Eagles’ defense did what it couldn’t do in Super Bowl 57: Stop Patrick Mahomes and get lucky

In February, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes broke the Eagles’ hearts when he led a 12-play, 66-yard game-winning drive in Super Bowl 57 .

In Monday’s rematch, the Eagles had to stop the two-time MVP from beating them again — and this time, they did, with some luck on their side, to capture a 21-17 win at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri .

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On second-and-10, Chiefs wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling dropped a potential game-winner with 1:42 remaining . On the next play, Eagles defensive end Josh Sweat pressured Mahomes and forced him to chuck it away with nobody around, which drew a 10-yard flag for intentional grounding and burned the Chiefs’ last timeout. On fourth-and-25, the Chiefs failed to convert.

The Eagles only gave up 25 yards on their final drive against the Chiefs — a different story compared to the last time these two teams played.

“We have a no-flinch mentality,” Eagles defensive tackle Jordan Davis told reporters. “It doesn’t matter where they place the ball, we are going to line up and play to the best of our ability.

“Whatever happens, happens, but it goes back to training camp when everybody came in knowing we are great players, and that we just needed to play within ourselves and things would work out for us.”

Philadelphia’s defense struggled against the league’s 14th-ranked scoring offense during the first half. In the rain, Chiefs running back Isaiah Pacheco wore it down and coach Andy Reid called enough successful plays. After scoring on two straight drives, Kansas City had the momentum at halftime.

But Eagles defensive coordinator Sean Desai made adjustments and held Reid’s offense to zero second-half points.

“I think coming into this game and the way the game kind of went, I think it’s the belief and the resiliency of this team where we say ‘Hey, no matter what type of adversity we’re faced with, we’re going to fight through it,’” Eagles safety Kevin Byard said.

Philadelphia also forced two crucial red zone turnovers — one in each half.

Trailing 17-14, the Eagles faced Mahomes from their own 14-yard line early in the fourth quarter and needed a stop. In his return, Eagles cornerback Bradley Roby made one of the biggest plays of the night when he stripped All-Pro tight end Travis Kelce and linebacker Nicholas Morrow recovered the ball.

“We practice it a lot,” Eagles cornerback Darius Slay said about forcing fumbles. “We practice turning the ball over. That’s what we want to be, a turnover defense. We have to get back to that. We haven’t been that great at it but two on the day was amazing.”

On their ensuing drive, the Eagles went three-and-out – a synopsis of a rough offensive night. They finished with 238 total yards and went 3-of-11 on third downs (27%).

With the offense struggling to move the ball, Philadelphia found success with its bend-but-don’t-break style of defense.

Mahomes went 24 of 43 for 177 yards and two touchdowns, but he also threw a second-quarter interception to Byard. The Chiefs finished with 336 yards, 168 of which came on the ground.

The performance of Philadelphia’s 28th-ranked secondary, which has yielded 248.1 yards per game, was encouraging.

Eagles general manager Howie Roseman signed Roby and traded for Byard to bolster that area of the defense, but the two did not play together until yesterday. Roby suffered a shoulder injury in Week 6 — two weeks before Byard was acquired from the Titans— causing him to miss three consecutive games.

“It’s been great, man,” Slay said. “Two veterans, guys who have been playing a long time. Bringing Byard along, the ball magnet, he caught a pick. He did a great job on [Travis] Kelce today. He made a lot of plays on him today. We appreciate him.

“Robe bringing his veteran presence on the inside. He has done an amazing job, as well. He is helping out young guys get better.”

Before containing Mahomes, the Eagles gave up 300-plus yards to Commanders quarterback Sam Howell and Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott in their two previous games. Long-term questions about their secondary still exist ... especially because it may have gotten lucky, too.

The Chiefs have an NFL-high 26 drops through 11 weeks. Kansas City deploys various wide receivers — a mix of veterans and young players — who have struggled. Reid even sprinkled in Giants draft bust Kadarius Toney . To make matters worse, the rain may have contributed to Valdes-Scantling’s drop.

Even though Philadelphia’s top-ranked run defense got pushed around by Kansas City, giving up 4.7 yards per carry to Pacheco, it did what it couldn’t last year: Stop Mahomes in critical situations.

“We knew they were going to make plays,” Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham said. “Mahomes is a great quarterback. Obviously, we know all about him. We just had to make sure we made more plays than him and made sure we stopped him on third and fourth down.”