Nick Piccone
The Eagles head to Kansas City, Missouri this Sunday to take on Andy Reid and the Kansas City Chiefs at 1:00 P.M. on FOX. After the Chiefs completely demolished the Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots last Thursday night, Reid looks to demolish his former team. After the Chiefs’ drubbing of the Patriots, many people aren’t giving the Eagles a chance in this game.
So, will someone on the Pi staff go against the popular opinion that the Eagles winning at Arrowhead on Sunday would be a miracle of some sort? Or are there good, legitimate opinions backed by reasoning that have the Eagles coming out of Sunday with a W?
RELATED: Check out our predictions for last week’s Eagles vs. Redskins game. How’d we do?
To the predictions:
Candis McLean (@CandisRMcLean):
The biggest fear I had coming into the season was Doug Pederson’s play calling. When the disaster of a Nelson Agholor play turned into a fumble last week, my fears were confirmed. Days later, a reporter asked the Eagles coach if he was going to try a few new wrinkles since the Chiefs are so familiar with our scheme. Excitedly, he answered, “Yes.” His reply sealed this game for me. If last week’s plays were the basics, I don’t want to imagine what he’s got coming for us this week. Doug’s decisions vs. a top five D … I’ll take the defense.
Chiefs 19-10.
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Dave Uram (@MrUram):
Arrowhead Stadium is not FedExField. Doug Pederson and the young Eagles will be facing a different environment Sunday afternoon in Kansas City with a defense that silenced Tom Brady and offensive weapons in Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce and Kareem Hunt, who are more impressive than anybody the Redskins sport on their roster. Also, I believe one of the reasons Andy Reid is 8-3 against his former assistants is they put his regular season accolades too high on a pedestal. Maybe the Patriots are worse than we thought they were, but the Chiefs will be a tough task for the Birds, even if Reid will eventually choke in the playoffs.
Chiefs 27-21.
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Tony Cutillo (@TCutillo23):
The battle of Father and Son will hit center stage on Sunday for all the skeptics to see. I am already getting nauseous thinking about all the storylines that will be told about the relationship between Big Red and Dougie P.
As for the game, it will be interesting to see how the Birds adjust to a real NFL powerhouse inside a hostile environment. The Chiefs are coming off a great victory over Tom Terrific and will be looking to draw first blood. However, the Eagles showed they are building some confidence and will not go away quietly into the night. Wentz continues to show he is the Crown Jewel while his team still searches for a run game.
The loss of Eric Berry will be noticeable, but the rest of this AFC machine is still intact. Travis Kelce, Kareem Hunt, and Tyreek Hill will cause havoc for the Eagles with their weakened secondary. In the end, the Prodigal Son will give way to his Big Red Master. #FlyEaglesFly
Chiefs 27-13.
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Adrian Fedkiw (@AdrianFedkiw):
While I think the Eagles’ chances of beating the Chiefs actually improved following Kansas City’s stunner over New England – there is the possibility that Kansas City is riding a high – I doubt Andy Reid is taking this one lightly going against his former team. He also has a couple more extra days to prepare and we all know how great he is coming out of bye weeks. I think the Eagles will hang tough, but this is a hostile environment to go into and win.
Chiefs 23-16.
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Nick Piccone (@nickpiccone):
There’s always an overreaction to something in today’s world, and I think there’s a huge overreaction nationally to the Chiefs’ win against the Patriots last week. However, the Chiefs sport some very real, very good, and very smart offensive players. Can Alex Smith channel his inner Joe Montana again? Will Kareem Hunt run and catch all over the Eagles’ Darby-less D? Will Tyreek Hill make the secondary look silly?
All the answers to those questions can be, “Yes!” However, I think the Eagles have enough talent to put up a fight against the Chiefs. The Chiefs are a very good team, much better than the Redskins. And road games are still a tough task, especially for Pederson. It was good to get the first one out of the way, but I think the Eagles fall in KC in a close one. I doubt an Andy Reid coached team will coast into Week 2 sniffing themselves a little bit.
Chiefs 28-26.
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Sean Brace (@Sean_Brace):
The experts and former players will tell you Arrowhead is one of the toughest venues in all of football. Come Sunday, Carson Wentz and the offense will have to execute basically without saying a word. However, since Pederson did coach there, I’m sure practice was a true replica of what the game noise will sound like. The play on the field is tough for the Birds as well. No Ronald Darby has me a little concerned about the secondary hanging with the Chiefs’ speed, but the front line should make up for that. This is a close game and I think the Chiefs have to battle back in the fourth.
Chiefs 29-24.
You can follow Nick Piccone on Twitter (@nickpiccone) and e-mail him at [email protected]. Subscribe to his podcast on iTunes here and listen live on WildfireRadio.com. Click here to read his pro wrestling articles on PhillyVoice. Follow Philly Influencer on Twitter (@PHL_Influencer), Facebook and Instagram.