Roob's Instant Observations after Eagles' third straight win over Chiefs

The Eagles improved to 2-0 with a 20-17 win over the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium.

By Reuben Frank • Published September 14, 2025

What a tough win in a very difficult place to play against a team that was out for revenge with a Hall of Fame coach, a Hall of Fame quarterback and a Hall of Fame defensive lineman.

The Chiefs went into this game 56-13 at home when Mahomes starts. Make it 56-14.

Eagles 20, Chiefs 17 at Arrowhead. Nothing has come easily for the Eagles this year, but they’ve battled their way to a 2-0 record.

Hell of a win.

Here's our 10 Observations from the Eagles’ third straight win over the Chiefs.

1. Vic Fangio was tough on Andrew Mukuba when he was asked about the rookie safety’s NFL debut on Tuesday: "He did OK,” Fangio said. "He had a couple major busts that hurt us and could have hurt us even more. So looking for him to improve this next week.” That kind of criticism could really shake the confidence of a 22-year-old kid. But Mukuba isn’t wired that way. His confidence wasn’t shaken. And he went out and made some huge plays Sunday. He shared a sack with Za’Darius Smith. He stuffed Hollywood Brown for no gain after a short catch on a 3rd-and-1 in the third quarter. And then the money play: His heads-up interception of Patrick Mahomes at the goal-line on a Travis Kelce drop and 41-yard return (that probably should have been a touchdown but oh well) that led to a 4th-quarter touchdown. That’s two 22-year-old rookie Eagles safeties who’ve picked off Mahomes in the last seven months to either score or set up touchdowns. Those plays by Mukuba were huge, but what I really love is how he responded when his coach challenged him to be better. He didn’t sulk. He didn’t pout. He just went out there and played better. Those were winning plays, and Mukuba rewarded Fangio’s faith in him by contributing to a huge win.

2. He didn’t have any of his trademark 60-yarders, but Saquon Barkley was huge on a day when the Eagles never really got the passing game going and really needed him to be productive. The Chiefs, just like in the Super Bowl, were doing everything they could to slow down Barkley, and he never had any easy runs, but he just went out there and battled and fought and when the smoke had cleared he had 88 very tough rushing yards on 22 bruising carries, including some hard runs into traffic when the Eagles were running clock late. I know this meant a lot to him after the Chiefs bottled him up in the Super Bowl. Once again, the stats weren’t pretty, but the result was. Barkley is a beast, and he doesn’t need fancy numbers to prove it.

3. Just when I was about to write about the absence of big pass plays down the field, Jalen Hurts lobbed that sweet 28-yarder to DeVonta Smith down to the 3-yard-line on a critical 3rd-and-10 with 10 ½ minutes to go. It was a play the Eagles had to have and it was a beauty. I still think Kevin Patullo needs to be more aggressive at times, and three 10-yard pass plays in two games is ridiculous. But where Jalen Hurts is at his best is when there’s adversity to deal with, the Eagles desperately need a big play, things aren’t going particularly well and there’s pressure in his face. That’s why stats will never measure Hurts’ greatness. Because he’s so clutch that a few big plays can offset a frustrating day. One cool thing is that Hurts never seems frustrated. When things aren’t going well, he never just rears back and heaves the ball into trouble. Used to. Doesn’t do that anymore. He still hasn’t thrown a touchdown this year, and he’s only thrown for about 250 yards in two games. But he also hasn’t turned the ball over. And the Eagles are sitting here 2-0, and he’s a huge reason why.

4. This was another defensive masterpiece from Vic Fangio, and when you can hold this quarterback and this coach and this team to 17 points and 296 yards it’s been a very good day. Mahomes is going to make some plays and he did. Dude is a 1st-ballot Hall of Famer. With Mahomes, the game isn’t over until it’s over. But the Eagles played as well against him as anybody could. They pressured. They covered. They tackled. They held him to 187 passing yards, sacked him twice, got the Mukuba interception and nothing came easy for Mahomes Sunday. The Eagles own him.

5. I don’t want to harp on it because this was a huge win in a very difficult place to play. But the A.J. Brown thing is ridiculous. One catch for eight yards in the opener and 5-for-27 Sunday in K.C., and he’s just too good to have 35 yards two games into the season. I know it’s not about stats. But 35 yards? A.J. Brown? You don’t want to force it to him, but Kevin Patullo and Nick Sirianni have to figure out ways to get Brown involved. The dude is a top-5 wide receiver in the NFL. Just may be a top-3 wide receiver. Nobody can cover him. Nobody can stop him. He’s too good for this to be happening.

