Eagles Observations: One area the 49ers’ defense may be vulnerable
One 49ers weakness the Eagles might be able to exploit, a ridiculous Kenny Gainwell stat and an intriguing trend involving rookie quarterbacks in conference championship games.
Its a Week 21 NFC Championship Game edition of Roobs 10 Random Observations.
1. The 49ers dont have many weaknesses on defense (or offense), but one thing they are vulnerable to is the deep ball. The 49ers had the No. 1 defense in the NFL (by 15 yards over the Eagles), but they did allow the 7th-most 30-yard pass plays in the NFL (21), the 4th-most 40-yard plays (11) and the most 50-yard plays (6). And the Eagles were tied for 2nd in 30-yard pass plays (27), tied for 2nd in 40-yarders (13) and 5th in 50-yarders (5). Youre not going to have a lot of luck trying to drive 75 yards in 15 plays against this 49ers defense. They only allowed 16 scoring drives of 75 yards or more all year. So you need chunk plays. The Eagles have a quarterback who can throw em and they have several wide receivers who can catch em. And the 49ers with their 20th-ranked pass defense will give them up. Bombs away.
2. Brian Westbrook, Duce Staley and Kenny Gainwell are the only Eagles in franchise history to score postseason touchdowns of 15 yards or more both rushing and receiving.
3. Jalen Hurts 15 wins this year are tied for second most in a season by any quarterback 24 or under. Dan Marino won 16 games in 1984 at 23 years old 14-2 regular season and two playoff wins before the Dolphins lost to the 49ers in Super Bowl XIX in Palo Alto. Jared Goff (2018) and Josh Allen (2020) also won 15. Longer season, but Hurts also missed two games. And only three others won 14 games before their 24th birthday: Ben Roethlisberger in 2004, Tom Brady in 2001 and Patrick Mahomes in 2019.
4. How good is the 49ers run defense? They held 10 of 19 opponents to 3.2 yards per carry or worse and theyve only allowed over 4.2 twice to the Chiefs and Seahawks. No running back has rushed for 70 yards against them all year, and theyve only allowed three rushing TDs longer than three yards one by current 49er Christian McCaffrey (the others by Mecole Hardman and Clyde Edwards-Helaire of the Chiefs). The Eagles running game looked unstoppable Saturday night against the Giants, and theyve had a handful of other games like that Lions, Packers, Jaguars, first Giants game. But the Eagles havent been consistent running the ball, averaging below 3.5 in three of their last six regular-season games. Part of that is Jalen Hurts missing a couple games and not being 100 percent another. But its just not easy to run against this 49ers team. Theyve only allowed 23 runs of 10 yards or more. Thats 12 fewer than any other team. Knowing Shane Steichen, hes not going to wait too long to abandon the run if its not working. If he feels the Eagles best chance to move the ball is chucking it almost every snap, he will. Hes not one to keep hammering something thats not working.
5. The Eagles only played two home postseason games from their inception in 1933 through 1978 the 7-0 win over the Cards in the 1948 NFL Championship Game at Shibe Park and the 17-13 win over the Packers in the 1960 NFL Championship Game at Franklin Field.
6. In his four NFL seasons, Miles Sanders has averaged 4.6, 5.3, 5.5 and 4.9 yards per carry. Hes only the fifth running back in history to average 4.6 yards or higher in each of his first four seasons (minimum 100 carries), joining Jim Brown, Gale Sayers, Alvin Kamara and Nick Chubb.
7. Rookie quarterbacks are 0-4 all-time in road conference championship games, losing by an average of 10.3 points and throwing four TDs and nine interceptions. Heres a look at those four games:
- Shaun King [Buccaneers, 11-6 loss to Rams], 13- 29, 163 yards, 0 TDs, 2 INTs, 34.1 rating
- Ben Roethlisberger [Steelers, 41-27 loss to Patriots], 14- 24, 226 yards, 2 TDs, 3 INTs, 78.1 rating
- Joe Flacco [Ravens, 23-14 loss to Steelers], 13-30, 141 yards, 0 TDs, 3 INTs, 18.2 rating
- Mark Sanchez [Jets, 30-17 loss to Colts], 17-30, 257 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT, 93.3 rating
8. The Eagles are 21-3 as favorites under Nick Sirianni, with the losses coming last year against the Giants (13-7 favored by 3 ) and this year vs. the Commanders (32-21 as 10 -point favorites) and the Saints (20-10 as 5 -point favorites).
9. The Eagles committed four turnovers in the 2003 NFC Championship Game vs. the Panthers at the Linc. Theyve committed four in nine home playoff games since (and none in their last three).
10. After the 49ers beat the Eagles 14-0 in their 1996 wild-card game at Candlestick Park, Steve Young wandered into the Eagle locker room to say hi to long-time teammate Ricky Watters. Watters, who rushed for 1,411 yards that year, managed just 57 rushing yards that day on 20 carries while Young – who ran for just 310 yards that year – carried 11 times for 65 yards and a nine-yard touchdown. The two embraced near Rickys locker and then Ricky said, Dang, Steve, you had more rushing yards than I did!
