The Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles square off tonight in a rematch of last year’s epic Super Bowl, when the Chiefs narrowly won 38-35. Both teams find themselves at the top of their conferences yet again, which makes this matchup that much more appealing.
Despite both teams being in first place, they seem to be succeeding in different ways this season. The Chiefs ranked 1st in points per game last season, coming in at 18th in points against. Things have flipped this year, as the Chiefs rank 11th in points per game and 2nd in points against. The team has struggled to find production on offense, especially at the wide receiver position after losing Juju Smith-Schuster in free agency. Meanwhile, their defense has been elite, as they haven’t given up more than 24 points all year. Edge rusher George Karlaftis has broken out in his second season, as he leads the team with 6 sacks.
The Eagles offense has remained elite this year, as their offense ranks 3rd in points per game, after finishing 3rd last year. However, their defense hasn’t been quite as good this year, ranking 17th this season after finishing last year ranked 7th. The run defense hasn’t been the problem, as they allow the least amount of rush yardage per game. However, they’re near the bottom of the league in pass yardage allowed, something that Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes will surely like to exploit.
The last time the Chiefs and the Eagles played this happened. pic.twitter.com/gxtCF8ZJjx
— Brad Henson Productions (@BradHensonPro) November 20, 2023
It sure seems like there’s only a few teams this year that look like legitimate Super Bowl teams. In the AFC, we know the Chiefs are going to be in the mix every year. After that? It gets a bit more bleak. The Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals have been contenders the last few years, but the Bengals recently lost their quarterback Joe Burrow to a season ending injury. The Bills have also struggled this year, as they stand at 6-5 on the year. It looks like the Baltimore Ravens and Miami Dolphins stand the best chance at knocking off Kansas City.
In the NFC, much like last year, the Eagles and San Francisco 49ers remain the teams to beat. The 49ers have the number one scoring defense in the league, so they’ll have a chance to beat anyone come playoff time. The Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys look like legitimate threats, although they seem to have struggled in big games this year.
As far as tonight’s game goes, we’ll see what kind of gameplan each team comes in with. Seeing as they played in the Super Bowl, and could possibly face off again in this year’s big game, we might see each team plan to be a little bit more vanilla so that they keep things fresh for a possible rematch. Whatever happens, the game promises to be much watch television.