How the Eagles showed the Chiefs what they need at receiver this offseason

The Eagles had a very specific defensive game plan in the Super Bowl — and the Chiefs did not have an answer.

There were a lot of problems with the offense in the Super Bowl. It started up front with the offensive line, which couldn’t protect against a four-man rush. The Philadelphia Eagles didn’t send a single blitz in this game, trusting their front four to dominate the game, and they did exactly that.

The Eagles were able to win from all angles. Both tackles were getting pushed back into the pocket constantly. Mike Caliendo struggled with Milton Williams’s speed. Jalen Carter was able to feast on Trey Smith. The Eagles made it impossible for Patrick Mahomes to feel any comfort in the pocket, which eroded his passing mechanics and footwork.

However, while watching the game, I knew it couldn’t be just that. There had to be something within the pass coverage that was also offending to sputter. When watching the broadcast film, it can be challenging to know what a defense is doing from a coverage sense, so I went back and watched the All-22 to see what happened from a coverage sense.

After watching the tape, I came away with a clear understanding of what the Kansas City Chiefs need to address this offseason at wide receiver. Before we get into that, let’s explain what the Eagles were doing from a coverage perspective.

Eagles’ defensive gameplan

The Eagles’ coverage game plan was quite simple: they sat back in zone shells—particularly Cover 4—the entire game.

Cover 4 is what it sounds like. You have your four secondary defenders take one-fourth of the field, allowing them to match routes downfield and limit explosive plays. There are weaknesses within the zone — quick underneath throws to the outside, getting a good matchup with a linebacker against an underneath wide receiver or being able to vacate one of the four deep defenders to open a one-on-one over the middle of the field.

Some teams — such as the Eagles — play Cover 4 better than the others, particularly from a coverage sense. It’s difficult to get their four deep defenders to have coverage breakdowns. There are still openings in the coverage, but in defensive coordinator Vic Fangio’s mind, he’s willing to concede underneath throws if you can sustain entire drives with them. He takes the gamble that his front four will eventually win quickly enough, or you’ll make some mistake offensively, which puts you in a disadvantageous spot on third down. This week, the offensive line was the issue in maintaining consistency offensively.

The Chiefs had trouble beating that style of defense, but while watching the film, I noticed a trend: they had trouble beating one specific variation of Cover 4.

In a Cover 4 defense, when an offense aligns in a 3-by-1 (or 4-by-1) formation, the defense can use a “poach” call. A poach call is a variation of backside where the backside safety on the one receiver side turns his eyes and body to the side with more wide receivers to get an additional body over there. Theoretically, that player can take away any deep crossers or post routes. If you have four wide receivers on the same side, you get six zone defenders guarding four receivers. If the running back is backside and it’s a 3-by-1, you still get five defenders on three receivers.

The Eagles consistently used this coverage in this game. I put together a package of plays where that’s happening. Notice the vision and body of the backside safety.

Now, what a poach coverage leaves exposed is your cornerback one-on-one. He gets zero help from a safety over the top. If that wide receiver could win one-on-one, you can get the Eagles out of that coverage call, forcing them to keep a safety deep in a “cloud” coverage.

The Chiefs couldn’t do that at all. For most of the game, that receiver wasn’t winning at all. He wasn’t separate the backside on a dig. Most of the time, Mahomes wouldn’t even look at that wide receiver. That left Mahomes scanning for an open receiver frontside, but with six defenders on that side of the field, the Eagles could compress space.

This was part of the reason why Travis Kelce struggled as a receiver. The Eagles were able to consistently get multiple bodies swarming on him, so Kelce couldn’t freelance and find open holes within the zone coverage.

What this means for the Chiefs’ wide receiver room

Now, every team doesn’t have the zone defenders the Eagles do, but this is a game plan teams will be able to replicate. The Chiefs will need counters.

The Chiefs must find a wide receiver who can win one-on-one in these spots. Mahomes has to be able to trust that receiver to separate and beat what is ostensibly man coverage. If he sees this coverage, he needs to be able to spam targets to this player to get the defense out of the call.

The hope was DeAndre Hopkins could be this player, but his lack of separation and speed made it hard for him to win there. In previous years, Kelce was elite at this isolated spot, but for two years, when he’s aligned backside doesn’t get targeted nor win one-on-one. This isn’t Xavier Worthy or Hollywood Brown’s best traits. The best guy on the roster for this was JuJu Smith-Schuster, and that was a massive problem.

Now, here’s the question: could Rashee Rice be that player? I’m not ruling it out. Rice certainly has the frame, speed and talent to do it. However, that wasn’t how he was being used before his injury. Rice was a terror from the slot, where Mahomes could get him the ball on slants, crossers and underneath zone holes and allow him to accelerate. If you’re isolated on the backside takes away part of his game. Could Rice develop that part of his game? I’d buy that. I don’t think that is his best deployment.

To me, that receiver comes this offseason. Ideally, I would love a setup where you get this one-on-one possession wide receiver, then on the strong side, you can have Worthy run deep crossing routes, Rice underneath on his typical route tree, and mix Kelce in other spots where needed. If they could find this player, I think they would have an incredibly dynamic passing offense.

But until they find that player, it will be hard for the Chiefs to beat this style of defense.