Eagles vs. Chiefs in Week 2: Here are the numbers that matter

The Eagles escaped Week 1 with a narrow victory over the Dallas Cowboys in a weird one. The Kansas City Chiefs flew to São Paulo, Brazil, and were outplayed by the Los Angeles Chargers in a season-opening loss.

The teams — while they look a little bit different — are just one game removed from the Eagles’ Super Bowl beatdown in New Orleans in February. Advantage Birds?

Here’s what some of the numbers tell us about the Eagles-Chiefs Week 2 matchup.

» READ MORE: What we know (and don’t) about the Eagles entering Week 2 vs. the Chiefs

That’s how often the Cowboys had eight or more defenders in the box Thursday night on Saquon Barkley’s rushing attempts. Twelve of his 18 carries. It was pretty successful, although Jalen Hurts’ efficiency with his arm and legs nullified that plan, enabling the Eagles offense to do enough to outscore Dallas.

The Eagles also couldn’t find much success running into the middle of the defense, averaging just 18 yards on 12 attempts, a measly 1.5 yards per carry.

The Chiefs sold out to stop Barkley in the Super Bowl, but they didn’t need to in order to slow down Chargers rookie Omarion Hampton on Friday, when they stacked the box at just a 20% clip and held Hampton to 48 yards on 15 carries.

Expect the Chiefs to stack the box a lot more than 20% of the time in Week 2. That plan slowed Barkley down plenty in February, but it didn’t stop Hurts from winning an MVP and controlling the game with his arm.

Barkley talks about the pick-your-poison nature of the Eagles offense. The Cowboys found ways to slow the Eagles down, but they still didn’t win.

On all 33 of Hurts’ dropbacks Thursday, the Cowboys were in a zone coverage, and the Eagles struggled a bit scheming ways for Hurts to find open receivers. A.J. Brown, who thrives against man coverage, wasn’t targeted until the very end of the game. DeVonta Smith was targeted three times, all on short routes.

Will the Chiefs deploy a similar look? Will the Eagles and new offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo spend the week figuring out how to get open vs. zone?

Kansas City went zone heavy in the first half Friday night against the Chargers. The 85.7% clip at which they utilized zone, according to Next Gen Stats, was the highest rate in a first half under defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo. But after halftime, the Chiefs deployed zone on just 35% of Justin Herbert’s dropbacks, and he went 13-for-16 for 157 yards and two touchdowns after halftime.

When they did use man coverage, they also sent extra rushers frequently (68.8% of man snaps).

Dallas, meanwhile, didn’t blitz Hurts once in the first half and failed to generate pressure, hurrying Hurts just three times. In the second half, though, the Cowboys dialed up six zone blitzes and managed 11 total pressures.

Spagnuolo, who loves dialing up a creative blitz package, will probably look at that zone-blitz combo success and try to figure out ways to do the same.

» READ MORE: Nick Sirianni has grown up as a head coach. His handling of Jalen Carter will show how much.

The Chargers utilized motion on 81.1% of Herbert’s dropbacks, according to Next Gen Stats, the fifth-highest rate of the quarterback’s career. All three of his touchdown tosses came when there was pre-snap motion.

The Chargers also found a ton of success on play action and passing in the intermediate area, two things the Eagles should be able to replicate vs. the Chiefs.

Herbert completed nine of 11 attempts for 169 yards after play action, and he was eight of 10 for 150 yards and two scores targeting the intermediate area.

The Eagles hardly used any motion Thursday, deploying it on just three of Hurts’ 33 dropbacks. Just 9% of the time. They’ll probably need a little more creativity there for Week 2, and they should see some things on film and in the advanced numbers that force their hand.

Having to target Marquise Brown 16 times in 2025 doesn’t seem like a very good situation to be in for the Chiefs. But Xavier Worthy’s early injury, and Rashee Rice’s suspension, left Kansas City with Brown as its best option at wide receiver. He was targeted on 16 of 40 routes, his second-highest target share (40%) across his 50 career games with 25-plus routes run.

The extent of Worthy’s shoulder injury is still not known, but a depleted receiving corps would be a big deal for the Eagles, who obviously have a problem at their second outside cornerback spot. Brown should be Kansas City’s third option, and a combination of Worthy and Rice would spell trouble for the Eagles. But Brown and JuJu Smith-Schuster don’t present the same problem. It’s not 2020.

The Eagles could be catching the Chiefs at the right time, and one of their biggest weaknesses might not matter a whole lot.

» READ MORE: Eagles sign DE Za’Darius Smith, place Ben VanSumeren on injured reserve

Chiefs right tackle Jawaan Taylor racked up four penalties Friday in Brazil, two false starts and two holds. He also allowed a pair of pressures.

The Chiefs start an average tackle on the right side and a rookie, Josh Simmons, on the left side. While Taylor picked up four penalties, Simmons allowed four pressures on 49 pass blocking snaps.

It was an up-and-down debut for Simmons, the 32nd pick in this year’s draft — the player Kansas City selected after the Eagles traded with the Chiefs to move up a spot to select Jihaad Campbell.

Better days are probably ahead for Simmons, but it’s not an ideal pairing right now with Taylor for a team trying to contend for a Super Bowl.

For the Eagles, those two players could represent an opportunity to bounce back in the pressure department in Week 2. Without Jalen Carter in the middle, the Eagles struggled to get after Dak Prescott. Assuming he’s on the field in Week 2, Nolan Smith might find getting into the backfield a little easier on the left side of the Eagles defense.

The final score of the Super Bowl was 40-22, but many remember the 40-6 lead the Eagles had before pulling the starters and starting their early celebration. It was a beatdown in the Bayou, and one the Chiefs probably want to avenge.

How much of that 34-point deficit lingers? It’s impossible to quantify. The Eagles say they’ve moved on. The Chiefs probably haven’t.