The Philadelphia Eagles visit the Kansas City Chiefs Monday night to wrap up Week 11 in a rematch of last season’s Super Bowl.
Philadelphia wouldn’t necessarily be exacting revenge by going into Arrowhead Stadium and coming away with a win. Rather, it would be making a major statement as the best team in the NFL this season.
Kansas City is going to want to make a statement of its own. The 7-2 team is one game behind Philadelphia (8-1) for the best record in the NFL. It is also hanging on to the No. 1 seed in what is suddenly a top-heavy AFC heading into late-November.
The stories are going to fly once kickoff happens in Missouri. That includes Patrick Mahomes and Jalen Hurts once again going at it after both dominated in the aforementioned Super Bowl. Below, we provide four bold predictions for the best game on the NFL schedule thus far.
Related: Updated NFL power rankings
Kansas City Chiefs’ Travis Kelce goes for 150 yards
We have no idea if Taylor Swift will be in attendance for Monday Night Football. What we do know is that Kelce and Swift will introduce their parents during the game. What does this mean for the star tight end on the actual football field?
Well, he’s dominated with his better half in attendance. That included going off for 179 yards in a win over the Los Angeles Chargers back in October. We imagine he’s going to want to show off in front of Swift’s mom and dad. It also doesn’t hurt that Philadelphia has given up a 78% completion mark to tight ends on the season. Kelce should eat.
Philadelphia Eagles’ Jalen Carter records two sacks of Patrick Mahomes
Despite some issues with penalties, Kansas City’s offensive line has held up pretty well in front of Mahomes this season. In fact, the reigning NFL and Super Bowl MVP has been sacked just 12 games in nine games.
Expect that to change against a dominant Philadelphia defensive front that has been anchored by this rookie defensive tackle. Thus far this season, Carter has recorded seven quarterback hits, five tackles for loss and four sacks. He’s a quarterback pressure waiting to happen.
Center Creed Humphrey and left guard Joe Thuney are going to have their hands full with Carter. It’s also unrealistic to believe that they’ll be able to double team the rookie given the presense of Haason Reddick and Josh Sweat out on the edge.
Related: Find out where Patrick Mahomes, Jalen Hurts stand in Sportsnaut’s NFL QB rankings
Pick-six for Philadelphia Eagles’ Darius Slay
The star-studded duo of Slay and James Bradberry have been among those in Philadelphia’s secondary to have struggled at times with injury. Speaking of struggling, Slay has yielded a relatively high 67.2% completion in coverage thus far this season. That number stood at 58% last season.
Slay will be lined up against Marquez Valdes-Scantling in this one. He’s pretty much Mahomes’ favorite target at the wide receiver position. It’s also in this that we’re boldly predicting that Slay will record a game-chnging pick-six of Mahomes in the fourth quarter.
Related: Philadelphia Eagles standing in Sportsnaut’s NFL defense rankings
Philadelphia Eagles make statement in Kansas City
Despite boasting a league-best 8-1 record, Philadelphia heads into this one as 2.5-point road underdogs. It’s not too much of a surprise given the Chiefs’ home-field advantage at Arrowhead. In fact, Kansas City is 11-2 at home since the start of last season.
Even then, we love this matchup for the Eagles. Their defensive line should be able to put a nice amount of pressure on Mahomes. Meanwhile, Philly’s defense is yielding a mere 66.3 rushing yards per game. If it is able to make the Chiefs one-dimensional, we can anticipate a mistake or two from Mahomes. After all, he’s already thrown eight interceptions this season after tossing just 12 throughout the entire 2022 campaign.
- Final prediction: Philadelphia Eagles 34, Kansas City Chiefs 28