Playing time breakdown.

The official snap counts from the Philadelphia Eagles’ NFC Championship win over the San Francisco 49ers are in! Let’s take a look and run through some analysis.

OFFENSE

• The Eagles were obviously able to get their starters out of the game early. Gardner Minshew took over with about four minutes left in the fourth quarter.
• A week after seeing 10 targets, DeVonta Smith only had three passes come his way in this one despite playing the most snaps of any skill player. And one of those targets came on the scramble drill where he had that sick one-handed grab, which he definitely didn’t not catch! Underutilized.
• Dallas Goedert caught five of his six targets for only 23 yards. This was never shaping up to be a big game for him with how good the 49ers’ defense is in the middle of the field.
• A.J. Brown led the team in targets despite playing fewer snaps than DeVonta and Goedert. He only had four grabs for 28 yards. He made a great catch for a first down on a ball thrown low due to a free rusher in Jalen Hurts’ face. He also dropped a straightforward pass he usually catches.
• Landon Dickerson had to leave the game early with an arm injury. His status will be worth monitoring entering the Super Bowl.
• Lane Johnson was pulled a bit earlier than his fellow blockers due to the luxury of the Eagles having a big lead and Johnson playing through a groin injury.
• After failing to see a target last week, Quez Watkins had a pass come his way on a deep shot. But it was broken up by Chavarius Ward. Whereas Zach Pascal outsnapped him last week, Watkins reclaimed his role as WR3 in this game.
• How about Playoff Kenny?! Kenneth Gainwell saw 16 total touches between 14 runs and two catches. He’s looking like a totally different player in the postseason. Gainwell’s rushed 26 times for 160 yards (6.2 average) and one touchdown so far.
• Jack Stoll caught a pass in this game! Just one for five yards. It was his first target and grab since December 18. Including playoffs, he’s up to 128 yards on the season (6.7 per game).
• Zach Pascal saw a target over the middle but the pass was broken up.
• Miles Sanders led Eagles rushers in yards per carry with 3.8. Through two playoff games, he has 28 carries for 132 yards (4.7 average) and two scores.
• The likes of Jack Driscoll, Andre Dillard, and Britain Covey got to finish out the game in garbage time.

DEFENSE

• This is just the third time this season where Marcus Epps did not play the entire game. He only missed 10 regular season snaps. It’s once again nice to be able to get him a little rest near the end of this one.
• Last week, Haason Reddick logged seven pressures on 24 pass rush snaps (per Pro Football Focus). This week, Reddick logged five pressures on 14 pass rush snaps. So, 12 pressures on 36 pass rush snaps in the playoffs so far. He’s pretty good!
• Javon Hargrave had a nice showing in the box score with two total tackles, one sack, one TFL, and one pass deflection (almost a pick).
• Ndamukong Suh was DT3 in terms of playing time but almost played as much as Fletcher Cox. Suh led the Eagles in quarterback hits with two. One of them knocked Josh Johnson out of the game.
• Avonte Maddox played his second-lowest snap count percentage of any game he played in this season. The lowest was the one where he got hurt in Dallas. Considering how he was limited in practice leading up to the NFCCG, the Eagles may have been taking it a bit easy with him. Two weeks off before the Super Bowl should help Maddox get closer to 100%.
• Jordan Davis was credited with his first career quarterback hit in this game. He outsnapped Linval Joseph for the second game in a row.
• Reed Blankenship’s role took a big hit with Maddox returning to the slot and C.J. Gardner-Johnson going back to mainly playing safety. Despite only playing seven defensive snaps, he tied for the team lead in tackles with six. He also helped to force a fumble on Deebo Samuel that he recovered late in the game.
• Not much of a role for Robert Quinn, who is still searching for his first sack with the Eagles.
• The likes of Zech McPhearson, Josh Jobe, Nakobe Dean, and Christian Elliss got to finish out the game in garbage time.
• Not listed in the graphic since it wouldn’t crop nicely if I included him: K’Von Wallace playing three defensive snaps and 12 special teams snaps. Wallace was ejected for throwing a strike at Trent Williams ... who cowardly rag-dolled him from behind out of frustration during a scrum.

