November 21, 2023
Denny Medley/USA TODAY Sports
Kevin Byard and the Eagles defense frustrated Patrick Mahomes on Monday night.
The Philadelphia Eagles have beaten the Kansas City Chiefs. The stakes weren't quite as a high the last time these two teams played, but it was an important game nevertheless. As always, win, lose, or tie, we hand out 10 awards.
Remember in the Super Bowl when the Chiefs had four possessions that went like so:
On Monday night, the Chiefs' second half possessions went like this:
Hmmm, I wonder if there was a difference between last year's defense and this year's defense. Hint: One defensive coordinator made adjustments at halftime, and the other just kept running the same bend-don't-break "death by a thousand paper cuts" scheme.
The Eagles signed Roby off the street in October, four games into the season. They acquired Byard at the trade deadline. Both players made huge plays with the Chiefs poised to score points. First, Byard baited Patrick Mahomes into a bad decision in the end zone:
Philly gets it back. @KevinByard’s 1st INT with the @Eagles!
— NFL (@NFL) November 21, 2023
📺: #PHIvsKC on ESPN/ABC
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/f0JSux0GFT pic.twitter.com/GHWFoMZ1LH
And Roby peanut-punched the ball out of Travis Kelce's hands for a fumble.
This punch out by Bradley Roby is superb 👊
— NFL (@NFL) November 21, 2023
📺: #PHIvsKC on ESPN/ABC
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/f0JSux0GFT pic.twitter.com/qoRXye0WoQ
Kelce was cradling the ball with both arms and Roby still got it out. Great play.
"I'm wearing 33 now, you know, Peanut Tillman, I had to watch some YouTube videos of Peanut Tillman," Roby said.
The Eagles' newcomers got the best of a couple of future Hall of Famers.
With 8:56 left in the fourth quarter and clinging to a 3-point lead, Andy Reid made an insane decision to punt on 4th and 3 from the Eagles' 39 yard line. The punt ended up as a touchback, for a net of 19 yards.
On the ensuing drive, the Eagles marched 80 yards on 7 plays for the go-ahead touchdown.
Every coach, player, and water boy on the Eagles' sideline was no doubt thrilled to see the punter come out in that situation. That, in my opinion, was one of the strangest coaching decisions of the NFL season so far, and the Eagles made Reid pay for his mistake.
With under two minutes to go and the Eagles trying to close out the Chiefs' offense, Valdes-Scantling got behind the Eagles' defense, and... OH NO!
MVS DROPPED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/JYeV8PNd5w
— Mr Matthew CFB (@MrMatthew_CFB) November 21, 2023
Reagor-esque.
On the Cowboys' final drive Week 9, with the Eagles' clinging to a four-point lead, and roughly 99.9 percent of Eagles fans expecting the game to end in a loss, Josh Sweat made the most consequential play of the game.
JOSH FREAKING SWEAT!!! pic.twitter.com/1eGqWMx2Yv
— Shane Haff (@ShaneHaffNFL) November 6, 2023
On Monday night, Sweat made another huge play late when he got to Mahomes and caused an intentional grounding penalty that put the Chiefs in a nearly impossible 4th and 25 situation. Of course, intentional grounding calls don't count as sacks, though they probably should. Sweat certainly thinks so.
"That's so b***s***," he said. I don't understand that. You know he's going down. Reward the guy for f***ing getting the s***. G**d***. Excuse my language, but f***ing like, it's the same yardage, same outcome, just give me the m*****f***ing sack. I work too hard for that s*** to just get the ball thrown."
Lol, preach!
Eagles wide receivers make huge plays in every game. This season it has mostly been A.J. Brown, but it was Smith's turn on Monday night.
This angle of @DeVontaSmith_6's catch that set up the game-winning TD 🔥 pic.twitter.com/U1iuKLIVI0
— NFL (@NFL) November 21, 2023
But the main takeaway here is that an Eagles' receiver made a big play when the opportunity was there, but a Chiefs' receiver did not.
The Eagles' secondary — or perhaps even more broadly their pass defense — has struggled for the better part of the season, but they were excellent against the best football player in the world.
On the flip side, the Eagles' run defense, their offensive line, and their passing offense has been great this season, but they struggled on Monday night.
If only they could could put it all together they might start winning some games. Oh wait.
On a 3rd and 7 on the Chiefs next-to-last drive, Graham jumped offsides, but he was able to get back onsides before a couple of Chiefs offensive linemen jumped out of their stances to draw a neutral zone infraction.
Because they didn't react quickly enough after Graham jumped, they were instead called for a false start, making the 3rd and 7 a 3rd and 12.
It was all part of the plan by Graham. OK, maybe not.
"I'm happy that I got back fast enough after I jumped and it didn't matter," he said. "I just knew I was about to get torn up. I just didn't want to be the reason we lost."
Graham also announced loudly to the media, "I’m glad I didn’t have to face y’all for an offsides penalty.”
The Eagles are through the first two games of the nasty part of their schedule.
THE GAUNTLET
• Week 9: Cowboys: W
• Week 10: BYE
• Week 11: At Chiefs W
• Week 12: Bills
• Week 13: 49ers
• Week 14: At Cowboys
• Week 15: At Seahawks
Next up: The 6-5 Bills, who do not have a great record, but who have a point differential in the triple digits (+104).
The Cowboys, 49ers, and Lions are all within striking distance of the 1 seed, and they all won their games this weekend, putting pressure on the Eagles to hold serve, which, you know, they did.
It must have been disheartening for those teams to watch the Eagles beat the reigning champs on the road.
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