversation on “Inside Coverage” - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you listen.
Video Transcript
Cynthia, the math is bad, however, because without Xavier Worthy, this team and without Rasheed Rice, this team, without Rasheed Rice, can't stretch the field.
And if that's the case, I know Hollywood Brown could be that guy, but we haven't really seen it yet.
If that's the case, we go back to last year's dink and dunk offense.
I mean, OK, so first things first, you did see some deep passes return even when you didn't have Xavier Worthy in that game, which is a good thing to see as just a fan of football, right?
Patrick Mahomes throwing deep was a thing of beauty, 44 passing touchdowns in like the first, you know, five seasons of his career, and in the past two years, it's been a little bit less.
But when, when we're talking about, you know, the potential for things to be different, what could be different in this case.
Against the Eagles, I think they go back to being really efficient using 12 personnel again.
It is what they were using last season, and it did end up working for them.
You know, I think at this point they need to get the win.
They need to get the stink off of whatever happened in Brazil off of their team so that they have a chance to move forward and see how does their young O-line look, their new remade left side of that O-line, how does that work?
Ultimately, can they get the freaking run game to work?
Because if they, if they can't figure out these explosive runs, it's going to be Patrick Mahomes' legs, Patrick Mahomes on 3rd and 500, all of those things that we see, that we ask of Patrick Mahomes and we've come to expect him to deliver, but it is a hard way to live if you're expecting that every single week.
So I think we go back to seeing a lot of tricks out of 12, so two tight end sets.
So two tight end sets.
Yeah, it almost has to be that way.
I'm gonna say, like, I write, you know, my picks for Thursday morning.
I was writing it today before the show, and I'm an analytics, Cynthia, you're one of the best data people in the NFL, right?
Covering the NFL.
So we both are on that same page, and I basically wrote that, yeah, the Eagles, there's no edge I can give the Chiefs right now on paper.
No X's and O's analysis that I can say I think.
The Chiefs win this game.
I think their offense is in trouble.
Against the Eagles.
I think the Eagles are going to be, they have Jaylen Carter coming back.
Obviously, the Chargers just ripped apart the Chiefs secondary with a lot of play action.
And I got to the end of it, and I copied it all and I deleted it, and I said, is Patrick Bones really going to go 0-2, really?
Like, Patrick Mahomes is an underdog in his career, 11 and 4 straight up, 12-2-1 against the spread.
This is when Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs come alive, when everybody in the world, including me usually, is saying the Chiefs are dead, the Chiefs are done, they're gonna go, and they're gonna lose this game.
I don't know how they do it.
I don't know how Andy Reid pulls this off.
I don't know how Patrick Mahomes pulls this off, but somehow, some way, I think the Chiefs win on Sunday because I just can't see them going on to.
Frank, you want the crazy stat, and this isn't analytics.
This is just like basic, basic simple 3rd grade math.
They've never lost with Mahomes 3 in a row, including the postseason.
They've never lost 3 in a row.
They've, and they've only been in this scenario 4 times.
Only 4 times with Mahomes have they lost back to back games.