SPECIAL TEAMS

• Jake Elliott made his sole field goal attempt from 31 yards out to give the Eagles 31 total points scored. Go figure.
• Brett Kern almost pinned the 49ers deep in their own territory with a near coffin corner punt at one point. That was encouraging to see. Less encouraging was his 34-yard punt ... that may have hit the FOX SkyCam wire?! Had the refs determined interference was involved, he would’ve been allowed to redo the punt.

DID NOT PLAY

INACTIVE: Ian Book, Trey Sermon, Josh Sills, Kyron Johnson, Josiah Scott, Anthony Harris

• Scott was a healthy scratch for the first time all season. The Eagles didn’t have as much of a need for their depth nickel cornerback with Avonte Maddox returning to the lineup.
• Harris was temporarily elevated from the practice squad so he could get another playoff game check.

Both teams are league champions, but achieved it in very different ways.

The Philadelphia Phillies went to the World Series.

The Philadelphia Eagles are heading to the Super Bowl.

There was a time between 1983 and 2008 when writing those words concurrently would have been straight-up insane. The Phillies, outside of 1993, were mostly an also-ran, and the Eagles routinely fell short in the postseason year after year.

From the time I achieved sports consciousness in 1984, an eight year-old boy lamenting my inability to afford PRISM to watch Phillies home games, until their World Series victory in 2008, I would never have imagined both of my favorite teams could do such a thing, let alone at the same time.

It would have been a ridiculous premise. Sure, it happened in 1980, when all four major pro sports teams reached won their league championships, but that was a unicorn year. Every 8-10 years or so, one of those teams would find a bone and reach a Finals, World Series or Super Bowl, but every year, for a quarter century, those teams fell short.

Now, here we are in January of 2023 and the Eagles are preparing to face the franchise’s winningest coach, Andy Reid, and his Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl 57. It comes just three months after the Phillies took the city on a wild ride to the National League pennant, winning three straight series before ultimately falling short in the Fall Classic against the Houston Astros.

Two teams. Two league finals. And two very different paths to get there.

The Eagles entered training camp with a roster that appeared to have few holes. On draft night, general manager Howie Roseman adeptly traded for a true No. 1 wide receiver in A.J. Brown, signed Haason Redick to a free agent contract, grabbed cornerback James Bradberry late in the off-season and acquired safety Chauncey Gardner-Johnson during training camp. There appeared to be few, if any, true weaknesses on the roster, with talent galore on offense and defense. Expectations were high that, if Jalen Hurts could progress in his second full season as a starting quarterback, the Eagles could make some noise in the playoffs.

The Phillies entered spring training with similarly high expectations. Signing free agent sluggers Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos gave the team one of the most dynamic lineups in baseball, and while they weren’t as loaded throughout their roster as the Birds, the hope was starting pitchers Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler would shove, their bullpen wouldn’t blow up, and their defense wouldn’t kick the ball all over the yard. They went over the luxury tax for the first time, and hopes were high the Phils could make some noise in the playoffs.

Unfortunately for the Phillies, struggles early in the season made it appear those hopes would be dashed. They got off to a very slow start and, at 21-29, fired manager Joe Girardi. The Mets and Braves were already well out in front of them in the division race, so a wild card push was about the best they could hope for. Under Rob Thomson, the team caught fire in June, even with an injured Bryce Harper out for roughly three months. The team stumbled a bit late in the season, but managed to hold it together, winning the National League’s last wild card spot and sneaking into the postseason.

Unlike the Phils, it was clear the Eagles were among the NFL’s best from opening day. They raced out to an 8-0 record, the league’s last unbeaten team for about a month, improving to 13-1 and, after a two week-annoyance without Hurts, ultimately securing the No. 1 seed and home field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs with a franchise-best 14 wins. They were the cream of the conference and favorites to advance to the Super Bowl from the get-go.

Baseball’s playoffs are so much different than the NFL’s, simply because of the everyday nature of it. There’s no doubt these two postseason runs have had very different vibes.

