Eagles’ Josh Sweat comes through late but he still wants that sack – NBC Sports Philadelphia

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Josh Sweat was happy to play the role of closer for the Eagles’ defensive line on Monday night.

He just wishes it would show up in the stat sheet too.

“I want the sack, but we won the game,” Sweat said. “That’s all that matters.”

The Eagles took down the Chiefs 21-17 in a Super Bowl rematch at Arrowhead Stadium as Sean Desai’s defense pitched an impressive second-half shutout against Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs.

And it was Sweat who closed out the game with a pass rush against Mahomes on 3rd-and-10 with less than two minutes remaining. Sweat was about to sack Mahomes when the reigning MVP threw the ball away and the pass didn’t get back to the line of scrimmage.

That counts as an intentional grounding. It robbed Sweat of a sack and he thinks he should get one.

“Because, like, it’s the same yardage,” Sweat said with a laugh. “Just give me the sack. Stop playing with me. He a sack stealer. Just stop throwing the ball, let me get it.”

The Eagles’ defensive line seems to do this. With their talent and depth, when they get to the fourth quarter, it always seems like somebody makes a play. For many games this season, Haason Reddick has been the Eagles’ closer.

On Monday night, that honor went to Sweat.

“It was excellent,” Reddick said. “I’m right there, I seen him come around the edge, haul a— like he do. It just sucked that it was an intentional grounding. At the end of the day, I felt like, it’s like a way for him to bail out. Even though they took the penalty, man, that should be a sack. 

“But nevertheless, he made the play no matter what happened. I’m just happy for that. He’s a dawg. I know that, he know that, everybody know that. He showed up.”

After putting up a quick 10 points to close out the first half, the Chiefs were shut out completely in the second half. They had six possessions after halftime and came away empty:

Punt
Punt
Fumble
Punt
Punt
Downs

After the Eagles gave up 121 yards on the ground in the first half, they gave up just 47 in the second half. Brandon Graham said he thought the defense simplified things after halftime.

Mahomes ended up attempting 43 passes and had just 177 yards to show for it. When the Chiefs finally got into the red zone in the fourth quarter, Bradley Roby was there to punch the ball free from Travis Kelce. That was the Chiefs’ only drive of the second half that netted more than 25 yards.

And when the Eagles had to make plays on Monday night, they made them.

“We talk about it all the time. That’s one thing, we’re talking about those plays, making those plays,” Brandon Graham said. “Not getting frustrated because Mahomes was getting the ball out fast. And then when he wasn’t, he was scrambling. Obviously, we know all about the scramble. They wanted to make sure we didn’t rain on their parade as far as the front so we was getting chips, slides, all kind of stuff. I just think that the guys in moments, especially moments where you gotta have it, that’s where we are really licking our chops trying to get after it.”

The Eagles sacked Mahomes just once on Monday night. It came when Reddick got him on the second play of the game. After that, Mahomes did his best to avoid the Eagles’ pass rush.

But he couldn’t get away from it late in the game when Sweat finally got to him. It didn’t count as a sack, but maybe it ought to.

“Shoot, we all be hunting,” Sweat said. “We want to be the one to make it. It’s a race every time. D-line, corners, it don’t matter. We all want to be the one to get the game-winner.”

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