Eagles Beat Big Red Again, But . . . .
Sept. 15, 2025
Monday mornings are much better when the Eagles have just beaten the biggest fraud in sports, Andy Reid, and even sweeter when it made the ex-Birds coach 0-2 to start a season for the first time in 11 years.
Yes indeed. It is a beautiful morning in Philadelphia.
My favorite story after the ugly 20-17 victory was the exchange between KC All-Pro tackle Chris Jones and Jalen Hurts as the Eagles QB kneeled for one of the final snaps of the game.
“You don’t even have 100 yards,” Jones declared.
Hurts replied: “We won the f***ing game; shut your ass up.”
The highlight of my life as a sports fan was when the Birds went up 34-0 in the Super Bowl last year, on route to a championship. The rematch measured up to that big win only in the intensity of the defenses, but it was a nice dessert after the delicious main course in February.
Any time Reid has that glum look on the sideline as the final seconds tick off the clock is a joy for me to behold. The Chiefs coach even admitted later that his play-calling was not good enough against a remarkable effort by Vic Fangio’s swarming defense. For once, Big Red was right.
Life is good today. The Birds are off to another great start, Nick Sirianni just keeps piling up improbable wins and – most importantly – fans are once again basking in the glow of another big conquest.
Unfortunately, there are some jarring truths that cannot be ignored amid the jubilation. The fact is, the Eagles are prevailing right now because of the maturity of Hurts, the brilliance of Fangio and an extraordinary measure of good luck.
How else to explain that the Birds would most likely be 0-2 if first CeeDee Lamb and Travis Kelce didn’t drop balls in the pivotal final moments of both games. These are not two hacks blowing it. These are probably two future Hall of Famers. (And in Lamb’s case, he actually dropped three key passes late.)
It’s also unfathomable that Fangio’s defense, during an otherwise brilliant effort, allowed receivers to be free well behind the secondary when the Eagles appeared safely ahead, 20-10, in the fourth quarter. (Patrick Mahomes overthrew Tyquan Thornton a few minutes before Thornton gathered in a 49-yard TD pass to get KC close.)
Meanwhile, the Eagles offense, at least from a coaching standpoint, was somewhere between annoying and infuriating against a KC team that had allowed 27 points to the Chargers in the season opener.
Let me be clear here that I absolve Hurts from all blame for these shortcomings. Most of the best plays, for a second straight week, were a product of his elite improvisational skills.
So I’ll say it now, while the Birds are winning:
Kevin Patullo, the new offensive coordinator, is going to be a problem. Maybe a very big problem.
He has never called plays before, and it shows. Like the last Sirianni bobo to take over the OC duties, Brian Johnson, Patullo seems ill-equipped for the job, at least so far.
If you would like to argue the other side of this issue, start with this question: How the hell could an Eagles team with A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith and Saquon Barkley play an entire game with only one pass traveling over six yards?
To his credit, Patullo was smart enough to dial up the Tush Push seven times, but then who among us wouldn’t have done likewise? In other words, any idiot can see the Tush Push is an NFL weapon like no other. Even Patullo.
It may be too early to put Patullo in the same sentence with a total washout like Johnson (though I did so above), but it’s definitely not too early to foresee problems ahead, starting with the frustration of Brown, whose extraordinary talents (like that amazing one-handed grab) have been largely wasted so far.
As bad as Patullo has been, Fangio has been the opposite. The DC lost half of his starting lineup to free agency and trades, and, in a deafeningly hostile atmosphere, they snuffed Mahomes for most of the afternoon.
The standout so far has been rookie Andrew Mukuba, a second-round safety from Clemson who appeared to be in on every play late in the KC game, including the interception after Kelce’s drop that shifted the momentum.
Thanks to Fangio’s coaching, these defenders know how to tackle, are intimidated by no one (including Mahomes) and have an aggressiveness that even the first Eagles Super Bowl champions in 2017 lacked. (See: Jim Schwartz).
But I’m not here just to complain today – not with the Birds flying high at 2-0 and Andy Reid saying he has to do a better job (and actually meaning it).
Big Red is sad today.
Hallelujah.
Other thoughts after the Eagles beat the Chiefs again:
- Fox analyst Dean Blandino proclaimed after another successful Eagles QB sneak that “I am done with the Tush Push, boys.” Oh, really? And which Dean Blandino is talking here? The former head of NFL officiating, or the jackass who – while holding that position of power – was caught on tape partying with the Dallas players on their bus?
- Tom Brady, who shows signs of great progress late last season, was godawful on Sunday. The Fox analyst and GOAT QB was back to spouting one cliché after another and doling out mostly just platitudes during an ugly game. Is he there to lend his expertise, or to kiss ass? He really needs to decide which it is.
- How long before Patrick Mahomes implodes over the lack of talent surrounding him on the KC offense? Yes, they have some injuries now, but there is no one (other than Mahomes himself) who strikes fear into defenses anymore. Don’t be shocked if WR Tyreek Hill ends up back in KC soon. The Chiefs need him a lot more than the pitiful Dolphins.
- Travis Kelce has been a fantastic player, and he appears to be an all-around good guy. (I met him once. He was just like his brother Jason – awesome.) But let’s be honest here. As a top NFL player, Travis is done. He’s just too slow and too beat up to offer game-changing moments the way he did in his prime. Soon, he will be able to dedicate all of his time to fiancée Taylor Swift. (Not a bad thing at all, really.)
- The best game of the year so far was Giants-Cowboys in the early window on Sunday. It went almost four hours and featured five lead changes from the fourth quarter through overtime. If you watched it, you could draw only one conclusion: Both teams really stink.
- Speaking of the “early window,” a phrase made famous by the NFL’s best broadcaster, Scott Hanson, on the Red Zone Channel. I am so addicted to Hanson and his show that I find myself chanting with him, around 3:20 p.m. every Sunday: “It’s the Witching Hour, when losses become wins and wins become losses!” I really need to get a life.