And Another One …

In a highly anticipated early season clash, the Eagles traveled to Kansas City for a late Sunday afternoon matchup against a Chiefs team seeking their first win of the season. They’ll have to wait at least another week, as the visiting Eagles held on, preserving a narrow 20-17 win.

With the Chiefs marching and in the red zone with 13:07 remaining in regulation, Eagles rookie S Drew Mukuba made the game’s signature play, picking off a Patrick Mahomes pass to tight end Travis Kelce, returning it 41 yards and giving possession to the offense.

The Chiefs were held scoreless in the second half until just over three minutes remaining, when Mahomes connected with wide receiver Tyquan Thornton from 49 yards out to cut the Philadelphia lead to three.

An ill-fated onsides kick attempt returned possession to the Eagles, who ran out the clock to preserve the victory, advancing to 2-0 on the season.

Inactive for the Eagles: OLB Azeez Ojulari, QB Tanner McKee (3rd QB), RB Will Shipley, OLB Ogbo Okoronkwo, OL Drew Kendall and TE Dallas Goedert.

Let’s get to the observations:

* Eagles opened in 12 personnel, with TEs Grant Calcaterra and Kylen Granson bracketing the line of scrimmage. Storming in from the left side was linebacker Leo Chanel, who collected a sack of Hurts, who then recovered his own fumble. Calcaterra, starting in place of Dallas Goedert, whiffed on the block. The blocking deficiencies at the position, in Goedert’s abence, surfaced early. Calcaterra did, however, pick up a nice block on the first play of the ensuring drive, dropping a blitzing Trent McDuffie.

* It was an uninspired effort from the Eagles’ passing attack, which was largely bottled up and compressed, limited to dump-offs and short completions. It was a big first test for newly appointed OC Kevin Patullo on the road in a tough environment, but I’ll have to give it another watch to assess where the deficiencies are. But the word “evolve” was often mentioned as a necessary ingredient for the offense to develop. Thus far, through two games, there hasn’t been much evolution. Again, it’s been two games. No need to sound any alarms.

* The Vic Fangio-led defense, which appeared to be leaking early, made the necessary adjustments in the second half. His unit was aggressive and swarming, not allowing Mahomes to get comfortable. Fangio’s bunch kept the team in the game long enough for the offense to cash in. But DT Jordan Davis deserves a mention for his performance, pressuring from the interior and delivering inspired play in run support a week after logging 53 snaps. The fourth-year pro is off to a fantastic start.

* Second-year OLB Nolan Smith committed a pair of penalties in the season opener but made his presence felt early against Kansas City, passing off RB Breshard Smith in the flat and keeping contain on QB Patrick Mahomes, who hastily fired an incompletion in the direction of his running back to force a punt. On the Chiefs’ first possession coming out of the break, Smith, on a 4th-and-1, knifed into the backfield to drop RB Kareem Hunt for a 1-yard loss in what felt like an early momentum-shifting play. Smith is extremely physical at the point of attack and does a nice job setting the edge, demonstrating violent hands.

* It didn’t take long for newly acquired pass rusher Za’Darius Smith to factor into the Eagles’ defensive plans. On the second series, Smith teamed with rookie S Drew Mukuba in stopping RB Isiah Pacheco for a 1-yard loss. He was also on the field on a third-and-long that ended the series. Last week, Smith insisted he had a lot left in the tank, which was immediately evident. On an early second quarter 3rd-and-3 from the Eagles’ 27, Smith and Mukuba teamed for a sack of Mahomes. Josh Uche, third in the pass-rush rotation last week, also worked in, knifing through to wrangle Pacheco after a 2-yard pickup in the waning moments of the opening quarter.

*It (predicably) proved to be tough sledding for the Eagles’ ground game to start, with a sea of Kansas City red frequently converging on RB Saquon Barkley, though the proverbial dam would eventually break on the Eagles’ second offensive passion, albeit temporarily. The 8-play, 52-yard scoring drive was punctuated by a 13-yard Barkley scamper to break a scoreless affair. Barkley received key blocks on the run by C Cam Jurgens and RG Tyler Steen, acting as escorts as Barkley accelerated through untouched. Jurgens got to the second level with urgency to seal off LB Drue Traquill and Steen walled off DB Chamarri Conner.

* Eagles DC Vic Fangio has expressed his reluctance of moving second-year DB Cooper DeJean from nickel to the perimeter, and Sunday afternoon again reinforced his stance. DeJean, exceptional at wrapping up in space, as evidenced by his open-field second half stop on Hunt, limiting the running back to a 3-yard pickup. DeJean brings a hard-nosed and instinctive style of play in the middle of the Eagles’ defense that can’t be replicated. His skill set shines brightest against a team like the Chiefs, an offense that specializes is spreading teams out and putting defenders in conflict when in space.

* Curious decision at the end of the half, as the Eagles’ offense had two timeouts remaining and about 30 seconds to work with following an 8-yard completion to WR A.J. Brown that set up a 4th-and-1. It looked as though Brown might have even rolled over the top of a defender to make the line to gain. It certainly looked as though Jalen Hurts and others wanted to be aggressive and go for it. Regardless, Sirianni elected to let the clock tick down to two seconds, setting up what would have been a 52-yard field goal. Instead, LS Charley Hughlett was tagged with a 5-yard false start penalty. Sirianni would confer with K Jake Elliott on his comfort level of attempting a 58-yarder, which Elliott would promptly drill to even the score at the break.

* Speaking of Elliott, the operation, including P/H Braden Mann and Hughlett, has been crisp through two games. Elliott now has converted a pair of 58-yard kicks through the first two weeks. He’s kicking with a ton of confidence.

* Early last week, Fangio said that the rookie Mukuba played “OK” last week in his NFL debut, citing he had a couple “major busts.” While it wasn’t at all a perfect outing – Mukuba was trucked on an early Mahomes third-down run – the Texas product proved why the team selected him in the second round. It also reinforces Fangio’s confidence in starting him in the opener despite limited reps this summer. Mukuba, along with compiling six tackles and a half-sack, provided the play of the day, intercepting Mahomes in the end zone and returning it 41 yards the opposite direction. Mukuba, who boasts an extremely high football IQ, is a highly instinctive ball hawk capable of flipping momentum on any given play.

* Listed as a TE, Cameron Latu moonlighted for a handful of snaps at fullback. As previously mentioned, he’s a physical player with a skill set worth continuing to explore.

— Andrew DiCecco (@AndrewDiCecco) is a Staff Reporter/Content Producer for InsideTheBirds.com