December 04, 2023
The Eagles, for the first time in a very long time, got blown out of the water.
The offense stalled out, the defense rapidly broke down, and in the NFC Championship rematch, the 49ers marched right into the Linc and thrashed Philly, 42-19.
It was an extremely sobering defeat for a team that was routinely finding new ways to win each week, and while they still do hold the No. 1 seed in the conference, they sit atop the hill more vulnerable than ever.
Here's what they're saying about the Birds...
There was no second half comeback this time. There was hardly even a chance at one.
All of the Eagles' issues, the same ones that had left them needing to make all those comebacks to begin with, were laid painfully bare against San Francisco, and instead of allowing Jalen Hurts and the Eagles to find a way, the 49ers just kept their foot on the gas.
All of the Birds' shortcomings and bad habits that had been building since Week 1, all of it just finally caught up to them in the worst possible way and at maybe the worst possible time.
And this shouldn't be taken as a fluke, writes Zach Berman. This is absolutely a wakeup call.
For the past month, the Eagles have clung to a mystique that they’re imbued with a stardust of knowing how to win — a notion emboldened by come-from-behind victories over Dallas, Kansas City, and Buffalo. Their resilience was celebrated, and it made it seem as if deficits were merely obstacles on the Eagles’ way to eventual comebacks. But that intangible quality is not foolproof. Deficits will eventually catch up to you. And that was the case against the 49ers.
The necessary qualifiers are applicable. The 49ers might be the NFL’s best team, and there’s a reason why they were favored on the road. They also had extended rest while the Eagles played their third game in 13 days. The Eagles’ injury report was more crowded — especially at linebacker, where the Eagles started two players meant to be reserves.
But this was barely a contest. Even if San Francisco seemed to approach the game as if it was their Super Bowl after they were on the embarrassing end of a defeat in the NFC Championship Game in January, the Eagles matched the intensity from the start. They reached the red zone on their first two drives and held San Francisco to a three-and-out on the 49ers’ first two drives.
When framed that way, the expectation should be a 14-0 lead. At the least, a 10-0 lead. Instead, the Eagles settled for two field goals — a vexing reality that cost them a chance to force the 49ers to play from behind. [PHLY]
And it came back around to hit them like a Mack truck.
Feeding into the Eagles' problems offensively on Sunday was a near-total absence of D'Andre Swift in the gameplan and a lack of establishment of the run game in general.
Swift, who's been a dynamic back all season and has pulled off some incredibly clutch runs that have kept Philly in more than a few games, saw only six carries against the Niners on Sunday for a total of 13 yards. Four of those carries were in the first quarter alone.
Reuben Frank struggled to make sense of why he wasn't getting the ball:
I can’t for the life of me understand why D’Andre Swift disappears for long periods of time. This is a guy who’s fifth in the NFL in scrimmage yards per game, was on pace for over 1,500 scrimmage yards going into Sunday’s game and had the 8th-highest rushing average by a running back at 4.8 yards per carry. Swift got his fourth carry of the game with a minute left in the first quarter with the Eagles up 6-0 and didn’t touch the ball again until 3 ½ minutes into the third quarter, and by then they trailed 21-6. He only got two more carries the rest of the game. That’s inexcusable. You’re not going to beat a team like the 49ers without establishing some sort of running game, and the Eagles just never did it. Never even tried. [NBCSP]
Offensive coordinator Brian Johnson has been under a lot of scrutiny this season and is more than likely in for the worst of it this week.
But he, head coach Nick Sirianni, and the rest of the offensive unit have to regroup and adjust quick with Dallas coming up, because the way they were just barely getting by before sent them crashing hard into a wall.
Then there's the other side of the ball, and per these defensive series metrics from over the course of the season so far posted by Ben Baldwin, oh boy...
It might be time to be Officially Concerned about the Eagles' defense pic.twitter.com/eMtXndHEn7
— Computer Cowboy (@benbbaldwin) December 4, 2023
Right down there in the basement with Jonathan Gannon and the Cardinals is never the place you want to be.
But then again, maybe that's not all that surprising to see in the numbers.
The middle of the field – between the linebackers and the safeties – has been a sore spot for the Eagles all year and has been routinely exploitable by any decent QB with a stellar tight end or slot receiver to work with (so yeah, George Kittle was kryptonite on Sunday). It's just been a matter of can an opponent counterbalance Hurts getting the ball back with time, and the 49ers more than could.
The Eagles' defense has also been increasingly struggling with getting stops on third down, which extended a ton of possessions for the Bills last week and did the same for the 49ers this past week to the tune of six consecutive touchdown drives.
Mix all that with sloppy tackling and the Eagles' D just could not get themselves off the field.
This is more than missing Zach Cunningham, Nakobe Dean, and Avonte Maddox over top.
The whole unit above the front seven right now is vulnerable.
And because the 49ers won in such a dominant fashion on Sunday, the best in the NFC debate, of course, has shifted.
Record-wise, No. 1 in the NFC still belongs to the Eagles, but after that game – the worst loss of the Hurts-Sirianni era in a good while going back to 2021 – it sure doesn't feel like it.
The Niners are healthy, fierce, and now have all the momentum.
This season is still far from a done deal, and the Eagles still do have a chance at seeing San Francisco again in January, writes Ben Solak.
But at the same time, would any fan want to right now?
As fun as the 49ers offense has been when the plasma cannons have had a full charge, the season is far from over. San Francisco is still a game behind Philadelphia in the hunt for the no. 1 seed, and Detroit and Dallas remain in that mix. The 49ers have a rematch with the Seahawks next week and a huge Week 16 game against Baltimore coming ’round the mountain. They’re still likely to play the Eagles on the road, should they run into them again in the playoffs—and when they see the Eagles (or the Cowboys) again, they will see a motivated and embarrassed team with plenty of adjustments up its sleeves. The hay isn’t in the barn.
But this is the best 49ers offense we’ve seen in the Shanahan era, full stop. The prime Jimmy Garoppolo years had gaudy numbers, but defenses hadn’t caught up with the easy gimmicks yet. Defenses know the ins and outs of this system now, and it doesn’t matter. The 49ers don’t just have gimmicks; they have star talent at every position on offense, including a young quarterback who is improving every week on already impressive play. It’s tough to imagine anything stopping them except a terrible bounce on the merciless injury roulette wheel.
Is there any team you’d like to play less right now than the 49ers? [The Ringer]
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