Because they were the No. 6 seed in the postseason tournament, the Phils had to play their entire first-round series, the Wild Card round, on the road, coming back from down 2-0 in the 9th inning of their first game before ultimately sweeping the NL Central champion St. Louis Cardinals in the best-of-three series. They then battled the Atlanta Braves in a best-of-five series, winning that in four uproarious games, and then took care of the San Diego Padres in the National League Championship Series in five, capped off by Bryce Harper’s heroics.

It was exhausting, exhilarating and, at the end of the day, extremely satisfying. The Phillies were road warriors throughout their playoff run, the underdog in every series. Each game was chaos, one high-intensity, white-knuckle drama after another — a daily, month-long theater that was uniquely baseball.

The Eagles, on the other hand, rolled into the playoffs able to take the wild card round off completely, allowing Hurts and Lane Johnson to rest their injuries and prepare for the New York Giants at home in the divisional round. They stomped on their heads, 38-7, then welcomed the San Francisco 49ers to the Linc, knocked out their starting QB on his first series of the game and smashed them into a fine powder, 31-7.

In the second half of both games, Philadelphia fans could just sit back, relax, and party.

The contrast is self evident:

The Eagles playoff run: 2 games. Tons of fun. Little drama. The overlords of the NFC.

The Phillies playoff run: 11 games. Tons of fun. Ridiculous amounts of drama. The big/little engines that could of the NL.

This is not an argument that one was better than the other, although one cannot argue that the Phils’ run wasn’t more drawn out. They were the underachieving scrappers who did what no one thought they could, reach the 2022 World Series in a season in which they barely made the postseason and had to fire their coach two months in. The Eagles, on the other hand, were the conference’s clear superpower all season, maintained that in their two playoff blowouts, and are now one win away from cementing themselves as one of the most dominant single-season teams in NFL history.

The 1989 49ers, ‘86 Giants, ‘85 Bears, ‘00 Ravens, ‘92 Cowboys, ‘98 Broncos were all legendary teams. The Eagles are prepared to join them should they win Super Bowl 57.

Of course, all are hoping the Eagles will be able to do what the Phillies couldn’t. The Phils fell to a superior Astros team in six hard-fought games, while the Eagles are slight favorites heading into the Super Bowl against Kansas City.

Three months apart, both teams on the verge of a world title in their respective sports, taking very different paths to get there.

Go Birds

In case you missed it:

THE EAGLES ARE GOING TO THE SUPER BOWL

It really happened. It wasn’t a dream or your imagination.

They’re in the Super Bowl.

But it’s not for a couple of weeks. So we’ve got some time to fill, and a mailbag to fill. Submit your questions in the comment section below!

Philadelphia Eagles news and links for 1/30/23.

Let’s get to the Philadelphia Eagles links ...

2023 NFL Playoffs: The Philadelphia Eagles are headed to the Super Bowl - Blogging The Boys
If we are being honest, the Eagles have been the best team in the conference all season and are deserving of playing for a world championship. That is the objective truth. While we are being truthful, the Eagles have become the class of the division over the course of the 21st century. Since Dallas last even appeared in a title game (1995 as we all know), the Eagles have been to seven conference championships themselves, won three of them, and will now battle it out for their second world championship since 2017. The Cowboys spent most of this past season chasing the Eagles within the division. Things got a little spicy near the end of the regular season when it looked like a rubber match would ultimately be what decided it. Unfortunately, the Cowboys were not able to hold up their end of the bargain last week in getting to a title game against their bitter rivals.

Super Bowl-bound Eagles are the gold standard and more in Roob’s 10 obs - NBCSP
Two Super Bowls in six years. Jeff Lurie was about 20 years too early when he said it, but this franchise really is the gold standard right now. They’re that good. And after sending the 49ers back to San Francisco, they’ll play for another Super Bowl championship on Feb. 12. The Eagles faced a team Sunday that hadn’t lost since mid-October, and they demolished them. Obviously, a lot changed when Brock Purdy got hurt, but the Eagles were not going to lose this game. Period. Heck, this happened to the Eagles three years ago and they ended up with Josh McCown in a wild-card game against the Seahawks and nobody felt sorry for them.

