![\"Philadelphia](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Super_Bowl_Football_79239_72a4eb.jpg\")
Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeVonta Smith (6) makes a touchdown catch past Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Jaylen Watson (35) during the second half of Super Bowl LIX Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025, in New Orleans. (AP Photo\/Abbie Parr)<\/p>\nPHILADELPHIA \u2014 Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert, nursing a sprained knee, was officially ruled out for Sunday\u2019s Super Bowl rematch against the Kansas City Chiefs, the team announced Friday.<\/p>\n
But in a surprising development, quarterback Tanner McKee, recovering from a broken thumb on his throwing hand, practiced on a limited basis and is listed as questionable. The Eagles haven\u2019t said whether he or Sam Howell will serve as Jalen Hurts\u2019 backup.<\/p>\n
Left guard Landon Dickerson (knee) and edge rusher Jalyx Hunt (hip) will play.<\/p>\n
Chiefs wide receiver Xavier Worthy, who suffered an injured shoulder when Travis Kelce collided with him in a Week 1 loss to the Chargers, is listed as doubtful. Coach Andy Reid said he has a \u201cslim chance\u201d of playing, but he did practice on a limited basis the last two days. Wide receivers Jalen Royals (knee) and Reshee Rice (suspension) are out. Receiver Hollywood Brown (ankle) will play, but Kansas City will be thin at the position.<\/p>\n
When healthy, Goedert is a playmaker who runs clean routes, breaks tackles and blocks well in the run game. But he has missed 21 meaningful games over the past six seasons. Without him, the Eagles will rely on Grant Calcaterra and Kylen Granson, signed in the offseason from Indianapolis. Also, E.J. Jenkins or Cameron Latu could be elevated from the practice squad.<\/p>\n
\u201cGrant\u2019s done a really good job of stepping in and playing when Dallas hasn\u2019t been able to play these last couple years,\u201d coach Nick Sirianni said. \u201cReally excited about Kylen and the things he can do, and I like both of our guys that are on practice squad. \u2026 Both are developing players. I think sometimes that\u2019s rare that you have those guys on the practice squad.\u201d<\/p>\n
McKee, who turned 25 in April, secured the backup job but injured his thumb late in training camp. So the Eagles acquired Howell as insurance.<\/p>\n
McKee impressed in his NFL debut last year, completing 27 of 41 passes for 269 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions in a Week 18 win over the Giants. In this year\u2019s preseason opener against most of Cincinnati\u2019s starters, he went 20 of 25 for 252 yards and two scores, again with no interceptions, and rushed for a score on a tush push.<\/p>\n
Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeVonta Smith (6) makes a touchdown catch past Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Jaylen Watson (35) during the second half of Super Bowl LIX Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025, in New Orleans. (AP Photo\/Abbie Parr)<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/p>\n
Offensive issues: Though Eagles routed the Chiefs 40-22 in last February\u2019s Super Bowl, Kansas City contained Saquon Barkley to 57 rushing yards. Of course, that meant Hurts made use of his receiving weapons in A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, Jahan Dotson and Goedert. (Even Barkley had six catches for 40 yards.) But the record-setting rusher expects more success on the ground this time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just super confident in those guys up front and our play calling, and then in myself that I always believe we\u2019re one block away,\u201d Barkley said. \u201cEvery time I touch the ball, every time we\u2019re in the run game, I feel like we have the ability to make a big one pop.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery game is not going to be 100, 150 yards. And my goal \u2026 is not to rush 2,000 yards. It\u2019s to win football games. We were able to do that, and now we\u2019ve got to go to Kansas City in a tough environment and find a way to get another one. \u2026 I\u2019m excited for the challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Eagles, with first-year offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo, also want to feed their top receivers after Brown and Smith combined for just four targets in last week\u2019s opener against the Cowboys.<\/p>\n
\u201cWeek by week it differs,\u201d Smith said. \u201c(Dallas) just dropped a lot of guys out (into coverage). It\u2019s tough to get guys the ball when you have guys dropping underneath and they\u2019re rolling coverages certain ways. \u2026 Space is limited.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wouldn\u2019t say you\u2019ll see more of it, because if you do that, then we\u2019re just gonna run the ball down your damn throat. (Dallas) did a good job last game, but I don\u2019t think you can sit there and just drop people because then the run game\u2019s just gonna eat you up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smith said the lack of rushing yardage came down to missed assignments. \u201cIt was just a matter of us going out there and executing, whether it\u2019s us on the perimeter not going to get the safety when he\u2019s down or maybe some missed assignments on the O-line. \u2026 There were a couple plays where we were supposed to make a block and we didn\u2019t, and it didn\u2019t pop. It\u2019s a matter of (everyone) blocking the right person.