This Eagles tactic slowed Kelce. But Chiefs’ Mahomes doesn’t think it’ll work forever
In the aftermath of the Philadelphia Eagles’ 21-17 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs, Philly defensive coordinator Sean Desai has received plenty of national praise for his gameplan against KC’s offense.
And also specifically for one decision: choosing to creatively (and frequently) double-team Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
The Eagles even spotlighted the different tactics in a video on their official YouTube page. The “top” Philadelphia play, according to film analyst Fran Duffy, was the variety of looks that the Eagles threw Kelce’s way in Monday’s game.
We all know how this turned out now. Kelce was limited to seven catches for 44 yards, and the rest of the offense couldn’t pick him up while averaging 4.5 yards per play.
“I think y’all can see it on the tape: They’re putting two, three guys on him,” Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes said Wednesday. “They understand how much of a threat he is and how well he’s played for a long time now. And so they’re trying to take him away the best they can.”
Now, the Chiefs need to prove they can counter-adjust.
A closer examination of the replay shows this: KC’s best opportunities for big plays mostly resulted from the Eagles selling out defensively to stop Kelce.
Those chances, though, didn’t become production. Mahomes miscommunicated with Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Justin Watson on separate plays near the sideline with single coverage. Then, on a late deep shot in the fourth quarter, Valdes-Scantling couldn’t hold onto a pass that would’ve been a 51-yard touchdown.
Mahomes says it’s his job, when teams throw attention toward Kelce, to find the open guy. But until the Chiefs demonstrate they can hit on some long passes, they’ll likely see defenses repeat the Eagles’ blueprint.
“Whenever you double-team a guy or put three guys there, it opens up a lot of space for me running the football, and it opens up a lot of space for other guys to win,” Mahomes said. “And so as much as it sounds like they can just do it — double-team Travis — they’re putting themselves out there for big plays to happen.”
The Eagles, however, even made their apparent double-teams somewhat tricky.
Duffy pointed this out in his analysis video. On a late third-and-4 when Mahomes failed to connect over the middle with Watson, the Eagles faked a Kelce double-team presnap while following him in motion.
Instead of sticking with Kelce, however, Philadelphia linebacker Zach Cunningham circled back to become a zone-type defender in the middle of the field, breaking toward Watson on the pass and creating the traffic needed to force an incompletion.
This example aside, the Eagles’ primary plan of attack Monday was to swarm Kelce — with the Chiefs getting another chance Sunday against the Las Vegas Raiders to show they can overcome this.
Running back Jerick McKinnon, through his film study, sees opponents “make it tough on” Kelce. Heck, McKinnon says if he were a defensive coordinator, he’d probably double-team the tight end too, saying Kelce demands that kind of respect.
“Somebody else has to step up, and somebody has to make plays,” McKinnon said. “And right now, that’s what we’re searching for.”
Chiefs rookie receiver Rashee Rice says Kelce drawing a crowd means all 11 guys on the field need to do their part.
He fully expects, though, that will happen over the season’s final few weeks.
“We were close. Actually a lot of plays, we could have just put the game away. We’ve kind of been shooting ourself in the foot sometimes,” Rice said. “But we know that we’re a championship team. We’re going to put this game behind us and continue our journey, because we know where we’re going to be at the end of the year.”
