Kansas City Chiefs Rewatch: 2009 week three vs Eagles

The Kansas City Chiefs were 0-2 to start the 2009 season with losses to the Ravens and Raiders. Their next opponent was the Philadelphia Eagles, who was led by a familiar face.

As we all continue to flatten the curve by staying in our homes, I’ll be watching and writing about a 2009 Kansas City Chiefs game every day. Next on the agenda is KC’s week three game versus the Philadelphia Eagles, who had a lot of familiar faces to Chiefs fans on their 2009 roster.

The most familiar face was that of Andy Reid, who was still the head coach in Philly at this point. It was weird seeing him on the sidelines for the opposition even though he spent such a long time with the Eagles. None of us knew back when this game took place that the next time the Chiefs faced the Eagles, Reid would be on the other sideline.

This game also had two fresh faced rookies named Jeremy Maclin and LeSean McCoy, both of whom would eventually reunite with Reid in Kansas City. Neither did much in their Chiefs careers, but still a fun tidbit.

How did the 0-2 Chiefs do against the 1-1 Eagles? Time to step into the time machine!

WEEK 3 VS PHILADELPHIA EAGLES – SEPTEMBER 27TH, 2009

Heading into this match-up, the Kansas City Chiefs had been 12-29 on the road dating back to 2004. They had lost six straight games and had lost six straight games against NFC opponents. Kansas City also lost 25 of their last 27 games, so even though the Eagles had a backup quarterback in, this wasn’t looking promising the Chiefs.

The game started with a promising three and out forced by the Chiefs defense, but the offense didn’t do much with it. A lot of that was due to penalties, as the Chiefs had a third and 25 after committing an abundance of penalties.

It didn’t take long for the Eagles to warm up, as they’d score on their next two possessions to go up 14-0 in the first quarter. “I think the Eagles smell blood” Kevin Harlan said after Philly’s second consecutive touchdown. He wasn’t lying.

The Eagles attempted to go for it on fourth down and the Chiefs were able to stuff them at the line, giving them great field position. That helped a struggling KC offense get on the board, as Matt Cassel found Mark Bradley in the end zone for a beauty of a touchdown.

I won’t say many nice things about Bradley throughout these rewatches, but this was a gem of a grab by him, as he went up for the ball against Ellis Hobbs and found a way to come down with it.

As nice as that touchdown was, the Eagles scored a few plays later to keep it a two-touchdown lead. They’d never look back, at one point leading 34-7. In the third quarter, Philly had 317 yards of total offense while Kansas City had totaled just 99 yards offensively.

Anytime the Chiefs would do something impressive, something bad would happen and cancel it out. When they executed a nicely done fake punt, Larry Johnson fumbled two plays later. Near the end of the game when Jamaal Charles had a nice touchdown run, it was wiped out by Bradley holding and getting flagged for it; Mistakes like that all day long crushed the offense and gave the team little chance to win this one.

Matt Cassel was awful, throwing for a measly 90 yards, but going 14 of 18. His offensive line did him no favors, as he was sacked three times and constantly pressured. The run game never got going either, with Larry Johnson nor Jamaal Charles making much of an impact.

The only real mistake the Eagles made was fumbling the football and losing it deep in their own territory, which aided the Chiefs in scoring another touchdown. That’s where the final points in the match-up came from, as Cassel connected with Bobby Wade on a nine-yard touchdown pass.

By then it was far too late, however, and it ended up being a 34-14 Eagles win.

REMEMBER THAT GUY?

• With Donovan McNabb out due to injury, Kevin Kolb was the starter, making just his second ever NFL start. The Eagles also had Michael Vick (his first game back since being imprisoned) and Jeff Garcia on the sidelines at the quarterback position. Kolb threw for 327 yards and two touchdowns.
• Jon McGraw was the one who converted the fake punt.
• Terrance Copper had a nice reception to convert on a fourth down late in the game.
• The two Chiefs touchdowns were caught by Mark Bradley and Bobby Wade.
• Brent Celek and DeSean Jackson both went for over 100 yards and found the end zone once.

~~~

This game was never close. The Chiefs couldn’t move the ball and the only reason they found the end zone at all was because of the Eagles failing to convert on fourth down, giving KC good field position, and the Eagles pulling starters at the end of the game. That made it easier to get that final touchdown.

Harlan and the broadcast team mentioned that the Chiefs were trying to follow the outline of what the Eagles were doing in the draft and I found that interesting, as they’d eventually hire Andy Reid and have a lot of Eagles connections as a result.

“It’s going to take some time in Kansas City” Harlan’s broadcast partner said at one point during the game and the ironic part is that the reason the turnaround happened in Kansas City was because the Chiefs hired Andy Reid, who was coaching on the other sideline in this game.

Little did Kansas City Chiefs fans realize how much things would change the next time these two franchises met.

Next up: Week 4 vs Giants (3-0)