Jonathan Gannon says he’s staying with the Eagles - BGN
Various head coaching positions have started filling, with some candidates having first and second interviews. Eagles’ defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon was a top candidate for the Houston Texans job, and was being discussed for the Arizona Cardinals position, as well. With the Eagles now on their way to the Super Bowl, Gannon spoke to a reporter post-game and made a comment that may have been hyperbole, or might actually be what his future holds. When it was mentioned that the NFC Championship Game might be his last one in Philly, Gannon scoffed it off, and said, “Philly is keeping me.”

BGN Instant Reaction Show: Eagles are heading to the Super Bowl! - BGN Radio
Shane Haff, Jessi Taylor and Jonny Page express their excitement following the Eagles’ blow out victory against the 49ers in the NFC Championship game.

Super Bowl 2023: Chiefs vs. Eagles how to watch, game time, TV schedule, streaming and more - SB Nation
Super Bowl LVII is now set. The Philadelphia Eagles punched their ticket to Super Bowl LVII with a 31-7 victory over the San Francisco 49ers. It is the fourth time in franchise history that the Eagles have advanced to the Super Bowl, with their most recent trip coming at the end of the 2017 NFL season. In Super Bowl LII, the Eagles defeated the New England Patriots to earn their first Super Bowl title. The Eagles will meet their former coach Andy Reid and the Kansas City Chiefs. For the fourth time in four meetings, a game between the Chiefs and the Cincinnati Bengals came down to a matter of just three points. This time, it was Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs who emerged victorious, by a final score of 23-20. Defensive lineman Chris Jones was massive for Kansas City, recording his first two postseason sacks in the win.

Early pick against the spread for Chiefs vs. Eagles in Super Bowl 57 - DraftKings Nation
This line is expected to move all over the place as we go through the next two weeks. This gives both teams time to heal up, so expect some sort of movement between now and Super Bowl Sunday. For now, I am going with the Eagles to cover the pick ‘em spread. Philadelphia showed a lot in Sunday’s NFC Championship Game win over the San Francisco 49ers. The offense showed how versatile it could be, and the defense stepped up in a big way. Yes, the 49ers dealt with injuries, but the Eagles got a chance to show how well-rounded they are against another fairly well-rounded team.

Conference Championships: Eagles rout Niners, Chiefs outlast Bengals to set Super Bowl LVII stage - FMIA
So now the Eagles move on. They have many strengths, as winning 16 of 17 with the starting quarterback in the lineup would illustrate. But now, fortunately for them, the Eagles will face one of the game’s best passers—maybe THE best in Arizona with a scary pass-rush. Philadelphia had but 29 sacks last year, and Reddick’s addition blasted that up to 69 this year. Reddick, with 19.5 sacks in 19 games, can win with speed on the outside, and he has enough strength in inside rushes to power through inside gaps. Amazing to think this, after the Eagles won their first Super Bowl five years ago with an explosive performance against the best team of the era, New England. But this Philadelphia team has fewer weaknesses than the one that beat Brady and Belichick. Thanks to Roseman filling so many holes with high-quality players—and one smart coach—the Eagles won’t be satisfied with anything short of a second Lombardi.

Handing out 10 awards from the Eagles-49ers NFC Championship Game - PhillyVoice
Slow motion replays showed that it was questionable whether Smith’s catch was aided by the ground. Catch or no catch, Smith displayed his insane body control on the play, as he has done all season. Niners head coach Kyle Shanahan didn’t challenge, and the Eagles scored two plays later. It was essentially a seven-point catch. Hanging onto challenges isn’t as important as it used to be, since clearly wrong calls are fixed on the field without coaches needing to use their challenges. Hindsight is 20-20 and whatnot, but because Smith’s catch was such a game-altering play, Shanahan probably should’ve challenged it. He didn’t, and the Eagles were off and rolling.

