Chiefs Rushing D vs. Eagles & Barkley

[teedubya]

How do the Chiefs stop Barkley?

Total Rushing Yards in 2024: The Eagles accumulated 3,048 rushing yards during the 2024 season

https://www.statmuse.com/nfl/ask/eagles-rushing-stats

In the playoffs, Barkley averaged 147.3 rushing yards per game with five touchdowns.

https://phillysportsnetwork.com/2025...numbers-stats/

The Chiefs allowed an average of 101.8 rushing yards per game during the 2024 season

Despite allowing a moderate number of rushing yards, the Chiefs have been effective in limiting explosive runs, which could help them contain the Eagles' powerful running game

https://underdognetwork.com/football...iefs-vs-eagles

In the playoffs, James Cook of Buffalo... rushed for 85 yards on 13 carries, averaging 6.5 yards per carry.

His longest run was for 33 yards, showcasing his ability to break tackles and gain significant yardage.

So, it would seem that the way to beat Philadelphia lies at the hands of the rushing defense.

How do we stop Barkley?

[Gary Cooper]

Originally Posted by Bl00dyBizkitz

Honestly that's pretty spooky.

I have a nasty feeling there's gonna be a 12 play drive of all runs where the Eagles just gash us to death because their O-Line simply can. I hope Big Mike is ready for the task.

The Bills did that two weeks ago on their opening drive of the 2nd half. Just pounded us with runs. They went away from Cook on their final possession though.

I doubt the Eagles will abandon the run in any reasonably close game. But we saw Shanahan do that twice in Super Bowls. Abandon the run for some strange reason in the 2nd half of games.

[Boxer_Chief]

We need a titans afc championship game vs Derrick Henry for this one. Just shut his shit down like we did the king in that game.

[Megatron96]

Originally Posted by SHOWTIME

We literally held Derrick Henry to 46 yards, and Henry was every bit as a good a RB as Barkley was this year.

They're very different types of backs. DH's weakness was getting going. Hit him or just force him to make a move behind the line, and he doesn't have that elite cutback ability so you could slow down his feet and swarm him.

Barkley can cut back and accelerate in a way that DH just can't.

[Shields68]

Originally Posted by Megatron96

They're very different types of backs. DH's weakness was getting going. Hit him or just force him to make a move behind the line, and he doesn't have that elite cutback ability so you could slow down his feet and swarm him.

Barkley can cut back and accelerate in a way that DH just can't.

Have to maintain your lanes and tackle. Because Hurts stops the back side pursuit with his ability to run as well.

[Megatron96]

Originally Posted by Shields68

Have to maintain your lanes and tackle. Because Hurts stops the back side pursuit with his ability to run as well.

Yeah, and that's all I'm really saying. We have to be extremely disciplined on defense, particularly up front. Nothing new for us, and i have the utmost confidence that Spags will have the defense 100% focused, as he always does in the playoffs.

But if for some reason they're not, or we just get unlucky somehow, we will have a big problem, and it will be Saquon punishing us, not Jalen or AJ or whoever.

On top of that, the offense has to be efficient, particularly in the first half. Have to keep it close or have a lead. Have to force PHI to want/need to throw it downfield more, and take Barkley out of the game.


It's a twofold problem. But like I said, in Spags we trust.

[kccrow]

I think it was Ron Rivera who I saw talking about this and he said he expects Spags to slant the line and run blitz often. Basically, he expects nothing less than Spags to release the hounds all game long because if they don't run they are still going to go after Hurts. If there's a guy that knows Spags and the Jim Johnson defense, it's Rivera.

What I like is that Omenihu, Karlaftis, Pennel, Bolton, Chenal, and Reid all play the run extremely well. That's a lot of dogs in the fight in the box. I also think we'll see a lot of Hicks in this one over Conner and Johnson as that 5th DB when we deploy it.

[ThyKingdomCome15]

Make them throw. That's the game plan.