How can winless Eagles have edge on 49ers?
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 not much 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 now and that’s on me and we’ll get that fixed.”
Here’s a closer look at the 49ers’ first prime time game of the season:
Three reasons for 49ers’ 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 two more 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. PASS PROTECTION ISSUES >> At the risk of blaming performance on injuries, the Eagles’ offensive line has been decimated with three starters out and its highest-profile 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. After allowing just three sacks last year, Peters gave up two against the Bengals and it could have easily been at least a couple more. The Eagles’ line, long a strength, is ranked just 29th in pass protection as a unit while allowing 3.7 sacks per game. MISTAKE-RIDDENOPPONENT >> 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.
Three reasons for 49ers’ 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-quarterbackhit 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’ front was ranked No. 2 by Pro Football Focus coming into the season and have produced 12 sacks, good for fourth in the league. The consistent pressure up front has enabled Philly to allow the eighth-fewest passing yardage.
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 sevencatch, 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. A RESTED MILES SANDERS >> Running back Miles Sanders, the Eagles’ top offensive player, ran well while carrying the ball 16 times and averaging 8 yards per rush in the first half. But he mysteriously had just two more carries against the Bengals after halftime. Pederson said Sanders, who had a hamstring injury during camp, was fatigued Sunday. Still, Sanders wound up with 95 yards rushing for the second straight game. The secondyear back from Penn State also caught four passes.