Eagles Turn To Unexpected Resource To Prep For Rematch With Chiefs

PHILADELPHIA – They’ve talked about putting the Super Bowl behind them. Except this week, it will be front and center as the Eagles break out the tape from their 40-22 thrashing of the Kansas City Chiefs just seven months ago in Super Bowl LIX.

“It's been a big part of this week and just kind of preparing for them again,” said offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo.

Head coach Nick Sirianni said that the frequency with which the Eagles and Chiefs have played during his tenure, and the relatively short time between games, makes rehashing the Super Bowl tape a must-do.

The coach isn’t worried about showing his players the Super Bowl tape, even though the talk all summer was moving past that game.

Removing Emotion From This Week's Film Study

Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni played catch with his receivers as they warmed up for practice two days before the season opener. | Ed Kracz/Eagles on SI

“Any time you watch a game that you have a good memory of, it can always bring that emotion back,” he said. “We’re human. But you’re watching it for a purpose, too, so I think it's possible to have the emotion, but it’s not like I’m jumping up and down like when Smitty (DeVonta Smith) catches the touchdown, I’m not running down the sideline like I was in the game when Connor Barwin shoves me. It’s a different type of emotion because I think you can have that and get the job done that you’re trying to do. That’s not just the Super Bowl, it’s whatever (game).”

Sirianni equated playing the Chiefs to playing teams inside the NFC East twice a year. This will be the fifth time the Eagles and Kansas City meet since Sirianni arrived in 2021.

“We’ve played them every single year, so you’re constantly looking at those tapes and you have a plan of what you do when you play a team again and you go through that process,” he said. “From that, you can expect things they did successfully to come again in different forms, and you can expect things they may not have done successfully that they change a little bit.”

The Eagles need to change their approach to the run game. Whatever they did in the Super Bowl with Saquon Barkley didn’t work. KC defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo hatched a plan that stopped the NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year in his tracks, holding him to a season-low 2.3 yards rushing on 25 carries.

During the offseason, Barkley described what the Chiefs did to him by saying, “they put me in jail.” The Cowboys kind of did it, too in the opener, holding him to 3.3 yards per carry on 18 runs.

The Eagles need to tunnel Barkley out of this jail, and the sooner the better. He ran for more than 100 yards in 11 games last year and had an NFL-record seven touchdown runs of 60-plus yards.

“Spags does such a great job just overall throughout the years of taking away what you do best,” said Patullo. “We've had to be creative, and I think we're on the right track right now to be creative with the game plan and kind of get that going.”

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