Eagles’ vaunted pass rush ready to take on Purdy, Niners
PHILADELPHIA >> Like the prices at the gas pumps, the hype for the NFC championship game is out of control.
Much as Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni prefers to keep the proceedings as close to a regular season game as possible, the players will walk into another level of hype before their showdown Sunday with the San Francisco 49ers at Lincoln Financial Field (3 p.m., Fox-TV, WIP, 94.1-FM).
Quarterback Jalen Hurts’ favorite singer, Anita Baker, has been flown in to perform the national anthem. Eagles’ icon Brian Dawkins will do his unique thing to pump up the crowd.
Throw in a flyover by the 177th Fighter Wing of the New Jersey National Guard, some trash talking from Brandon Graham at the coin flip and season it with a little halftime entertainment by DJ Jazzy Jeff and you have a borderline spectacle. Note to Eagles marketing department: It’s football.
Certainly, the Eagles have reason to feel good about advancing to Super Bowl LVII in two weeks in Glendale, Ariz. Their vaunted pass rush could have a record day against rookie passer Brock Purdy, easily the worst quarterback left in the playoffs.
Purdy looked like he didn’t belong in the Niners’ 19-12 win last week over a Dallas Cowboys team that played well enough defensively to win. He doesn’t have a chance against sacks artist Haason Reddick, who has gotten better each game he’s played. Two records to keep in mind: 1. The team record for sacks in a playoff game is 9.0, tied last year by the Titans, who turned Joe Burrow into a rag doll; 2. The individual record is 3.0 sacks in a playoff game.
There is at least a modicum of respect for Purdy. But trust defensive tackle Linval Joseph, a starter on that 2017-18 Vikings team that couldn’t hear itself think at the Linc in their NFC title game loss to the Eagles. Linc noise makes you do crazy things. Like that pick-six by Eagles cornerback Patrick Robinson of Vikings passer Case Keenum that turned the title game around.
“I mean, to be a rookie, to play in these big games and not really mess it up, that’s pretty good, man,” Joseph said. “Real good. We’ll see, man. I know it’s going to be fun. It’s going to be loud. I know it’s going to be his biggest challenge yet. I
can’t wait to see what happens.”
With the Eagles and their fanbase stealing the thunder, it’s a little bit like the way the club rolled into the 2002-03 NFC title game against the upstart Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Veterans Stadium. The Bucs didn’t have much going for themselves other than head coach Jon Gruden. The club was 0-20 when the gametime temperature was below 40 degrees.
Well, it was 23 degrees at the kickoff and 27-10 in favor of the Bucs when it ended, the Bucs going on two win the Super Bowl.
Niners general manager John Lynch started at safety for that Bucs team. Current 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan showed clips of the victory to his Niners, according to Davis Lombardi
of The Atlantic. Those Bucs, don’t forget, had 34-yearold veteran Brad Johnson managing the game, not a 23-year-old seventh-round draft pick.
If Purdy survives the first-half salvo Sunday, the 49ers may have a chance. The obvious is both teams are loaded with talent at the skills positions and boast two of the top defenses in the league. The home field advantage will be a factor Sunday in some way Sunday, although the weather forecast is 51 degrees and cloudy for the kickoff.
Tight end Dallas Goedert knows how unforgiving Eagles can be on the road, much less home. He was blown away by the decibel level in the blowout of the Giants last weekend.
“There’s a few times on offense that it was so loud
we had to use the silent cadence,” Goedert said. “It was a huge part of the success that we had in that game, the atmosphere, the crowd. And it was it was tremendously fun to play in.”
The Eagles are totally healthy. Cornerback Avonte Maddox returns to the lineup, and that’s a lift because he’s adept at taking away the first reads over the middle by quarterbacks. Most of Purdy’s money throws are over the middle, rather than the edges where he’s more susceptible to throwing interceptions. He’s thrown none in 59 attempts in the playoffs thus far, a rookie record.
Then there is Hurts, who last week showed no sign of the shoulder injury running this way and that to spread the field. The key to
the Niners’ defense is stopping the run. With Hurts making the Eagles plusone in the running game, even Nick Bosa, Fred Warner and the vaunted Niners defense guided by DeMeco Ryans will be taxed.
When the hype ends and the job begins, hopefully the Eagles will remember why they’ve won 15 games.
“I played an AFC Championship before, so I definitely know what the atmosphere is like,” Eagles Pro Bowl wide receiver A.J. Brown said. “And this time, it’s on my side being at home. I think it’s still just come down to making plays, making every drive count, and the most physical team wins. (The 49ers) are very physical. They fly around, communicate real well. We’ve got to make plays.”