Eagles-Chiefs in the Super Bowl - Iggles Blitz
The Niners defense really challenged the Eagles offense. We’ll have to see what the tape shows, but it seemed like Hurts inability to connect on deep balls was key. He had AJ wide open for a huge gain and just overthrew him. There were some other plays where deep throws just didn’t work. The coaches could see the passing game was struggling so they decided to run the ball. Simple idea, but not so easy when going against the best run defense in the league. The Eagles OL started to win battles upfront and the backs ran hard. No hesitation. No dancing. They attacked the right gaps and started to move the chains. The Eagles ran 44 times for 148 yards. Only Atlanta ran for more on SF and that was a game without Nick Bosa or Arik Armstead. The Eagles piled up their yards against a healthy defense. You really have to give a lot of credit to the Eagles OL. They weren’t able to overwhelm the defense like they did the Giants last week, but they did enough so the running game could be effective. That made all the difference in the world.

The Eagles Beat the 49ers by Staying True to Themselves - The Ringer
“I don’t know how Sirianni walks around with the set of cojones that he has, bro,” left tackle Jordan Mailata said after the game. “That’s crazy. How’s the man walk around like that? Fourth down in a big playoff game? Dude, kudos to him. But big cojones, that guy.”

NFL Week Conference Championship Game Recap: Philadelphia Eagles 31, San Francisco 49ers 7 - PFF
Defensive spotlight: The efficiency with which the Eagles’ pass rushers created pressure was simply remarkable. Interior defender Javon Hargrave won 50% of his 12 pass-rushing snaps en route to four pressures, and edge defender Haason Reddick turned 14 pass-rushing snaps into three pressures — including two sacks — and two other reps where he beat his blocker without generating pressure.

The First Read, Super Bowl LVII: Six factors that could determine NFL’s biggest game - NFL.com
2) Jalen Hurts needs to make history. The one thing we’ve never seen happen in the NFL is a team winning a championship with a dual-threat quarterback. Hurts has an opportunity to change all that, and he’s easily the best prepared to do so. The Eagles arguably have the league’s best offensive line, a bevy of talented running backs and dangerous receivers in A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith and Dallas Goedert. However, most of those players were in Philadelphia last season. The difference with this team is Hurts and his ability to impact games with his legs and his improved passing. Hurts didn’t have to do a ton in Philadelphia’s 31-7 win over San Francisco in the NFC championship — he only threw for 121 yards and ran for 39 yards — but there’s no denying what his presence means to this team. The Eagles lost both games that Hurts missed with a sprained right shoulder toward the end of the regular season. They’re 16-1 when he’s on the field.

Making sense of Bengals-Chiefs, 49ers-Eagles in NFL playoffs - ESPN+
Brett Kern’s punt (maybe) hits the skycam cable. Oh, and Bosa’s injury wasn’t even the weirdest thing that happened on that very play. With the Eagles punting from their own 26-yard line, it was a surprise when Kern’s punt traveled just 34 yards before going out of bounds. There appeared to be a quick explanation, given that many of the Eagles’ players immediately started gesturing toward the cable used to run the skycam up and down the field. Philadelphia’s players clearly believed Kern’s punt had smacked against the taut wiring and been deflected elsewhere. It’s certainly possible the punt might have been hit the skycam, and I have no reason to believe multiple Eagles players suddenly decided to pretend that Kern’s punt had been deflected by a foreign object. I’m also not sure there was much recourse, as the officials took a minute or two to converse with the league office about the issue before announcing they could not confirm whether the ball had hit the wire and moving on. As Kevin Seifert noted in his officiating column, the Eagles could have challenged and replayed the down if the punt had struck a foreign object, like the skycam or a scoreboard, as has happened in Cowboys games. The league also could have called down to note the incident and rule for a replayed down.