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Tightening up defense: While the offense looks for balance, the defense is focused on cleaning up last week\u2019s mistakes. The Eagles gave up 119 rushing yards and several chunk plays through the air against Dallas. Linebacker Zack Baun, who had a pick in the Super Bowl, said the unit has to be sharper.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a lot of things to correct, a lot of things to work on, particularly in the run game,\u201d Baun said. \u201cI wasn\u2019t too proud of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Baun added that he\u2019s eager for his first game at Arrowhead Stadium, one of the loudest venues in football.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s one of the only stadiums I have yet to play at, and from a fan\u2019s perspective, I\u2019m just excited for the energy,\u201d he said. \u201cYou just kind of build off what you\u2019ve done in the past and how they tried to attack us in the past, but understanding they have new guys and we have new guys, and we\u2019re two different teams.<\/p>\n
\u201c15 (Patrick Mahomes) is a really savvy quarterback. He\u2019s played in this league a long time, pump fakes the ball, eludes pressure very well. We\u2019ve just got to get him on the ground when we get our chances. \u2026 Even in the Super Bowl, there were things we messed up and have to fix. In coverage, I think our pressures bailed us out of a couple things. I\u2019m just excited to get the chance to do it again.\u201d<\/p>\n
A major disrupter in that Super Bowl was defensive tackle Jalen Carter, who will be available after being tossed six seconds into the opener against the Cowboys.<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/p>\n
Pregame position grades: Here\u2019s how the teams match up heading into Sunday. Performances will be evaluated postgame.<\/p>\n
QB: Chiefs A+, Eagles A<\/p>\n
RB: Eagles A+, Chiefs C<\/p>\n
TE: Chiefs A-, Eagles C-<\/p>\n
O-line: Eagles A, Chiefs C+<\/p>\n
D-line: Chiefs: A-, Eagles B<\/p>\n
LB: Eagles A, Chiefs B+<\/p>\n
CB\/S: Eagles B, Chiefs B-<\/p>\n
K: Chiefs A+, Eagles A<\/p>\n
P: Eagles A, Chiefs B+<\/p>\n
Returns: Chiefs A-, Eagles B<\/p>\n
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Media hype: Because it\u2019s a star-studded Super Bowl rematch featuring Mahomes, Hurts, Barkley and Taylor Swift\u2019s fianc\u00e9e, media outlets have converged on Kansas City, which is seeking at least a measure of redemption after the Super Bowl. FOX, which is broadcasting Sunday\u2019s game, moved part of its studio sports programming to Kansas City late in the week to conduct panel shows in front of fans.<\/p>\n
Super Bowl LIX was the most-watched event in U.S. television history (127.7 million viewers, with 182 million tuning in at a given time). The game was broadcast in 150 countries on every continent except Antarctica, drawing an additional 62.5 million viewers globally.<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/p>\n
On the air: Eagles at Chiefs, Sunday, 4:25 p.m. ET. Television: FOX 29 (Kevin Burkhardt, Tom Brady, Erin Andrews, Tom Rinaldi). Radio\/streaming: 94.1-WIP FM, Tico, Compass Media.<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/p>\n
NOTES: Eagles RB Will Shipley (oblique) and T Cameron Williams (shoulder) are out. \u2026 Since Sirianni\u2019s arrival in 2021, the Birds own the NFL\u2019s second-best road record (24-10, .706), just behind Kansas City (25-10, .714). \u2026 This is the first time since the 1970 NFL merger that an AFC and NFC team will meet in five consecutive seasons (including playoffs).<\/p>\n
\u2014<\/p>\n
Follow Christiaan DeFranco on X at @the_defranc.<\/p>\n
Originally Published: September 12, 2025 at 8:41 PM EDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA \u2014 Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert, nursing a sprained knee, was officially ruled out for Sunday\u2019s Super…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":363508,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2068],"tags":[5831,3395,5640,25,7,492,110,6,499,242,109,2476,894,1840],"class_list":{"0":"post-363507","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-eagles","8":"tag-aj-brown","9":"tag-dallas-goedert","10":"tag-devonta-smith","11":"tag-eagles","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-jalen-hurts","14":"tag-kansas-city-chiefs","15":"tag-nfl","16":"tag-patrick-mahomes","17":"tag-philadelphia","18":"tag-philadelphia-eagles","19":"tag-philadelphiaeagles","20":"tag-saquon-barkley","21":"tag-tanner-mckee"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115194334035307768","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=363507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363507\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/363508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=363507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=363507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=363507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}