2023 NFL season, Week 11: What We Learned from Eagles' win over Chiefs on Monday night

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• READ: Eagles remain No. 1 in NFC, while Chiefs fall from top in AFC
• READ: Kelce hauls in milestone TD in KC loss to Philly
• READ: Hurts, Philly O doesn’t play to “standard” but comes up clutch late
• READ: Carter nearly intercepted Mahomes’ spike in Eagles’ win

1. Eagles grind out big road win. It wasn’t pretty, not by any stretch of the imagination. The weather was sloppy, and the footing was metaphorically muddy for Philadelphia’s offense. It had just 78 total net yards of offense at halftime, and 70 of those came on one touchdown drive. After three quarters, that total stood at 146. But thanks to a defense that forced two red-zone turnovers, the Eagles were able to stay within striking distance of the Chiefs, and even after their offense struggled to do some of the simplest things correctly, Jalen Hurts was able to step into a couple of key passes to DeVonta Smith to help them take a late lead. Hurts accounted for two of Philadelphia’s three touchdowns on a night in which he finished with just 150 passing yards and an interception — and yet, the Eagles won. Sometimes, all that matters is the final score, no matter how you get there. Philadelphia will happily admit this as winners of the Super Bowl LVII rematch.
2. The Chiefs’ receiver issues are glaring. Back in Week 1, Patrick Mahomes had an opportunity to lead Kansas City on a final comeback drive in a one-point game. And on the final drive, his pass-catchers repeatedly failed him. The same was true Monday night, never more than when Mahomes dropped back and launched a perfect strike to Marquez Valdes-Scantling, who dropped a pass that couldn’t have been placed in a better spot for him to score a late touchdown. It certainly wasn’t the only drop that hurt the Chiefs, but it was the most consequential one, which will reverberate throughout Kansas City until they kick off this coming Sunday in Las Vegas. Mahomes deserves better, and often, his heroics outweigh his teammates’ shortcomings. But in two of their three losses, the discrepancy has been the difference.
3. Tip of cap due to Eagles’ defense. Philadelphia pitched a shutout in the second half. Their pass rush did a great job of closing in on Mahomes enough to force misses (and a crushing intentional grounding penalty), and after surrendering 121 yards on the ground in the first half, Philadelphia gave up just 47 in the final two periods. While it wasn’t perfect (and included a handful of tackling issues, especially in the secondary), this unit’s collective effort was able to keep the Eagles in a game in which their offense was struggling plenty. Hurts admitted after the game the Eagles’ offense “didn’t help (the defense) out enough,” but with the help of a key fourth-quarter turnover — Kansas City’s second of the night — the Eagles stayed afloat long enough for their offense to come alive. That type of complementary, clutch football is what separates average from elite.
4. Chiefs need to clean up mistakes down stretch. We’ve already covered the turnovers and the drops — the two biggest red flags in this Chiefs operation — but there’s no explanation for a loss like this when a team outgains its opponent by nearly 100 yards, converts 8 of 17 third downs (while limiting the opposition to 3 of 11), and still fails to finish a game. Five second-half penalties stand as a glaring issue. A lack of clutch playmaking in key moments is also concerning. The Chiefs simply haven’t been able to finish in most of their contests played against high-quality opponents, and their second-half issues haven’t disappeared. They’ll likely still finish the regular season with 12 or more wins because they have a relatively soft remaining schedule, but Kansas City will be tested again in the postseason. The Chiefs need to figure out how to pass such tests before everything is on the line.
5. This is what a battle between elites looks like. Like a fireworks show in a rainstorm, the weather put a damper on the possibilities of an explosive display Monday night. Both teams were forced to muck it up, accepting lower-potential outcomes in order to preserve a chance of victory. In these moments, the most important individuals tend to rise to the occasion. Smith did it for Philadelphia on a night in which A.J. Brown finished with just one catch for 8 yards. Mahomes tried to do it, finding Justin Watson on a fantastic third-down conversion amid intense pressure. But by the time the clock hit triple zeroes, it was clear who was built better to win ugly, and it wasn’t the home team, at least not as of now. Folks might be disappointed by the lack of big plays and the lower final score, but this is football at its core: A sport often decided on the margins.

Next Gen stat of the game: Patrick Mahomes was pressured 20 times and sacked once on 50 dropbacks Monday night, but only five pressures came in under 2.5 seconds. As Mahomes waited for teammates to get open, the Eagles’ rush closed in thanks in part to the additional time available, averaging a time to pressure of 3.18 seconds.

NFL Research: Jalen Hurts registered his 10th game with multiple rushing scores, tying Cam Newton for the most career games with two or more rushing touchdowns scored by a quarterback.