Eagles vs. Chiefs: The Andy Reid Super Bowl - Football Outsiders
What it Means for the Eagles: The NFC Championship Game ultimately came down to one team having a healthy non-rookie quarterback while the other did not. And yes, DeVonta Smith’s non-catch catch in the first quarter and a roughing the punter penalty that probably should not have been called in the second quarter helped tilt the game in the Eagles’ favor. But give Nick Sirianni and Shane Steichen credit for switching to a zone-read heavy ground game when Jalen Hurts was a little wild early, and to the Eagles defense for swarm-tackling after getting embarrassed on McCaffrey’s run and avoiding mental errors while playing with a lead against what deteriorated into a high school offense. Oh, and miss Walkthrough forever with those Eagles had an easy road to the Super Bowl takes. Two weeks ago Daniel Jones was supposed to be Eli Manning, and the 49ers didn’t look like an easy out anytime in the last two months. (Yeah, Purdy got hurt—because the Eagles pass rush actually got to him, folks.) The Eagles just won two playoff games by a combined 69-14 score. It was an easy road because they made it look easy. The Eagles know how to win the games they are supposed to, and they are built to turn every game into one they are supposed to win.

NFL Championship Sunday Takeaways: 49ers Considered Wildcat, Aaron Rodgers’s Contract Complicates Trades - SI
Because there’s always disrespect spliced into these things, it turns out there were some Eagles defensive players who took offense to what George Kittle said during the week. When asked Thursday if the Eagles could match the 49ers’ physicality, Kittle answered, “We’ll see, won’t we? I know we’re going to come out and be violent and physical. I’m expecting them to be the same thing. But we’ll see.” And the Niners did see.

Spadaro: THE EAGLES ARE NFC CHAMPIONS! - PE.com
That’s how the season has gone, right? The Eagles have been great from the start of the year and they continued it all the way through the NFC Championship Game. One win remains, two weeks hence. On Sunday, the party was epic, deserved, and pure joy. And everything the Eagles have done all season – they’ve been the most physical team, they’ve been the most talented team, they’ve been the best-coached team – came true once again and the result was a blowout in the final NFC game of the season. The score in the two NFC playoff wins – 69-14 in victories over the Giants and the 49ers. Here we go again … one more step remains. The Eagles are in the Super Bowl and they are poised to play as they have all season – dominating in every way.

Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes discuss managing the high-ankle sprain - Arrowhead Pride
Even so, there was no denying that the injury affected his play. “A couple of times in the game,” Mahomes confirmed, “when I was trying to get through spots that I usually get through — you could see that I didn’t have that burst that I usually have. I got the ball out of my hands quickly — I think you saw that. I threw quite a few more check downs than I usually would throw and relied on my teammates to make the plays happen. That’s what they did.” The only blemish on Mahomes’ day was a third-quarter fumble. After crossing into Cincinnati territory — with a chance to take a two-score lead — the passer bobbled a snap and was unable to recover it. He explained after the game that the play marked his most difficult moment managing the ankle pain. “I said the stopping was going to be the hardest part,” Mahomes observed, “and obviously throwing across your body because you have to plant that right leg and twist across to throw. That definitely didn’t feel good.”

The Washington Commanders requested to interview Chiefs OC Eric Bieniemy - Hogs Haven
Washington is interested in bringing him in for an interview to potentially take their open OC position. Rivera wants Washington’s offense to flow through the running game, and that fits Bieniemy’s background as a former RB and RBs coach.

Dolphins hire Vic Fangio as defensive coordinator - The Phinsider
Fangio served as a defensive consultant with the Philadelphia Eagles during the 2022 season. Prior to that, he spent three seasons with the Broncos, leading them to a 19-30 record from 2019 through 2021. Prior to taking the Broncos top spot, he worked as a defensive coordinator with the Chicago Bears (2015-2018), San Francisco 49ers (2011-2014), Stanford (2010), Houston Texans (2002-2005), Indianapolis Colts (1999-2001), and Carolina Panthers (1995-198). He has also worked as a defensive assistant coach with the Baltimore Ravens (special assistant to the head coach/defensive assistant and linebackers coach 2006-2009) and New Orleans Saints (linebacker coach 1986-1994). He also has coaching experience with the Philadelphia/Baltimore Stars of the USFL (1984-185).

