Defense, Garoppolo produce 2-0 road trip
PHILADELPHIA » A goal-line stand, a couple of Nick Bosa sacks, and a lot of action by safety Jimmie Ward highlighted the 49ers’ defensive efforts to spoil the Philadelphia Eagles’ home opener with a 17-11 win Sunday.
Jimmy Garoppolo, in baseball parlance, produced a completegame victory in the comeback, and he didn’t cede any snaps to rookie Trey Lance, even after a very sluggish start.
But tor the second straight game, things got tense in the fourth quarter, and a penalty by Ward helped create an Eagles touchdown with 4:02 remaining.
Garoppolo and the offense had piled up enough points -including a pair of 90-yard-plus touchdown drives -- to offset any further late-game torture. The 49ers’ first score came after their defense’s goal-line stand in the second quarter, when Garoppolo’s last read led him to an open Jauan Jennings for his first career catch and a go-ahead touchdown (11 yards).
“It’s complementary football,” Garoppolo said. “The defense had that huge goal-line stand, then we get the ball, drive down, get a little score before halftime. The momentum was with us.”
Garoppolo later scored himself on a 1-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter. Coach Kyle Shanahan called it “unbelievable” that the defense proved so resilient that the Eagles had only three points at halftime (7-3).
Javon Kinlaw’s field-goal block was a special teams highlight, joined by Mitch Wishnowsky’s inside-the-20 punts in the field-position battle.
The 49ers (2-0) are undefeated heading into their home opener next Sunday night against the Green Bay Packers, completing a 10-day road trip that began in Detroit and included a layover this past week in West Virginia.
Afterward, Jennings stepped from the media podium joyfully singing “Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!” and Warner followed by saying: “That’s that 2-0 feeling right there.”
GAROPPOLO’S GAME » Garoppolo took every snap and made some gritty plays, like his third-and-1 sneak that sealed the game with two minutes remaining as the Eagles had no timeouts left.
“That’s part of being a quarterback,” Garoppolo said. “You
have to want that in a moment like that.”
Such short-yardage situations figured would be perfect for a Lance cameo on a zone-read play. Instead, Garoppolo went the distance, literally and figuratively.
“In the huddle there at the end, it was a pretty cool moment, just looking at each other in the eyes,” Garoppolo added. “We did (a sneak) three times prior to that, and to get an opportunity to close it out, it makes for a good flight home.”
Shanahan claimed Garoppolo has never been stopped on a sneak, other than a false-start penalty once. Center Alex Mack declined postgame to give up the secret to sneaks, hoping the 49ers will keep them in the game plan.
Garoppolo mixed in some scrambles, plus clockkilling kneel-downs, to finish with 11 carries for 20 yards. Tight end George Kittle celebrated him as a “running quarterback”.
Garoppolo completed 15 of his final 17 passes for 138 yards after an inaccurate start (6-of-12, 43 yards). ‘SPECIAL’ GOAL-LINE STAND
» An improbable goal-line stand was capped 4:20 before halftime, and it kept the 49ers’ deficit at 3-0. The Eagles’ fourth-and-goal play from the 3 was a derivation of their Super Bowl LII play “Philly Special,” and even though the 49ers hadn’t practiced for that look, solid pass coverage prompted Greg Ward to threw away his pass after a reverse lateral.
“It was the biggest sequence of the game, for sure,” Bosa said.
The 49ers defense was backed into their own end via a 91-yard reception by Quez Watkins against Deommodore Lenoir and an ensuing pass-interference penalty on Josh Norman in the end zone. Warner and Ward made key plays to set up that fourth-down stop.
FOUR-MINUTE DRILL » An excellent four-minute drive after that big stop produced a go-ahead touchdown on a 97-yard march just before halftime. Garoppolo capped the 12-play drive by finding Jennings for an 11-yard touchdown on Jennings’ first career reception and target. On the preceding play, Deebo Samuel made a catch and bolted for a 40yard gain.