Matchups to watch in Super Bowl LIX: Eagles offense vs. Chiefs defense originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
NEW ORLEANS — The Eagles are facing the Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX on Sunday, Feb. 9 at the Superdome in New Orleans.
This is a rematch of Super Bowl LVII in Arizona. The Chiefs rallied back from a 10-point halftime deficit to win that one 38-35 and then repeated as Super Bowl champs last year. The Eagles are looking to prevent a three-peat.
Here are some key matchups to watch when the Eagles’ offense is on the field:
Jalen Hurts vs. Steve Spagnuolo’s blitzes
The Eagles have been much better against the blitz this season than they were a year ago, when it was a major problem. But you can still expect the Chiefs’ longtime defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo to try and heat Jalen Hurts up. The Chiefs this season had a blitz rate of 34%, which ranked fifth in the NFL. Their blitz rate has been a tad lower in the playoffs at 29.5%.
Last week, the Commanders blitzed the Eagles at a really high rate of 43.8%, per NextGen Stats, significantly higher than what they saw against the Rams in the divisional round (30%) and the Packers in the wild-card round (20.8%).
Here’s a look at Jalen Hurts’ numbers against the blitz in the NFC Championship Game, per PFF:
Not blitzed: 10/12, 105 yards, 1 TD, 1 sack
Blitzed: 10/16, 141 yards, 1 sack
Hurts this season has a time-to-throw of 2.85 seconds and he has been sacked on 12.1% facing blitzes.
There were some good moments against the blitz in the NFC title game and there were some not-so-great moments. But there’s no doubt that Hurts and the Eagles’ offense under Kellen Moore have taken great strides to be able to better combat more pressure.
Even though the Eagles beat the Chiefs in Week 11 last year, Hurts struggled against the blitz in that game. He was blitzed on over 50% of his dropbacks and completed just 41.7% of his passes for 83 yards, threw and interception and was sacked 3 times on those dropbacks. In Super Bowl LVII, Hurts was blitzed by the Chiefs on 35.7% of his dropbacks but was not sacked against the blitz and completed 11 of 15 passes for 91 yards.
The Eagles feel like they’re in an even better spot to deal with that extra pressure in this Super Bowl.
Saquon Barkley vs. Chiefs run D
The Eagles proved last week that they can have a more productive passing game but everything they do on offense still starts with Saquon Barkley. And it should.
Barkley this season became the ninth player in NFL history to rush for 2,000 yards and he’s been even better in the playoffs. Barkley averaged 125.3 yards per game in the regular season and is at 147.3 in the playoffs. Barkley is just 30 yards away from breaking Terrell Davis’s all-time record for rushing in a regular season + postseason:
1. Terrell Davis (1998): 2,476
2. Saquon Barkley (2024): 2,447
3. Terrell Davis (1997): 2,331
4. Eric Dickerson (1984): 2,212
5. Adrian Peterson (2012): 2,196
Barkley is just the third player ever to have 400+ rushing yards in the playoffs before playing in the Super Bowl. The two previous guys (John Riggins and Terrell Davis) both rushed for over 150 yards in the Super Bowl and took home MVP honors.
The Chiefs finished the regular season with the 8th-best rushing defense in yards allowed (101.8 per game) and 7th in yards-per-attempt (4.1). They have given up more than that in the playoffs, though. They gave up 149 to the Texans and 147 to the Bills. The only player the Chiefs gave up more than 100 rushing yards to this season was Lamar Jackson (122) in Week 1 of the season. But it’s worth noting that the next highest single-game rushing performances against the Chiefs happened in the last two weeks: Joe Mixon had 88 yards and James Cook had 85.
The Chiefs have a very good group of linebackers with Nick Bolton, Drue Tranquill and Leo Chenal. They are the strength of that defense, so this will be a fun matchup.
After giving up just 1.30 yards before contact in the regular season (which ranked 11th-best in the NFL), the Chiefs have given up 2.49 yards before contact in the playoffs. That’s a big deal because the Eagles have been great at getting those yards before contact this season.
