1. Winning the Red Zone
This game will come down to the red zone. The Eagles and Chiefs are two of the best red zone offenses in the league. Kansas City has the second best red zone offense scoring a touchdown on 70.51% of their possessions. While the Eagles are third at 68.57%. The Chiefs offense will move the ball at points, but the Eagles defense needs to hold down the red zone and hold Kansas City to three points instead of seven.
Where the Eagles hold the advantage is defensively. The Chiefs red zone defense is 30th in the league while Philadelphia sits at 11th. This will be the key to the Eagles victory and if they are able to hold Kansas City to multiple field goals they will win the game.
2. Hitting Deep Shots
All year a key to the Eagles offense has been the deep ball. The combination of Hurts to Brown and Smith has provided the offense with a lot of downfield firepower. The deep ball has seemed to be missing in recent weeks, but thankfully they haven’t needed it. Expect Philadelphia to take shots down field all game. The Eagles should be able to exploit the Chiefs young corners and hopefully that will open up the passing game. If the Eagles are able to hit on a few deep shots hopefully they can capitalize and finish off drives.
3. Getting to Mahomes
The 2022-23 Philadelphia Eagles are four sacks away from having the most sacks in a season (including playoffs) in NFL history. This has been a truly historic defensive line and it needs to be historic for one more game. Reddick should be able to leave his imprint on this game and all over the backfield. He has a favorable matchup against Andrew Wylie and should be in the running for Super Bowl MVP if Philadelphia pulls out a win.
Also look for Hargrave to have a big impact in this game. The middle of the line will need to hold together to contain the run game. Then breaking through the middle and forcing Mahomes to scramble would have a major impact on the game. This will make Mahomes uncomfortable on his ankle and he won’t be able to sit there and get the ball out quickly. Part of the reason Mahomes hasn’t been sacked a lot is because they have a strong screen game and Mahomes gets rid of the ball quickly. If the Eagles secondary can hold coverage for a short amount of time look for the defensive line to do its thing. The Eagles historic defensive line needs to show up on Super Bowl Sunday if the Eagles have a chance.
Final Prediction: Philadelphia Eagles: 37 Kansas City Chiefs: 24
Photo Credit: Bill Streicher/USA TODAY Sports
