The Eagles pay a visit to our old friend Andy Reid this Sunday in a 1 p.m. start at Arrowhead against the Kansas City Chiefs. Not only will Reid face the same team that he coached for 14 years, he will be pitted against Philly's current head coach Doug Pederson, who served as his offensive coordinator for three seasons in Kansas City before taking on the top spot with the Eagles in 2016. The history between Reid and Pederson when it comes to their mutual stint in Philly actually goes back to 1999 in Reid's first year as head coach. He brought Pederson over from Green Bay as his starting quarterback while Donovan McNabb learned the ropes from the sidelines as the team's top pick in that year's draft.
Coming off last week's huge upset against New England on the road, it is no wonder that the Chiefs are favored to win again this Sunday at home. It will be a tall task for the Birds to pull off a second-straight win on the road after knocking off Washington in Week 1, but if they follow my three keys to victory, it will give the protegee a fighting chance to show up his mentor this upcoming Sunday afternoon.
Offense
Last week against Washington, my key to winning on offense was LeGarrette Blount. He did score a touchdown on a short pass play, but he still only gained 46 yards on the ground on 14 carries as part of the team's paltry 58 rushing yards on the day. Running the ball against Kansas City all day long may not be an option giving that the Eagles are probably going to need to score some points to win this game. While Nelson Agholor was able to step up his game last week with six catches for 86 yards and a touchdown, the key on offense this week is Alshon Jeffrey in the passing game as the team's No. 1 wide receiver. He was targeted seven times last week and he came up with three catches for 38 yards. He should have a chance to put up some big numbers this week with Kansas City's top pass defender Eric Berry lost for the season with a ruptured Achilles.
Defense
The Eagles followed my defensive key to a tee last week by keeping constant pressure on Redskins' quarterback Kirk Cousins without the use of multiple blitzes. The strip fumble for a touchdown to seal the win was simply icing on the cake. This week, along with keeping pressure on Alex Smith, the defensive key is to put a lid on rookie running back Kareem Hunt. He went off against New England for 148 yards and a score on just 17 carries. If he is allowed to run wild into the Eagles' secondary this week, it is going to be a long day at Arrowhead on this side of the ball.
Special Teams
Philly's special teams were dealt a major blow last week when place kicker Caleb Sturgis injured his hip. He is out for at least four weeks so in his place the Eagles signed Jake Elliott off Cincinnati's practice squad. The key to this week's special teams play is to avoid putting Elliott in a precarious position of having to win this game with his foot. Hopefully he can kick the ball deep into the end zone to force touchbacks and hopefully the Eagles can score touchdowns to avoid having to settle for field goal attempts.
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