Eagles Week 2 stock watch: Young boisterous defense overcomes early mistakes

The Eagles' young bruising defense is a unit to fear, and they proved it Sunday in Kansas City,

By Evan Macy
PhillyVoice Staff

Denny Medley/Imagn Images

The Eagles defense gave Patrick Mahomes fits once again Sunday.

The Eagles winning ugly in September — it's a budding Philadelphia fall tradition, just like the Phillies being relevant in October and Joel Embiid being ambiguously injured before Sixers training camp.

The Birds kept the trend alive with their 20-17 win over the Chiefs in Sunday afternoon's marquee Super Bowl rematch. Jalen Hurts threw for just 101 yards, but the Eagles held on against one of the best teams of the last decade to move to 2-0, keeping Kansas City winless after a brutal defensive struggle in the midwest.

As we do every week, here's a look at an Eagles "stock" to invest in, and one to worry about:

Stock up: The Eagles young defense 📈

First we were going to single out Za'Darius Smith, a newly acquired defensive end who made an immediate impact for the Eagles in his team debut Sunday — he had half a sack and a big tackle for loss.

Then we were thinking of leaning toward Jalen Carter, who pressured Patrick Mahomes relentlessly and drew constant double teams to help open things up for his teammates. He was badly missed when he spit his way out of the opener last week.

And then we were thinking Andrew Mukuba, for his epic red zone interception and a big sack, which came on the heals of a monstrously important third down tackle in the open field to set up a fourth down stop for the Birds' D. The play was surely a game-changer, keeping the Chiefs from taking the lead and allowing the Eagles to add to theirs.

But the entire unit was too good to be too specific. The Chiefs were admittedly down some very key players, with Mahomes targeting eight different pass catchers down the team's top two wide receivers — but the defense as a unit deserves a ton of credit regardless for keeping the former MVP and three-time Super Bowl champion in check.

Kansas City had just 227 total yards (63 of them scrambles from Mahomes) prior to their final drive, 121 on the ground and 106 from the right hand of Mahomes. The team really tackled well, and stopped the Chiefs eight of 12 times on third down. 

With an offense still lacking in any sort of rhythm early in the year, the Eagles have defined themselves as a defense first team, led by the savvy and deliberate Vic Fangio.

Stock down: Eagles discipline 📉

For a team coming off a Super Bowl win, and an offense returning 10 of 11 starters, one would expect to see veteran players on the same page and making very few unforced errors.

But in the loud and uninviting confines of GEHA Field (formerly Arrowhead) in Kansas City — particularly in the first half — a lot of momentum was derailed by stupid penalties and mistakes:

• The offensive line was the culprit in the first half with Landon Dickerson false start and Cam Jurgens holding penalties stifling an Eagles drive in the second quarter, with the holding call eradicating a Hurts first down scramble, leading to a punt.

• Another key flag came with the Chiefs deep in their own territory in the second on a third down. A huge sack of Mahomes that would have forced a field goal was called back due to a defensive holding from rookie safety Mukuba. A few plays later Mahomes stretched toward the end zone on a scramble to put Kansas City ahead for the first time. Mukuba was among the Eagles who missed tackles on the big Chiefs quarterback. He made up for it with his interception later.

• A rare penalty against Eagles longsnapper Charlie Hughlett forced Jake Elliott to move back five yards for a field goal try to end the half, which he made from 58 yards.

• Sidney Brown was flagged on a punt return.

• Lane Johnson had a rare false start in the third.

• Rookie linebacker Jihaad Campbell was called for a really costly roughing the passer penalty late in the fourth on an otherwise outstanding pass breakup on a key third down by Quinyon Mitchell. The Chiefs would go on to score to get within three a few plays later.

In Week 1's ugly win against Dallas, the Eagles were flagged nine times for 110 yards. In Week 2 the damage was less in total but the screw ups were more impactful. Expect this to be a major point of emphasis in South Philly next week.

https://www.phillyvoice.com/eagles-week-2-stock-watch-chiefs-jalen-hurts-zadarius-smith-jalen-carter-andrew-mukuba-defense-analysis-news/

Was great to see Za’Darius Smith make an impact in his first game with the team! He’s only been with the team around a week and he’s already able to make a positive impact? That’s fantastic! Hopefully he’ll just continue to get better the more he gets to know the play book. DE was a worry for me but I think and hope Smith can plug that gap.