Eagles News: Philadelphia’s defense has a chance to prove just how good it is against the Chiefs

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Lawlor: The Case For Jim Schwartz To Blitz More At Kansas City - PE.com
My guess is the Schwartz goes into attack mode and blitzes more than usual. That can throw off the timing of their attack. When you have a creative offense, timing is critical. Penetration disrupts that and can break things down. As good as the Chiefs looked in the opener, they weren't facing defensive tackle Fletcher Cox, defensive end Brandon Graham, or safety Malcolm Jenkins. The Patriots' defense doesn't have the same kind of athletes or weapons that the Eagles do. Plus, they lost linebacker Dont'a Hightower during the game to a knee injury. This game is a great opportunity for the Eagles' defense to show just how good it is.

3 Eagles numbers that matter for the Chiefs game - BGN
One thing Alex Smith is really good at is not throwing interceptions. He hasn’t thrown double-digit picks in a season since 2010. Dating back to 2011, he’s thrown 110 touchdowns to a mere 38 interceptions. The trade-off is that Smith takes a lot of sacks. And I mean a lot of sacks. Out of 155 qualified passers, Smith ranks 109th in career sack percentage. He ranks 26th out of 28 active quarterbacks. Smith was sacked three times during the Chiefs’ Week 1 game against the Patriots. One of those was when he sacked himself. Smith, he of small hands, also fumbles a good deal. His 67 career fumbles rank 12th among 54 qualified active players.

Five over/unders for Eagles vs. Chiefs - PhillyVoice
Alshon Jeffery receptions: 4.5. The Birds didn't do a great job of getting Carson Wentz's new toy involved in the offense against Washington, but it wasn't for a lack of effort. Jeffery was targeted seven times, but only caught three passes for 38 yards. Howie Roseman didn't spend that money just to watch Nelson Agholor tear it up. Look for the former Bears WR to be more involved this week. This one seems like a no-brainer to me.

Chiefs Talk - Iggles Blitz
PHI vs KC. That’s not a rivalry that jumps to the front of your mind, but the teams do have some interesting history. Dick Vermeil coached both teams. Ditto for Andy Reid. Herm Edwards played for the Eagles and coached the Chiefs. They’ve had some interesting games over the years. There was the game in KC in 1992 when the 4-0 Eagles were upset by the Chiefs. Gang Green focused on stopping Christian Okoye (16-48), but Dave Krieg burned them through the air (272 yards, 3 TDs). There was the crazy game in 2005 when the Chiefs got out to a 24-6 lead, only to see the Eagles score 31 straight points and win. Amazing comeback. The teams played in 2013, when Big Red returned to Philly as coach of the Chiefs. KC won that game 26-16. That meeting takes some of the Reid vs the Eagles hype away from this game. The Reid-Pederson angle is there, but this really is more about a couple of good teams facing off.

Eagles-Chiefs cheat sheet: Matchups, storylines and a prediction - The Athletic
The Kelce Bowl: For the first time in their NFL careers, Jason and Travis Kelce will play against each other in the same game. Reid, who has coached both brothers, knows they have very different personalities, calling Travis “a livewire.” “Yeah, they are a little night and day,” Pederson said. “I would say that Travis is definitely more of the, probably the excitable, fly by the seat of your pants, charismatic guy. Jason is obviously a very cerebral guy, probably a little more level-headed that way.”

Philadelphia Eagles film: Why the run game struggled in Week 1, what could change in Week 2 - PennLive
All offseason, the Philadelphia Eagles insisted they were committed to improving their running game. The head coach, the offensive coordinator, position coaches -- they all repeated the same sentiment time and again this spring and summer. Running backs, offensive linemen and quarterback Carson Wentz said the same thing, too: They wanted to run the ball more often and more effectively in 2017 than they did last season. But one week into the campaign, the prospects for the ground game still look bleak.

