In a game of miserable failures for the Chiefs, there was a sliver of success in the Super Bowl blowout loss to the Philadelphia Eagles last season.
The Chiefs aimed to stop running back Saquon Barkley, and it worked. The Associated Press NFL Offensive Player of the Year was held to a season-low 2.3 yards per carry, with 57 yards on 23 attempts. Barkley had topped 100 yards in each of the Eagles’ playoff games entering the Super Bowl.
“They were gap-sound, man,” Barkley told PennLive. “They ran to the ball well. They tackled well. They were physical. You could tell they were a well-coached team with great players. They presented challenges in that game.”
Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo wasn’t in a credit-accepting mood when asked this week about bottling up Barkley last season in the 40-22 loss.
“I always look at the point total,” Spagnuolo said.
The Cowboys came with a similar stop-the-run first approach in the Eagles’ opener last week and held Barkley to 60 yards on 18 carries. But just like the Super Bowl, quarterback Jalen Hurts had a big game and led Philadelphia to a 24-20 victory.
“We have so much talent, if you take one thing away we have the opportunity to hurt you in another,” Barkley told reporters this week.
The Chiefs must find a way to do both: contain Barkley without letting Jalen Hurts do damage with his legs and in the passing game.
Here’s who else to watch when the Chiefs meet the Eagles at 3:25 p.m. Sunday on Fox:
Chiefs player to watch: left guard Kingsley Suamataia
Suamataia last week played his first regular-season game lined up between rookie tackle Josh Simmons and All-Pro center Creed Humphry.
The operation received fair grades from Chiefs coach Andy Reid and offensive coordinator Matt Nagy.
“There were a couple of plays here or there that you’d like to get back, which I think was probably expected,” Nagy said of the left-side tandem of Simmons and Suamataia. “You just didn’t want it to be a game-changer.”
No game-changing issue, but now comes one of the biggest challenges of the season: confronting an Eagles defensive line that’s somewhat different from the one that dominated the Chiefs in the Super Bowl ... but still formidable nevertheless.
Suamataia will be tested by Jalen Carter, who missed last week’s game against the Cowboys after spitting on Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott.
Eagles player to watch: wide receiver A.J. Brown
So many Eagles contributed to the Super Bowl carnage, including Brown, who caught a touchdown pass late in the second quarter to put Philly up 24-0.
He also caught a scoring pass in the Eagles’ Super Bowl LVII loss to the Chiefs. Brown was quiet in last week’s victory over the Cowboys, with one reception on one target for eight yards. It came late in the game and helped extend a game-clinching drive.
““That’s why A.J.’s special because even in a game like that, he does things without the ball to help us win and he makes a play in a critical moment,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said.
Why should the Chiefs be on high alert? With a game plan geared toward stopping the Chargers’ ground game, KC surrendered 318 passing yards and three touchdowns to Justin Herbert in Week 1. And Hurts has burned the Chiefs with a pair of 300-yard passing games in his four career starts against KC.
Special teams player to watch: Eagles kicker Jake Elliott
Elliott and the Chiefs’ Harrison Butker entered the NFL in the same year, 2017, and have combined to win five Super Bowl rings in their eight seasons.
And they’ve made their mark in the big game. Elliott is the most accurate kicker in Super Bowl history, while Butker has the longest Super Bowl field goal at 57 yards. The players share the record for most career Super Bowl field goals, with nine apiece.
If the game comes down to a long field-goal attempt, both have already made bombs this season — Butker from 59 against the Chargers and Elliott from 58 against the Cowboys.