Fred Warner believes DeMeco Ryans coached his “last one” with the 49ers - Niners Nation
ESPN’s Adam Schefter wasted little to no time after the conclusion of the NFC Championship to state the Houston Texans plan to pursue 49ers defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans and make them their next head coach. All-Pro linebacker Fred Warner said it “hit hard” to see Ryans after the game, as he knew it was Ryans’ “last one” coaching the 49ers: “I hadn’t thought about it up to this point because you think you’ll win it all. Seeing him emotional, the first time it hit me that this was the last one with him. I owe everything to him. He’s the reason I’m here today. He’s fully deserving to be a head coach.”

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Philly DC Jonathan Gannon is still in the running for several head coaching jobs, which would leave an in-house candidate as an option.

With Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon still in the running for some head coach positions, there were reports that Philadelphia would be looking at Vic Fangio to fill that role. Looks like that won’t be an option if Gannon is on his way out, with Fangio and the Miami Dolphins agreeing to terms.

Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni mentioned that they have some options for Gannon’s role both in-house and elsewhere, but with Fangio no longer an option, they might look to promote defensive passing game coordinator/DB coach Dennard Wilson.

Wilson has been getting a lot of praise from both Sirianni and Gannon the past couple weeks, acknowledging the great work Wilson has done with the secondary and making sure the depth is ready when needed. UDFA rookie Reed Blankenship having to come in for C.J. Gardner-Johnson and doing well enough to break into the starting lineup even when CJGJ came back, garnered a lot of attention and praise.

The Eagles have one of the best defense’s in the league, and Wilson has reportedly been a really big part of that. How would you feel about an in-house promotion?

UPDATE: Or perhaps Gannon is staying? He said that Philly is “keeping me.”

The Birds are no longer underdogs.

The Philadelphia Eagles are favored to beat the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII, according to our friends over at DraftKings Sportsbook.

Their opening line had the Birds as mere 1-point favorites. Some outlets actually had them as underdogs.

As it currently stands with me typing this sentence, however, the Eagles are 2.5-point favorites against the Chiefs at a neutral site field in Arizona. If this game was taking place at Lincoln Financial Field in Philly, which it’s not, the Eagles would be favored by 5.5 points.

2.5 points is the same amount the Eagles were favored by entering their NFC Championship Game matchup against the San Francisco 49ers. At least, it was 2.5 for most of the week before it shifted to the Eagles being favored by three points shortly before kickoff.

On one hand, it’s hard to bet against the Eagles considering they’re 16-1 with Jalen Hurts starting this season. Not to mention they won their first playoff game by 31 points and their second one by 24 points.

But Patrick Mahomes is much better than any quarterback the Eagles have faced recently and, really, this season as a whole. Mahomes is obviously a generational talent who completed 80% of his attempts for 278 yard, five touchdowns, one interception, and a 131.0 passer rating the last time he faced a Jonathan Gannon defense.

Of course, the Eagles are much more talented now than they were in Week 3 of the 2021 season.

The early thought is that it should be a really good battle between these two teams. As the final game of the year should be!

What say you?

For the first time in NFL history, two brothers will compete in the Super Bowl.

The Philadelphia Eagles ran down the throats of the San Francisco 49ers to advance to the Super Bowl, and the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Cincinnati Bengals to stamp their ticket to the big game. This matchup has a little more juice to it for Eagles legend Jason Kelce and his brother, Chiefs TE Travis Kelce, who will become the first brothers (players) to compete against each other in the Super Bowl.

Jason spoke to reporters after the Eagles win, and mentioned that he had some Chiefs gear to rep for the AFC Championship, but after that, his fandom was over.

The brother’s Mom, Donna, made news during the 2021 postseason, when she attended the Eagles wild card game in Tampa, then hopped on a plane and made it to Kansas City for the second-half of the Chiefs game in the say day. Committed to seeing both of her boys play, this year, Donna split her time and attended the Chiefs game in the Divisional Round, and the Eagles game for the NFC Championship.

Now, her custom half-and-half jersey will come in handy as her son’s face off for the Super Bowl.