Dallas Goedert vs. Chiefs poor D vs. TEs
It’s a huge boost for the Eagles to have Dallas Goedert healthy for these playoffs. After fighting through an ankle injury last week, Goedert again had a huge game in the NFC Championship Game. He had 7 catches for 85 yards and in three playoff games this year leads the Eagles in receiving yards with 188 receiving yards on 15 catches. Goedert is also now the Eagles’ all-time leading receiver in the playoffs with 50 catches for 535 yards in 11 games.
Goedert managed to play just 10 games in the regular season but has been great since his return and the Eagles will probably need to rely on him again. Not only has Goedert been huge making plays through the air but he also helps quite a bit as a run blocker for Saquon Barkley.
Against the Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII, Goedert was targeted 7 times and had 6 catches for 60 yards.
The Chiefs this season gave up more yards to opposing tight ends in the regular season than any other team. Opposing tight ends caught 106 passes for 1,191 yards and 5 touchdowns against Spagnuolo’s defense in 2017. But they did a nice job against Dalton Kincaid and Dawson Knox in the AFC Championship Game — Kincaid had 2 catches for 13 yards and Knox had 1 for 7. In the divisional round, though, Houston’s Dalton Schultz had 4 catches for 63 yards.
Eagles OL vs. Chris Jones
This game features two of the best interior defensive linemen in the NFL. The Eagles have Jalen Carter and the Chiefs have Chris Jones. While Carter is still an ascending player, Jones has been at this for a long while. Jones this year was named to the Pro Bowl for the sixth straight season and was an All-Pro for the third straight season. Jones is 30 now but he’s still playing at a really high level.
And the Eagles are dealing with a couple of injuries on the interior of their offensive line. Landon Dickerson started the NFC Championship Game at center instead of left guard in place of Cam Jurgens (back) but then Dickerson injured his knee and Jurgens had to tough it out to finish the game. Tyler Steen played at left guard for the full game. The hope is that with two weeks before the Super Bowl, both Dickerson and Jurgens will have time to heal up and play. But there’s also a chance they won’t be 100 percent for the game.
The Eagles’ tackles have to be ready for Jones too because he’ll sometimes line up as a defensive end.
“Better strap up,” Lane Johnson said. “Man, he’s a bigger body. He’s one of the guys that can really go out there and dominate like he can inside. I think his six, 6-6, 315-320, whatever he is, and being able to bend like he can and do the things he can do. A lot of guys his size don’t have that athleticism. He’s all over the place. When he goes in the games, he just goes down the line. We call it ‘pass the offering plate’ so that’s what we’re looking forward to.”
The Chiefs this season didn’t have a guy with double-digit sacks but their top edge rusher has been George Karlaftis. The former first-round pick had 8 sacks in the regular season and had 3 in the win over the Texans in the divisional round. Karlaftis mostly lines up on the left side of the defensive line, which sets up a matchup vs. Johnson in this game. Expect to see Mike Danna and Charles Omenihu mostly going against Jordan Mailata on the other side. Danna had a great AFC Championship Game with 5 pressures on just 16 pass rushes.
A.J. Brown vs. Trent McDuffie
The Eagles’ passing game came through in a big way against the Commanders in the NFC Championship Game after a lot of angst for most of the season. A.J. Brown had 6 catches for 96 yards and a touchdown and DeVonta Smith had 4 for 45 as Hurts had his best game of the season.
McDuffie this season took over as the Chiefs’ CB1, replacing L’Jarius Sneed, who left in free agency. In his third NFL season, McDuffie played really well again and was named as a second-teamer on the All-Pro team. The difference this season is that he was no longer a nickel corner. Most of his snaps in the 2024 season came on the outside (82.6%). It’ll be interesting to see if McDuffie shadows Brown in this game. McDuffie is the Chiefs’ best corner and he has played on both sides and in the slot this year but he’s also undersized for an outside cornerback and the Eagles would probably like that matchup with Brown. In Super Bowl LVII, Brown caught his 45-yard touchdown catch against McDuffie.
For the Chiefs, it has been a big deal to get Jaylen Watson healthy. He is their other outside cornerback, while Chamarri Conner plays mostly in the slot. The Chiefs this season had the No. 18-ranked passing defense in the NFL. The Chiefs like to press and have pressed outside receivers on 47.3% of snaps this postseason.
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