By Geoff Mosher

Copyright phillyvoice

Another week, another win for the Eagles. They improved to 2-0 after going into Kansas City and holding on for the 20-17 win after taking care of the Cowboys in Week 1.

There are some fair questions about the state of the offense and some encouragement over the growth of the defense, especially the young nucleus. After reviewing the tape, some other observations came about.

Here are some leftover observations from the Eagles’ Week 2 win:

Waiting for Saquon to break one

Barkley rushed for 88 yards against the Chiefs on 22 carries, an average of four yards per carry. In Week 1, he ran 18 times for 60 yards, or 3.3 yards per carry. His two-game average per carry is 3.7, well below last year’s mark of 5.8, and his average of 74 rushing yards isn’t anywhere in the vicinity of last year’s 125.3.

What gives?

The simple answer is, he’s bound to break one soon. Barkley’s ypc has always been skewed by one or two home-run carries per game. So far, his longest run this season is 16 yards. But also, the Cowboys and Chiefs prioritized stopping Barkley with extra run defenders.

A quick review of the All-22 footage against the Chiefs showed that Kansas City often matched the Eagles’ 12 personnel (1 RB, 2 TE, 2 WR) with base 4-3 defense for a seven-man box with the safety rolling down quickly to help swarm. When the Eagles deployed 11 personnel (1 RB, 1 TE, 3 WR), the Chiefs countered with nickel, subbing in a CB for an LB, but they kept that third CB close to the line of scrimmage to maintain a 7-man front. The Chiefs mostly operated with two safeties deep on first and second down but occasionally showed a 1-high look and brought that second safety into the box for run support.

Also, the Eagles are pretty good at running out of 12 personnel when Dallas Goedert is their in-line blocker. It’s been well chronicled that Grant Calcaterra isn’t a very good blocker, and TE Kylen Granson, who was the No. 2 in 12 personnel against the Chiefs while Goedert was sidelined, was used more of a decoy than an actual blocker.

The Eagles would motion Granson opposite the play side, just to get a defender to follow him and get away from the direction of the run. That’s basically how Barkley scored his 13-yard TD.

The loaded box tactics aren’t new, and the Eagles played several games last year without Goedert, and none of that stopped Barkley from going berserk. He only had three negative runs against the Chiefs that were spaced out over the course of the game, but he’s always a couple of those here and there.

The simple answer is, he just hasn’t broken a long run yet. By the way, the Rams are coming to town Sunday…

Darius Cooper sees snaps skyrocket

Training camp darling WR Darius Cooper played 12 snaps on offense against the Chiefs after playing just two snaps in the fourth quarter against Dallas in Week 1, a tush push snap and a random slot rep on a 3rd-and-13 dropback.

Against the Chiefs, he got into the offense much sooner. His first snap came on a tush push in the first, although an offsides negated the play. Later in the quarter, he ran a deep curl from a reduced split on the left side, but the ball went to A.J. Brown on a shallow cross even though Cooper had a step on the safety for an even bigger gain.

Cooper also showed physicality on a Barkley run later in the first, motioning from the right slot to left side before climbing to the second level to put a block on Chiefs safety Jalen Hicks. Cooper and Hicks then exchanged shoves after the play. Cooper, the Tarleton State product, doesn’t carry himself like an undrafted rookie, and he’s not afraid to use his frame. Neither are his coaches. The Eagles mostly used him as a third receiver on run plays.

Jordan Davis first up in the four-man rush

The Eagles have said since the start of camp that they believe in Jordan Davis’ improvement as a pass rusher. Against the Chiefs, Davis was first up alongside Jalen Carter and ahead of Moro Ojomo in the four-man rush.

Davis and Ojomo are splitting time next to Carter in the top four-man rush line. Davis didn’t have any sacks or hurries but he batted two passes, although Ojomo outsnapped him by 10.

Ojomo bullrushed LG Kingsley Suamataia to sack Mahomes, who had to step into the pressure as Nolan Smith came barreling down from his blind – a huge first-down sack late in the game to frustrate Mahomes and the KC offense.

Good tackling game

The Eagles generally tackled well, especially against running backs. The Chiefs employed a lot of 12 personnel, as they typically do, to get big up front. A lot of teams respond to 12 personnel with base defense but the Eagles stayed mostly in nickel, which means their smaller defense held up against Kansas City’s heavy packages.

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That’s because two of their nickel defenders, Cooper DeJean and Andrew Mukuba, did an outstanding job in run defense.

At one point, the Chiefs came out with three tight ends – all on the line of scrimmage to form an eight-man blocking line. The Eagles still stayed in nickel. Kansas City ran RB Power, with the right guard pulling into the left A gap, but the Chiefs didn’t get much push up front and EDGE Josh Uche hand-swiped TE Noah Gray to shed the block and stopped Isaiah Pacheco after a minimal gain.

Also, Za’Darius Smith showed his chops in run defense, setting the edge on two run stops, including minus-2 on Pacheco on what looked like an RPO handoff against pressure.

Problems with the pass

People want to know what’s wrong with the pass offense. It’s a legit question, but also, let’s not forget the Eagles ranked 29th in pass offense last year, at 188 yards per game. So far, they’re at 119, which is much lower, so worth some concern for sure. But the sample size is also small.

The Cowboys played almost entirely zone in Week 1, which typically takes away those 1-on-1s on the outside that Hurts loves to throw. It took some scheming to get Jahan Dotson sprung for that 51-yarder down the right seam. The Chiefs likewise played a ton of Cover 2 on first and second down, inviting the Eagles to either run or throw underneath.

On third down, Chiefs DC Steve Spagnuolo often threw the house at Hurts, with plenty of “Zero” blitzes that leaves no safety deep and everyone in man coverage. At least three times, Hurts tried to hit his trademark downfield passes but couldn’t connect. He underthrew DeVonta Smith on one – or Smith just stopped his route; it was an odd play that first made the official throw a flag only to pick it up. Against another pressure, Hurts tried to hit Brown at the left sideline but had so much traffic in his face that he threw off his back foot and the ball floated out of bounds.

There was another underthrow to Smith deep down the left side against a Cover 0 before Hurts finally hit the big one to Smith down the right side in the fourth quarter for 28 yards, setting up the touchdown that put the Eagles up 20-10. That ball was also slightly underthrown but still good enough for Smith to adjust for a back-shoulder catch.

The point here is Hurts typically hits a few more of those 1-on-1s throughout the course of a game and season. So far, just one in each game. Again, it’s early.

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