Eagles Report Card: Eagles-Chiefs

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

In the battle of teacher and student, the teacher and mentor outlasted the student.

Doug Pederson's Eagles managed to hang tough with the Chiefs for three quarters. But in the fourth quarter, a valiant effort fell apart and showed just how much work the Eagles have to do.

Here are this week's grades for the Eagles in their loss to the Chiefs.

Pass Offense – D+

Carson Wentz started the game off pretty well, but down the stretch struggled despite padding his numbers with the final touchdown drive. Early in the game, it seemed like Wentz was doing a good job of hitting receivers, moving the ball and at least trying to get the Eagles into a position to carry a lead.

There were still too many drops by receivers, Wentz's performance turned south as the game progressed and the offensive line was simply brutal.

I had written before the season that any success for the Eagles was going to depend on the offensive line. Wentz was sacked six times and pressured a lot more. The Chiefs worked Isaac Seumalo and Jason Kelce as if they were traffic cones. It was a pathetic showing.

Somehow, the Eagles were still in the game toward the end. Wentz threw his second interception of the season, one all too similar to Week 1. Another tipped ball at the line of scrimmage ended up in a defender's hands. It can't happen with that kind of frequency and was far from the first time Wentz has seen a pass tipped at the line. The Eagles could have also been intercepted three or four times again, just like last week.

Wentz's deep passes still need work. His short targets are still solid, but receivers need to make plays.

I did like Alshon Jeffery's involvement — he was targeted 13 times and had seven catches. That's a big step up from Week 1. Mack Hollins was also very good, making three catches for 32 yards. 

But ultimately, numbers for Wentz aside, the passing game was sporadically good, but not good enough to win.

Related: Constructive on Carson: Turnover, Sacks Doom Wentz late

Run Offense – D-

It's gone from pathetic to simply non-existent.

LeGarrette Blount, brought on to try to be a solution in the running, never ran the ball on Sunday. He had one touch in the game on a pass that resulted in no gain.

The Eagles had 107 rushing yards, which seems like an improvement. Wentz accounted for 55 of them. Darren Sproles was solid on the ground, but that's coming from the running back that wasn't supposed to be the go-to running back. 

Doug Pederson isn't pleased with the running game, and he shouldn't be.

Pass Defense – B

All in all, not bad.

The Eagles were depleted in the secondary early with Jaylen Watkins and Rodney McLeod leaving the game. It left the Eagles with not much to work with there.

The Eagles also got pressure on Alex Smith for a good portion of the first three quarters. Smith was sacked four times and didn't look comfortable at all in the first half.

I liked how Rasul Douglas looked in coverage, certainly much improved from the preseason, and the defensive line continued to look tenacious.

Against a lot of teams, what the Eagles defense did, given the circumstances, was really excellent. They were simply put in a bad spot too many times and got beat on a couple plays that made a difference.

Run Defense – B-

The Chiefs didn't run the ball much either, just 19 times. They finished with 112 yards on the ground and had 53 on one play, Kareem Hunt's touchdown run. Take that away that one play the run defense would like to have back, and the Chiefs averaged 3.3 yards per carry.

Hunt didn't completely torch the Eagles like he did the Patriots in Week 1, but the damage was done the one time he did.

Special Teams – D

Two critical mistakes came on special teams.

Late in the first half, the Eagles were set to get the ball back with under two minutes to play after opting to defer on the coin toss. So with the ball coming back to them to start the the second half, the Eagles could have turned in a good drive entering the half and had a chance to make their mark with the opening drive of the third quarter.

Darren Sproles fumbled returning the punt, giving the Chiefs great field position. They only managed a field goal, props to the Eagles defense there. But with the score at 6-3 and a miracle catch by Zach Ertz putting the Eagles in a position to erase the special teams mistake, another special teams mistake took it away.

New kicker Jake Elliott missed a 30-yard field goal that would have tied the game entering the half.

At the end of the game, the Eagles managed a perfectly-executed onside kick attempt that gave them a chance to tie the game. Credit to Trey Burton on that one.

That miss didn't truly impact the result or final score, but overall, mistakes changed the game.

Overall – D

This seemed way too similar to the Eagles team that posted a 4-9 record in the weeks following a 3-0 start last season. The effort may have been good and one play going differently may have changed the result.

But that's why they are called mistakes. Ultimately, in a game where the Eagles probably needed a turnover to win, they didn't manage to get one. The Eagles two turnovers resulted directly in 10 points for Kansas City.

After managing to make some mistakes and survive against Washington, the Chiefs showed the Eagles what happens when a good team takes advantage. It's on to the home opener against the Giants next week, where the Eagles need everything to be better.

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