PHILLY COMES TO SF WITHOUT A VICTORY
49ers will need to protect quarterback from Eagles’ defensive line
The 49ers have shaken off some historically awful injury luck and are now on a two-game winning streak. The Philadelphia Eagles, meanwhile, are a mess and have yet to win a game this season.
Care to guess which team playing at Levi’s Stadium this Sunday is in last place and which one is a half-game out of first place?
You’ve been conditioned to expect the bizarre this year, so of course you know the answer.
Yes, the defending NFC champion 49ers are sharing the cellar in the stacked NFC West with the Rams and Cardinals at 2-1, a game behind the unbeaten Seahawks in the league’s toughest division.
Meanwhile, life in the NFC East hasn’t been too shabby for the sloppy Eagles, whose myriad mistakes cost them some dignity in their locker room but notmuch ground in the division. They’re 0-2-1 — and nearly in first place, where Dallas and Washington sit at 1-2— after Sunday’s tie with the Bengals that left their coach questioning their football IQ.
“I told ’em in the locker room after the game that we weren’t a very smart football team today,” Philadelphia coach Doug Pederson said after a 23-23 tie against
Cincinnati. “Eleven penalties. Came at crucial times. ... We’re just not a smart football team right nowand that’s on me and we’ll get that fixed.”
If they don’t, Bill Callahan’s 2003 Raiders have a dumbed- down legacy they’d sure love to unload on the Eagles.
Here’s a closer look at the 49ers’ first prime time game of the season:
GAME ESSENTIALS » 49ers (2-1) vs. Eagles (0-2-1) at Levi’s Stadium, Sunday at 5:20 p.m. on NBC-TV. ODDS: 49ers - 6.5.
Reasons for optimism
EAGLES ARE FEELING THEIR PAIN » The injuries for the Eagles may be piling up, but they’ve still got a ways to go to match the 49ers, who were without 10 starters in last Sunday’s victory over the Giants. Philadelphia, which lost first-round receiver Jalen Reagor and left guard Isaac Seumalo a week ago, lost twomore key players against the Bengals. Both tight end Dallas Goedert and cornerback Avonte Maddox will miss multiple weeks with ankle injuries. Goedert’s injury is a fractured left ankle, but the team believes he could still return later this year. Starting wideout DeSean Jackson also left the game when he tweaked his hamstring in the first half. The injuries left the Eagles with an exc ollege quarterback (Greg Ward) as their top receiver, and just four healthy cornerbacks on their active roster as of Monday. So what, says the Eagles head coach.
PASS PROTECTION ISSUES » At the risk of blaming performance on injuries, the Eagles’ offensive line has been decimated with three starters out and its highestprofile lineman struggling badly. All-Pro Jason Peters, the 38-year-old who moved from right tackle to his old left tackle spot when Andre Dillard (torn biceps) was lost for the season, has struggled mightily in two of the Eagles’ three games. MISTAKE- RIDDEN OPPONENT » The Eagles have contributed mightily to their own demise with an NFL-leading eight turnovers and a league-worst minus-7 turnover differential through three games. A big part of those giveaways have come courtesy of Carson Wentz, who’s thrown a league-high six interceptions. Penalties, Pederson’s pet peeve, have steadily increased for the Eagles. They’ve gone from three against Washington, five against the Rams and then 11 against the Bengals.
Reasons for pessimism
EAGLES DEFENSE FLYING HIGH » The 49ers will have their hands full trying to keep either Nick Mullens or Jimmy Garoppolo protected this week. Philadelphia is coming off an 8-sack and 18-quarterback-hit performance against Bengals rookie Joe Burrow. Joe Mixon, the Bengals’ star running back from Freedom High in Oakley, was held to 49 yards rushing. The Eagles’ defensive line, led by Fletcher Cox and 11year vet Brandon Graham, is easily their most talented unit. Cox has more pressures than any other interior lineman except Aaron Donald over the last two years.
HOMECOMING GAME FOR LOCAL STARS » Now that they’re in the NFL, Sunday will qualify as The Big Game for former Stanford star Zach Ertz and ex- Cal star DeSean Jackson. Richard Rodgers, another former Cal Bear whose father played a key role in “The Play” at Berkeley, is Ertz’s backup and is also looking forward to returning to the Bay. Ertz, the onetime Monte Vista High phenom, is coming off a seven- catch, 70-yard performance against Cincinnati. The three-time Pro Bowler figures to be Wentz’s most frequent target with Goedert sidelined. Jackson, who played just 28 snaps last week, is expected to be able to play against the 49ers. Ertz and Jackson both lost their only appearances at Levi’s, while Rodgers caught a TD in a Packers 2015 victory in his only game in Santa Clara. PROBABLE DIFFERENCEMAKER » Carson Wentz.
Just 15 months after signing a four-year, $128 million contract extension, Wentz is having to cash in on his history as a solid quarterback just to hold onto his job. After struggling for the third straight game, Wentz is the NFL’s lowest-rated quarterback. His 63.9 passing grade is the second-worst — behind Kyle Allen — in the NFL since Week 7 last year. Not all of Wentz’s struggles, of course, are of his doing. He had two talented receivers (Jackson, Reagor) and a tight end (Goedert) out. Wentz showed flashes last Sunday even while going just 29- of- 47 for 225 yards with a TD and two interceptions.
He delivered the gametying score when he ran it in from7 yards out with 21 seconds left in overtime. If the Eagles are to have a shot Sunday, Wentz will need to play a lotmore like the guy Philadelphia thought he was when it chose to keep him over Super Bowl LII MVP Nick Foles two years ago.