Nothing is automatic in the NFL, yet the Philadelphia Eagles are one of the few teams who can say that they've mastered the art of consistently gaining a single yard. 

While stopping the Eagles' signature "Brotherly Shove" play is a big point of emphasis this week, there are some unique challenges that the Kansas City Chiefs face. First of all, they couldn't actually test their methods for stopping the play in practice. That would require the team to go entirely live contact, which is something they simply don't do, even when working against the scout team. 

Even though they couldn't "practice" for this play, the Chiefs' players and coaching staff have clearly thought a lot about the potential ways to avoid surrendering that yard to the Eagles, no matter the down.

Here's a look at some of what has been said leading up to the "Monday Night Football" matchup:

Limiting the damage on first- and second-down

The easiest way to stop the signature play from the Eagles is to not allow them to get into situations where they might use it. For the Chiefs, that means limiting the damage on first down and second down. If you keep the Eagles in third-and-long situations, they simply won't have the opportunity to use this play. 

"I think Washington had one play where they actually did a pretty good job and I think it might've been a stop, then they went for it on fourth (down)," Chiefs DC Steve Spagnuolo said. "That's the thing, if you stop on third-and-1 for half a yard, they come right back on fourth down and you gotta do it again. Listen, we'll try to be as stout in there as we can. I don't have any secrets on it, I wish I did. The best thing we can do is try and not to be in those situations. It's why I'm going back to first- and second-down."

The Chiefs happen to be uniquely situated to do this. They're one of the top teams in the league at forcing teams into third- and fourth-and-long situations with a 0.303 success rate. Only a handful of teams rank better defensively through this juncture of the 2023 NFL season.

Joe Cullen says it's all about leverage

The "Brotherly Shove" is a leverage play. When the ball is snapped, the quarterback and offensive linemen are all moving forward, so it's really up to the defensive line to explode off of the snap and win that leverage battle. 

“If anyone has any new ideas let me know," Chiefs DL coach Joe Cullen told reporters. "That’s something we really talked about after that game (Super Bowl LVII). (Defensive Coordinator) Coach (Steve) Spags (Spagnuolo) over the offseason, just being able to get a little bit lower, do a few things that maybe will help it. Last year they jumped, they got us to jump, we got them in a third-and-one they jumped, they got the touchdown right after that. It’s about stopping it with leverage, people being able to get the quarterback because the extra push, the second push is really what gets you. We’re going to try to do everything we can to keep them out of those situations, get them third-and-long.”

Cullen's comments also speak to the discipline of the defensive line. The anxiety of facing a play with such a high success rate means that the defensive linemen need to be extra diligent so as to not jump offside. Even if the play is highly successful, you still want to make the offense work for it and not give the Eagles' offense a freebie.

Chris Jones and the Rugby method

Chiefs star DT Chris Jones appeared on The Rich Eisen Show recently and unveiled part of his education on the Eagles' signature play.

“It hasn’t been stopped all year, but we got a plan for it," Jones told Eisen. "We've got a plan for it. We're going to watch a few Rugby games, and I've got a Rugby friend, I can't disclose his name, but I've got a Rugby friend who has been telling me a few little pointers on what I can do to stop this." 

Jones says that he's reached out to multiple Rugby players who pointed out some "small details" that could be enormously helpful toward stopping this seemingly unstoppable play. What exactly are those details? He's keeping that part close to the chest.

Perhaps it's something as simple as going for the ball and forcing a fumble. Perhaps it has to do with linebackers aligning a certain way to help push the defensive linemen just as the Eagles do with Jalen Hurts. Whatever it might be, knowledge is king in the NFL. Maybe these pieces of information have the potential to help Jones and the defense unlock the secret to stopping this play.

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