San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Months in the making
Shanahan eager to use game plan that injuries scrapped in January matchup
Last season, the Eagles had the NFL’s second-ranked defense, allowed the fewest passing yards in the league and had 70 sacks, the most since the 1987 Bears.
And the San Francisco 49ers couldn’t wait to attack them.
Of course, they didn’t get the chance to reveal their offensive game plan in last season’s 31-7 loss in the NFC Championship Game. Quarterback Brock Purdy suffered a torn elbow ligament on their sixth offensive snap, they ran out of healthy QBs early in the third quarter and head coach Kyle Shanahan’s frustration with their inability to unveil their offense was the theme of his postgame news conference.
At various points, Shanahan said, “We felt really good about this game,” “we were really excited for today” and “we really wanted the opportunity to play that team.” In the days that followed, wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk said the Chiefs would “expose” the Eagles defense in the Super Bowl and wideout Deebo Samuel termed Philadelphia cornerback James Bradberry “trash,” more evidence that the 49ers had expected an
offensive explosion.
“We felt good about our game plan,” Purdy said on Thursday. “In terms of our plan of attack, it’s like, yeah, you go into a game feeling like what you’re going to do is going to be good. So we never really got to that.”
On Sunday, the 49ers (8-3) will get another shot. And if they were excited to face the vaunted 2022 Eagles defense, they might be doing flips and cartwheels at the chance to face Philadelphia’s diminished unit in the teams’ eagerly anticipated rematch, a showdown with massive implications for the NFC’s No. 1 playoff seed.
The Eagles (10-1) are ranked 19th in total defense, have allowed the fourth-most passing yards in the NFL and are on pace for 49 sacks, 21 fewer than
last year. What’s changed? For starters, six starters who faced the 49ers in last season’s NFC title game have departed, a group that includes Pro Bowl defensive tackle Javon Hargrave, who signed with the 49ers in March.
On Sunday, the Eagles might not have the services of All-Pro defensive tackle Fletcher Cox (groin), who is questionable to play after not practicing during the week, and their linebacker corps is in tatters due to injuries. They will start two season-opening backups, Nicholas Morrow and Christian Elliss, a 2021 undrafted free agent who has played 104 career defensive snaps and has zero starts.
Elliss figures to occasionally be matched up in coverage with All-Pro running back Christian McCaffrey and All-Pro tight end George Kittle.
“Are you supposed to beat a backup? Yeah, for sure,” Kittle said when asked about possibly facing one of the Eagles’ reserve linebackers. “I’m looking forward to any time I get a linebacker matchup. I don’t care if it’s (49ers’ All-Pro) Fred Warner or someone’s practice-squad
guy. I love linebackers. That’s really fun for me. Whatever they put out here.”
The Eagles have added defensive tackle Jalen Carter, the No. 9 pick who is a Defensive Rookie of the Year candidate. And defensive tackle Jordan Davis, the No. 13 pick in 2022, has flourished in his first season as a starter. However, the young linemen, along with their teammates, could be gassed after the Eagles’ defense logged 92
snaps in last week’s 37-34 overtime win against the Bills, ninth most in the NFL in 23 years. With Cox exiting early, Carter played 76 snaps and Davis had 62, figures that were 25 and 18 snaps more, respectively, than their previous career highs.
Could the Eagles’ skyhigh snap total impact them Sunday? Aiyuk smiled: “I guess we’ll seem,” he said.
Meanwhile, the 49ers, who are playing with three
extra days of rest, will have all 11 season-opening starters. It’s a group headlined by Purdy, whose NFL highs in passer rating (112.3), completion percentage (70.2) and yards per attempt (9.4) would all rank among the top 20 in NFL history in a single season.
Purdy said he has far more command of Shanahan’s system than he did when he visited Philadelphia in January in his seventh career start. And he’s now better equipped to handle the raucous environment at Lincoln Financial Field.
“I was still (last season) trying to find my way in the NFL and play consistent and prove to the guys that I can play,” Purdy said. “Now it’s all about how can I be consistent, every single drive, every game and sort of being able to handle all the factors that come with playing quarterback. The noises, keeping guys calm, cool, collected. I feel like in that game, at that time, I don’t know if I was that guy yet. I feel like that’s a difference.”