Can the Chiefs Protect Mahomes Against the Eagles Pass Rush?
We all know that Andy Reid can scheme receivers open with the best of them. Regardless of the type of coverage the defense is playing, he always has multiple answers and ways to attack. None of that matters if Patrick Mahomes isn’t upright, though. With that being the case, Super Bowl LVII will come down to who wins the battle between the Chiefs’ protection and the Eagles’ pass rush.
Philly’s D-Line is a Juggernaut
The Eagles led the NFL in sacks, sack percentage, and pressure percentage in 2022. They had four pass rushers with at least 11 sacks during the regular season (Haason Reddick - 16, Javon Hargrave - 11, Josh Sweat - 11, Brandon Graham - 11). Their defensive line is deep, which means they stay fresh for four quarters and can keep the pressure coming in crunch time.
What’s more is that they don’t need to blitz to generate pressure. In fact, 55 of their 70 sacks this season came when rushing 4 or less. The next closest team had just 39 such sacks.
Simply put, the Eagles’ D-line is as dominant as any we’ve seen in recent memory.
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The health of Mahomes’ ankle will certainly be something to keep an eye on throughout the game. While he was able to move effectively within the pocket in the AFC Championship game, he clearly was lacking a step in his ability to run away from defenders.
If the assumption, then, is that Mahomes won’t quite have his normal burst to be able to outrun defenders on Super Sunday (even with the extra bye week to rest), the normal approach of trying to contain him in the pocket to prevent his mad scrambles might not be an objective for the Eagles. If he’s flushed from the pocket, it’s not as much of a concern as it normally would be. Instead, it means the plays called by Reid were disrupted and didn’t get the chance to break down the defense as designed.
As a result, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Eagles target the inside more frequently with their pass rush to keep Mahomes from having room to comfortably navigate within the pocket. We’re likely to see many of the stunts they used to attack the middle throughout the season, like this one from Week 13 against the Titans: