S.F. finally heeds the alarm in early start
there.”
Jennings’ joyous and inartistic music-dance number was off-key, odd and disjointed, which made it the perfect celebration for a 17-11 win over the Eagles which the victorious players described as “dirty” (tight end George Kittle) and “grimy” (Warner). The 49ers improved to 2-0 with the second straight road win, victories that sandwiched a week of practices in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va.
They did so with a grind-itout style in which they had two plays gain more than 17 yards, averaged 3.1 yards a carry, didn’t force a turnover, were outgained (326-306) and still led by 14 points with four minutes left.
“A really pretty game is very hard to do,” center Alex Mack said. “You’ve just got to savor the wins.”
He didn’t have to tell that to Jennings. Or any of the other 49ers after they were outclassed for the first 27 minutes — the Eagles were outgaining them 204-64 at the time — and somehow returned to the locker room with the lead.
“For it to still be 7-3 at halftime,” head coach Kyle Shanahan said. “I thought was pretty unbelievable.”
How did it happen? It helped that the offense went from horrible to historic.
The 49ers didn’t have a first down in the first 17 minutes. They didn’t have a third-down conversion in the first 27 minutes. They didn’t score a point in the first 29 minutes.
But they stopped stumbling in time to have two touchdown drives that started inside their 10-yard line for the first time since Dec. 6, 1992. First, they went on a 12-play, 97-yard march that was capped by Jimmy Garoppolo’s 11-yard touchdown toss to Jennings with 12 seconds left in the second quarter. They followed with a 16-play, 92yard drive that Garoppolo finished with a 1-yard sneak to give them a 14-3 lead early in the fourth quarter.
Garoppolo, who was consistently off the mark in the first half, completed 12 of 13 passes for 111 yards on the long drives. He led an offense that wasn’t electric, but also didn’t have a turnover or allow a sack against a defense that had the third-most sacks in the NFL last year.
“It was just staying with it,” Warner said. “It wasn’t our best ball, by any means. But just staying with it and coming up big in those moments.”
It also helped that the defense and special teams had big moments while the offense was struggling to figure it out.
The Eagles led 3-0 in the second quarter and had 1stand-goal at the 1-yard line. They reached the doorstep after a 91-yard completion from Jalen Hurts to wide receiver Quez Watkins was followed by a pass-interference penalty on cornerback Josh Norman.
But the Eagles were turned away when a trick play didn’t fool the 49ers on 4th-and-goal from the 3: Hurts pitched to wide receiver Greg Ward, who turned into a QB and a tossed an incompletion in Hurts’ direction in the end zone. It was a version of “Philly Special,” the play that was successful in their Super Bowl win over the Patriots in February 2018.
Shanahan said the goal-line stand, which was followed by their first touchdown drive, steadied the 49ers when the 91-yard completion made it feel like it was about to unravel.
“That feeling gets going, like, ‘Oh, my gosh, what’s happening,’ ” Shanahan said. “But you just keep playing. When you do that and do it the right way — you don’t turn it over — you look at that scoreboard” and that’s what happens.
How odd was the game? How many times to you hear an NFL star take time to rave about the punter?
“Before I continue,” Kittle said. “I have to give a shout out to our Mitch Wishnowsky. … He was incredible.”
Indeed, Wishnowsky headlined a stellar special-teams performance by dropping punts at the Eagles 3- and 7-yard lines. In addition, defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw blocked a 47-yard field-goal attempt with the Eagles leading 3-0 in the second quarter, the 49ers’ first blocked field goal since 2016.
It was part of a performance that left the 49ers far more satisfied than they were after their 41-33 season-opening win at Detroit in which they dominated until the Lions’ late-game rally.
Why was Jennings singing and dancing? Warner, the only player who witnessed the impromptu celebration, wasn’t posed that question. But his feelings about the grimy win provided an explanation.
“The hard ones,” Warner said, “are always the ones that mean the most.”