6 Eagles Who Deserve Major Credit for The Win Over The Chiefs

There will likely be a lot of talk this week about the issues we saw with the Eagles' offense. It just never got going. We will debate how much of that is on Jalen Hurts and how much is on Kevin Patullo. People will call out Nick Sirianni for being too conservative at the half by settling for a FG when they had time to go for more. But they did win.

So instead of focusing on the negative, let's look at some positives. Specifically, let's look at 6 Eagles who deserve a ton of credit for their play in the week 2 win over the Chiefs.

Davis deserved more credit for his play in week 1, and he deserves more credit after week 2 as well. Davis is not a player who will usually stuff the stat sheet. He is not going to rack up double-digit sacks. But watching the game, you can't miss the impact he makes.

And not just in the run game anymore. Davis has turned himself into a solid pass rusher, too. Again, he will likely never be a sack guy. But he got his hands on two passes and helped blow up the line a couple of times. He was also in the mix on that 4th down stop, though Nolan Smith was the guy who made the play.

Oh, and he still is one of the best run stuffers in the league. He takes up so much space and moves so well that he makes inside runs a difficult endeavor for opposing RBs. Now that he is producing against the pass too, and in the best shape of his life, he can stay on the field.

The criticism of Davis in the past has been his struggles to impact the pass game, and the fact that he didn't play enough snaps, because he would wear down. He stayed on the field for most of the Cowboys game, and played a ton in week 2 as well. Keep this up, and Carter might not be the only DT due for a payday in the off-season.

When the Eagles signed the 33-year-old Smith, Eagles fans were understandably skeptical. We have seen a lot of veteran Edge Rushers sign here, only to show us why they were available. Robert Quinn, Ryan Kerrigan are just a couple of names who were ineffective in an Eagles jersey.

But Smith made an immediate impact. Early on, he blew up a run play. He got another run stop later in the 1st half, and then worked with the rookie Drew Mukuba to share a sack the next play. By the end of the game, he had 4 tackles, a .5 sack, and 1 tackle for a loss.

Solid stuff by Smith in his Eagles debut. And that was him with rust. He has not had the time to work with this defense very long. He is still learning the Fangio defense. But he still went out there and was arguably their most effective Edge.

He could be less Ryan Kerrigan and more Chris Long.

Mukuba had a rookie moment early in the game when Patrick Mahomes ran over him en route to a 1st down. The Chiefs later scored their 1st TD on that drive.

You learn a lot about a person when they get knocked down. Do they stand back up, dust themselves off, and work on making it right? Or do they spiral?

Mukuba did the former. Outside of that 1 moment, he had a tremendous game. What people will remember is the interception in the Red Zone. But as mentioned, he also shared a sack with Smith. And when he got the chance to redeem himself with another chance at an open field tackle, he got the job done.

On top of all that, he got 1 PBU and 6 total tackles. A nice day for the rookie, outside of one moment, his teammates may not let him live down.

Jake struggled last year. That is no secret. It was his worst year as an Eagle. The usually dependable kicker suddenly could not hit a kick from distance. He bounced back in the playoffs, but there were some lingering concerns coming into the year.

So far, so good. Elliott has had 3 chances to kick a 50+ yard FG. He nailed all 3, including 2 from 58. The guy who made long kicks look easy seems to be back.

It makes a massive difference. Last year, we saw it affect their decision-making. They could not settle for long FGs. His misses nearly cost them several games. But now? They have the freedom to kick it from 58 yards out. Judging by how he has looked, they could do it from 60+ yards out if they need to.

While we are on the subject of special teams, let's talk about the punter. Mann punted 5 times and averaged 54.8 yards per punt. With the Eagles' offense stalling, he had to punt a lot. Often from his own side of the field. He was still able to boom the ball and pin the Chiefs back.

Mann led the NFL in Net Yards Per Punt in week 1. He played great in week 2 as well. You dont want to punt much, but at least the Eagles know they have someone they can trust when they have to give the ball back.

You do want to see better punt coverage. They let Nikko Remigo have returns of 25 and 17 yards. But Mann still did his job.

So much was made of Vic Fangio being 0-7 against Patrick Mahomes before the Super Bowl. People twisted that to make it sound like Mahomes had the keys to breaking the Fangio defense. But then Fangio's defense shut him down in the Super Bowl, and once again shut him down in this game.

Fangio has held Mahomes under 300 yards in each of the last 6 times he faced him. He held him under 200 3 times, and would have in the Super Bowl too if not for garbage time production.

Maybe Fangio has cracked the Mahomes code? Either way, it was another masterclass by the veteran coordinator. Under past coordinators, the Eagles' defense always seemed to struggle vs good QBs. That has not been the case at all since Fangio took over, and this Chiefs game is only the latest example of Fangio being able to scheme against whichever QB he faces.