6. Patrick Mahomes had 60 rushing yards and a touchdown on five carries in the first half. He was killing the Eagles with his legs. Second half? How about two carries for six yards. It’s one thing for the Eagles to shut down Mahomes in the passing game. To make adjustments to remove his running ability after halftime was massive. He was really the Chiefs’ biggest weapon in the first half as a runner. When the Eagles took that away, they made life even tougher for the Chiefs. Fangio is a genius at making adjustments. We saw it last week when the Eagles shut out the Cowboys after allowing 20 points in the first half. And we saw it Sunday, when they eliminated the one thing the Chiefs were doing well early in the game.

7. The Eagles only had two sacks, but, man, I thought they pressured so well all day. Mahomes rarely had a chance to set his feet, and there were rushers in his face pretty much the entire game. The Eagles had 10 quarterback hits – three by Jalen Carter, two by Moro Ojomo and one each by Jihaad Campbell, Zack Baun, Andrew Mukuba, Za’Darius Smith and Jalyx Hunt. That’s a lot of pounding. And that pressure and those hits are why he completed only 16 of 29 passes for just 187 yards with a pedestrian 72.1 passer rating. As great as Mahomes has been, he’s 30 now, he doesn’t have the weapons he used to have and when you keep getting hits on him, he isn’t the elite guy he used to be. I love that Fangio blitzed more than he usually does, and I love that the young guys on this defense weren’t intimidated playing that quarterback in that stadium. The sacks will come. If they keep pounding quarterbacks like this, it’s going to be very hard for teams to generate big offensive numbers.

8. Really impressive stuff Sunday from Za’Darius Smith, who just signed here late last week, wasn’t in a training camp, hadn’t hit anybody since January and had three days of practice before playing against the Chiefs. And he was terrific. Played 20 snaps, had four tackles, half a sack, a tackle for loss and a quarterback hit. Smith is 33 now and you never know what you’re going to get with an older guy like that, but Smith is a fantastic addition to that edge rush rotation behind Nolan Smith and Jalyx Smith and alongside Josh Uche. Looks like Howie nailed another in-season addition.

9A. This is wild: The Eagles have now won 10 straight games against AFC opponents, a streak that goes back to the 20-14 loss to Zach Wilson and the Jets at MetLife during the 2023 collapse. That’s the 3rd-longest streak ever by an NFC team over AFC teams, behind a 13-game streak by the Saints from 1987 through 1990, a 12-game streak from the 49ers from 1988 through 1991 and the Saints won 11 in a row from 2017 through 2019.

9B. Since Nick Sirianni’s roots growing underground speech, the Eagles are 47-14. Think about that one for a minute. That was the middle of the 2021 season. They’ve lost 14 games since then, and one of them was a meaningless game against the Cowboys on the final day of the 2021 season with the subs. So really 13 losses since November of 2021. Remarkable.

10. Can we just talk for a moment to talk about the greatness of Jake Elliott? With that 58-yard field goal at the end of the first half following a penalty on snapper Charlie Hughlett, Elliott became the third kicker in NFL history with six or more field goals from 58 yards and out and also the third kicker to make a field goal from 58 yards or longer in consecutive games. The only other kicks to do that are Brandon Aubrey of the Cowboys against the Ravens and Giants last year and Brett Maher – also of the Cowboys – against the Jets and Eagles in 2019. Maybe most impressively, Elliott is now 6-for-7 in his career from 58 yards and out, and that 86 percent is highest in NFL history among kickers with more than two attempts from 58 yards or longer. Elliott and Harrison Butker went into the game tied for first at 5-for-6, but Elliott improved to 6-for-7 while Butker missed a 58-yarder and fell to 5-for-7. Elliott also made a 51-yarder in the third quarter, so he already has two more 50-yarders than he had all last year. And he has as many 58-yarders in two games this year than he had in his previous 62 games going back to 2021. One more: Elliott is the first kicker ever with a 58-yarder in each of the first two games of a season. Jake Elliott is one of the greatest long-distance kickers in NFL history.

https://www.nbcsportsphiladelphia.com/nfl/philadelphia-eagles/roobs-observations-chiefs-jalen-hurts-jake-elliott-saquon-barkley/684101/