If we're being honest, we've probably been expecting a game like this for nearly a month, after having lived on the ragged edge for so long. Philly got a taste of their own medicine (opponent rallying from an early deficit with the help of some favorable officiating) in a defeat to the hated 49ers. Let's work through some of the top talking points:
Eagles red zone woes return at a bad time. After rolling the top defense in the league for two longs drives early, Philly settled for field goals both times. The first time you can sort of live with (SF had good defense), but the second time was totally self inflicted after the worst sack you'll ever see. Still not sure what Jalen was thinking. I wrote in my notebook after that drive: "RZ goofs casting a shadow on an otherwise dominant start"; that shadow loomed large when SF finally got their offense going.
Eagles' don't start quickly, pay the price. Someone had pointed out that Purdy had the worst passer rating in the league when trailing, which is why I believed that starting quickly was one of the keys to an Eagle win. Philly's inability to finish those early drives kept things manageable for Purdy (who was predictably bad until his team took the lead), and of course the current NFL King of the Front Runners took things from there.
Where did the defense go? Sean Desai's unit could not have asked for a better start on the first two drives: six plays with -6 yards. After that? The 49ers ran off touchdowns on their remaining SIX meaningful drives. Really ugly stuff, and reminiscent of the Super Bowl in February. The tackling in particular was awful; this needs to be a major point of emphasis this week. Big picture, there's some serious soul searching that needs to take place on that side of the ball.
Injuries make a difference. No SF fan will give us this break (understandably so after the NFCCG), but Philly really missed Zach Cunningham, Nakobe Dean, Justin Evans and Avonte Maddox on defense today. No Dallas Goedert on offense continues to hurt them there.
Obligatory officiating section. I absolutely refuse to use officiating as an excuse, but the zebras really did some poor work today. Uncalled but obvious holds on Nick Morrow and Reed Blankenship occurred on SF's second and fourth touchdowns, and the phantom offsides against Josh Sweat that gave SF new life on their first score is still a mystery. 49er corners rode right to the edge of interference/holding at least four times; Bills fans would have been apoplectic. Again, no excuses (like the Super Bowl, the Eagles lost because their defense folded like a cheap suit), but the officiating didn't help.
Bottom line. Big loss, tough loss, no way around it. This was a game that Philly would have loved to have but thankfully didn't NEED. If somehow they take care of business the rest of the way (no more than one loss) I think they'll nab the top seed (SF has another loss in them somewhere too). The other piece of good news is that SF is a beatable team. Give the Birds some better tackling (that will improve; they have generally done a good job with that under Sirianni) and better officiating and this is a totally different game. It should be pointed out here that SF had three extra days of rest. Don't overlook this last point, either: SF wanted this game big time. You could tell by how quick the 49ers were to pick fights and take cheap shots. If we see them again, the revenge momentum will be on our side. If we see them again, I'd like our chances.
Moving forward, Philly is about to embark on a tough two-game road trip to Dallas (who, like SF today, will have the benefit of three extra days of rest) and Seattle. Philly won't win either game playing as poorly as the did today, but they'll improve and will need to grab at least one of these two. If they do that they'll be well set up to sweep the easy final three games of the year and finish 14-3 again, with a solid shot at the top seed.
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