Week two preview: Eagles face Chiefs in battle between teacher and student

By: Jesse Larch, Sports Talk Philly Editor 

In 1999 Andy Reid brought Doug Pederson to the Philadelphia Eagles with him from Green Bay to bridge the gap to the Donavan McNabb era. In 2009 Reid recruited Pederson again to join the Eagles as a quality control coach. Eight years after Pederson's rookie season as an NFL coach, he will face the man that introduced him to Philadelphia and taught him just about everything he knows as the Eagles travel to Arrowhead Stadium to take on Reid's Kansas City Chiefs. 

Reid is the greatest coach in Philadelphia Eagles history, and has bred many young coordinators into top head coaching candidates. Reid is 8-3 against his students in his career, but this time it is different. This is the first time Reid will face Pederson – and with it – the first time Reid will face a student that is leading the team that he spent 14 years coaching. 

Pederson is a reflection of Reid in almost every way. They run a similar offense, they run their teams with a player-friendly atmosphere, and they leave their defensive and special teams coaches largely to their own devices. It makes sense, considering that throughout Pederson's 18-year career as an NFL player and coach he has spent 11 of them serving under Reid. 

This matchup is unlike any that Reid has had prior. Yes, he has been extremely successful against his previous coaches, but none of those coaches are as similar to Reid as Pederson. Todd Bowles, Steve Spagnuolo, Leslie Frazier, and Ron Rivera were all defensive coaches, and John Harbaugh was a special teams coach before getting the Ravens head coaching job. Pat Shurmur and Brad Childress were the two offensive coaches to come off of the Reid coaching tree to become head coaches, but they did not run an offense as identical as Reid's. 

Pederson and Reid run the same offense, meaning they will have a feel for what the other wants to do. This game is poised to be a chess match between two coaches who are incredibly familiar with each other. Ironically these two offensive-minded coaches will put the spotlight on the other team's defense. 

The Chiefs have had one of the best defensive units in football over the past few seasons with a ferocious pass rush led by linebacker Justin Houston. Houston is a premier 3-4 edge rusher, and he is the kind of player who you can expect to blow up plays in the backfield all day long. 

The Chiefs also have one of the best cornerbacks in football in Marcus Peters. Over the last two seasons no player has more interceptions than the 14 balls that Peters has picked off, which is bad news for Carson Wentz. Peters will likely be on Alshon Jeffery all game on Sunday afternoon. With Jeffery not being a receiver that creates a lot of separation, Peters will have plenty of chances to make a play on the ball if Wentz targets Jeffery often. 

The Chiefs did lose safety Eric Berry in week one with an achilles injury. Berry is among the best safeties in football and his absence will pose a challenge for the Chiefs defense without one of their leaders. 

The Eagles defense also took a huge blow in week one, when they lost Ronald Darby with a dislocated ankle. Darby has 4.3 speed, and was probably going to draw the responsibility of containing Tyreek Hill, a dynamic wide receiver who makes a big play seemingly every week. After Darby, the Eagles do not have a player in their secondary with the speed required to be able to run with Hill.

With the Eagles struggling to matchup with Hill, they will want to focus on shutting down the other weapons in the Chiefs' offense. Travis Kelce, the brother of Eagles' center Jason Kelce, is a top receiving tight end in the league, and a favorite target of Alex Smith. The other weapon is Kareem Hunt, the rookie running back who made his debut by accumulating over 250 all-purpose yards against the defending Super Bowl champions. 

The key to stopping these two will be in how the Eagles deploy Jordan Hicks and Malcolm Jenkins. Hicks is an elite linebacker in terms of coverage ability after leading linebackers in interceptions and passes defensed in 2016. Malcolm Jenkins is a versatile safety who can play man, zone, or against the run. Hicks and Jenkins are both candidates to cover Kelce in the passing game, and the other should be used to contain Hunt from repeating his historic debut. 

The defensive line had a dominant performance in week one against the Washington Redskins, and will have a good chance to do it again against the Chiefs whose offensive line is not in the same tier as the Redskins'.

Injury Report

The Eagles will be without the aforementioned Darby and defensive tackle Destiny Vaeao. Rookie running back Donnell Pumphrey was placed on IR earlier in the week with a torn hamstring, and is not holding a roster spot so he is not on the injury report, but his season is likely over. 

The only other Eagles player on the injury report is safety Corey Graham, who was a full participant all week in practice, so it would be surprising if he was ruled out for the game.

The Chiefs will be without safety Eric Berry, and his partner on the backend, Ron Parker, is listed as questionable. This is the second week in a row that Parker is listed as questionable, but he did play last week without limitation despite appearing on the injury report. 

Broadcast Information:

Time: 1:00 p.m. EST

TV: FOX, commentary by Kevin Burkhardt, Charles Davis, and Pam Oliver

Radio: 94.1 WIP, commentary by Merrill Reese and Mike Quick

Online: NFL Game Pass