Did drafting Donnel Pumphrey hamstring Eagles' run game? He's on IR as they head to Kansas City - Daily News
Of course, Pumphrey’s career isn’t over yet, though his season probably is. (NFL teams can bring two players back from IR. Given Pumphrey’s lack of impact, it seems dubious they’ll do that with him, though he should be healthy in six weeks or so.) Down the line, Pumphrey can still justify the faith Roseman, personnel director Joe Douglas and the scouting staff placed in him. But this is not a promising beginning. And he certainly isn’t going to provide help anytime soon, for an offense that showed Week 1 it could use a backfield boost.

LeGarrette Blount: Don't count me out - ESPN
"I ran behind the line in New England for a few years. I got better and better over the course of time," he said. "It just takes time, it just takes repetition and just paying attention to detail, making the most of the opportunity."

Chiefs should be good measuring stick for Eagles - Burlington County Times
Quarterback Carson Wentz passing for 307 yards, the offense going 8-for-14 in third-down efficiency, the defensive scoring a touchdown on defensive tackle Fletcher Cox's clinching 20-yard fumble return and a plus-2 turnover ratio were all encouraging signs. However, drawing any conclusions from that game would be premature because Washington is flawed and could turn out to be a 6-10 team. The Birds will get a better idea of where they are and where they need to be on Sunday afternoon against Andy Reid and the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium. Defeat a Kansas City team that began the 2017 campaign by surprising the defending Super Bowl champion Patriots 42-27 and the Eagles would have to feel pretty good about their statement win.

Eagles-Chiefs thoughts: Despite reputation, Andy Reid's teams beatable on extra rest - CSN Philly
Convincing an Eagles fan to soften their opinion of Reid is like asking somebody to change their political affiliation. Let’s talk about how his presence on the sideline pertains to this game instead — specifically, the fallacy that Reid’s teams are nearly impossible to beat with extra time to prepare. The Chiefs are coming into this matchup on an extra three days rest, having played the Patriots in the Thursday night season opener. Ever since his time with the Eagles, Reid had this reputation for being unbeatable after a bye week or an additional break of any kind. Yet, Reid’s Chiefs have been uncharacteristically mediocre when there are nine or more days between games. Reid is only 4-5 in such contests since 2013. So much for that narrative. Reid is a great coach, whether people want to admit that or not, and the extra time between opening night and Sunday is still advantageous for the Chiefs. But look past the mythology. The reality is Reid is far from unbeatable in these types of situations.

Eagles writer gives 3 reasons why the Chiefs will win - Arrowhead Pride
We talked with SB Nation’s Eagles blog, Bleeding Green Nation, this week about Sunday’s Eagles-Chiefs game. Earlier, we gave BGN three reasons why the Eagles could upset the Chiefs. Of course, I can’t say we really believed that will be the case. The Eagles could win ... but so could the Chiefs. BGN gave us three reasons why the Eagles could lose this game.

Schefter: Sam Bradford Will Be A Game Time Decision - Daily Norseman
Adam Schefter of ESPN is reporting that the Vikings are going to put Sam Bradford through the paces in their pre-game workouts at Heinz Field, and will then decide whether or not to put him in the starting lineup. Bradford was limited in practice this past week with a knee injury. An MRI came back negative, but there was soreness and swelling in Bradford’s left knee. . .a knee that he’s already had two ACL repairs performed on in his career. The team promoted quarterback Kyle Sloter from the practice squad to the active roster on Saturday afternoon, releasing safety Antone Exum in order to do so. If Bradford is not able to start on Sunday afternoon, then Case Keenum will get the start and Sloter will serve as his backup.

J.J. Watt’s Hurricane Harvey relief closes at a remarkable $37.1 million - SB Nation
Hurricane Harvey devastated the gulf coast and Houston. It inspired J.J. Watt to help the area, and he set out with a goal of $200,000. On Friday when his fundraising concluded, he had raised $37,097,248 from 209,428 donors, according to NFL.com. At first, Watt simply tweeted a video where he talked about the storm, devastation, and his goal of $200,000. He started the campaign through YouCaring.

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