Recap
The Eagles have done it; they are headed to the Super Bowl. The game on Sunday wasn’t close, as the Eagles destroyed the 49ers 31-7. To be fair, the 49ers didn’t have much of a chance to win after Brock Purdy was knocked out of the game during the 49ers first drive. The Eagles offense was held to 7 points until they scored twice in the last 1:36 in the first half. The Eagles continued to pile up points and the defense shut down a Josh Johnson led offense who was later injured also. Let’s take a closer look at the game.
Positive Observations
1.) Defense
The 49ers were struggling offensively without Brock Purdy, but the Eagles defense played well. They did what they had to do to shut down great players in McCaffrey, Kittle, Samuel, & Aiyuk. The Eagles held the 49ers offense to 164 yards on the day and forced 3 turnovers. Haason Reddick had an exceptional day, tallying 2 sacks, 1 QB hit, a forced fumble, and a fumble recovery.
2.) Rushing offense
The Eagles made a statement against the NFC’s #1 defense by rushing for 148 yards and 4 touchdowns. Hurts and Scott scored once, while Sanders scored twice. Coming into the game, the 49ers had allowed 3 rushing touchdowns in the last 9 games. The Eagles were able to run the ball efficiently and that gave them the edge.
3.) Offensive Line
In addition to the success in the run game, the Eagles offensive line also had a great day in pass protection. Jordan Mailata had a great game; he was matched up against Bosa during some drives and he gave up 0 QB hits and 0 hurries. In addition to this, Mailata has been PFF’s highest-graded tackle in the playoffs this year.
Negative Observations
1.) Passing offense
The passing offense looked out of sync on Sunday; Hurts only had 121 yards with no touchdowns. DeVonta Smith had only 2 receptions for 36 yards, while A.J. Brown had 4 receptions for 28. Hurts hasn’t quite looked like himself coming back from injury, as he is only 3-10 on deep passes since his return. Although there’s no reason to panic, the passing offense will need to perform better than this if they’re going to win the Super Bowl.
Upcoming Opponent
The Eagles face the Chiefs in the Super Bowl on Sunday at 6:30pm. This will definitely be the Eagles’ hardest matchup this season; although Mahomes has been nursing an ankle injury, they are still a dangerous team. The Eagles are coming into this game well rested, as the starters were able to rest for some of the 4th Quarter in the NFC Championship. Overall, I’d give the Eagles the edge; they are the healthier team and they have the better defense.
Final Thoughts
At the beginning of this season, I figured that the Eagles were going to be pretty good, but I didn’t expect them to be nearly this good. Hurts has been outstanding this season and has solidified himself as the franchise QB, the defense has played extremely well and have added some great stars, and Sirianni has proved himself to be one of the top NFL coaches. I’ve said this a lot during this season, but the Eagles have been a ton of fun to watch; I’m enjoying the ride. As always, Go Birds!
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Nate Eichner is a featured writer at The Birds Blitz. For more from Nate, check out his archive and read through our Eagles articles for the latest news about the Birds.