The Kelce brothers are genuinely two of the best players to do it. Jason is easily a future Hall of Famer and will live in Eagles lore for decades, and centuries, to come. Travis will go down as one of the best receiving tight ends to ever play the game. They both have Super Bowl rings already in their collection, but you have to think a little sibling rivalry will make winning this one that much sweeter.

The Eagles are headed to the Super Bowl, and coaching in the big game is something the head coach has dreamt about.

The Philadelphia Eagles are the NFC Champions and have two weeks to get ready for the Super Bowl!

Head coach Nick Sirianni spoke to reporters following the game — flanked by his kids — and talked about how coaching in the big game is a dream come true for him. He also talked about the hurry up call by DeVonta Smith early in the game, and how Brock Purdy’s injury affected the rest of the matchup.

Here’s what the head coach had to say:

On getting to the Super Bowl

“Pretty awesome. This is something you dream about you’re whole life.”

That was his message to the team in the locker room after the game. Whether it’s something the players had been dreaming about since they were 2, 10, 14 or 18, competing in the Super Bowl is something they have all dreamt about.

“We get to do it because we did better than anyone else in the NFC this year. That’s pretty special. Fans were awesome. Atmosphere was unbelievable.”

Sirianni said that there’s a big picture hanging up at their indoor facility from the NFC Championship game back in the 2017 season, and he’s excited to add another one from this win.

On DeVonta Smith’s situational awareness

Early in the game, Smith made a huge catch down the field, and immediately got up and started signaling no huddle, hurry up, before the catch could be reviewed. Sirianni explained, “Smart players do smart thing.”

The head coach admitted that he doesn’t know if Smith caught it there or not, but when he was told it likely wasn’t a catch, Sirianni said that it was an even better play by the WR. He went on to note that situational football isn’t just third down, redzone, or two minute, it’s all the situations that happen within a game.

Sirianni pointed out that the same thing happened in his very first game in Philly versus Atlanta, with Zach Ertz calling for the hurry up.

He explained that the situation is something they do work on and discuss in practice, and said Smith did a great job and Jalen Hurts did a great job getting them to the line of scrimmage and running the play.

On Brock Purdy’s injury

“You want to make the quarterback feel as uncomfortable as possible, with everything — whether that’s the fans and making it loud, whether that’s disguising the coverages, or whether that’s hitting them. You don’t ever want anybody to get dinged or get hurt, and I hope he’s okay, but it definitely did change the game.”

Sirianni later admitted that when Purdy came back in the game, they saw he had that thing on his arm, so they assumed he probably couldn’t throw the ball down field. But, they also weren’t entirely sure what limitations he had, but they knew the 49ers were likely to do some screens in that scenario. He explained that it’s not until they got them in some 3rd-and-medium situations that they had a full picture of his capabilities.

The head coach said he had a ton of respect for Purdy for coming back into the game and playing through the pain — but, that’s what he would expect from the QB after talking to his coach friends from Iowa State.

Other notables

• Sirianni was asked if he thought he would be in this situation just over a year after starting his first season with the Eagles 2-5. The head coach explained, however, that being focused on the present — which is what he preaches every single day and week — means not thinking about this far ahead or even looking back.
• The head coach was asked about the Eagles being extra motivated going into this game and feeling disrespected. Sirianni explained that they know how mentally and physically tough they are as a team, and they wanted to show everyone else that on Sunday.
• For the second week in a row the Eagles started the game with the ball, and Sirianni said it was great for them to be able to set the tone and get the lead.

Highlights and lowlights.

The Eagles are going to the Super Bowl for the fourth time in franchise history, after their dominating 31-7 victory over the gradually deflating San Francisco 49ers on Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field.

The NFC championship was rather anti-climactic and over after the Niners’ first series, when starting quarterback Brock Purdy went down with an elbow injury and San Francisco had to resort to their fourth quarterback this season, Josh Johnson.

The Eagles became the first team in NFL history to win by scoring more than 30 points, while allowing less than 10 points in consecutive playoff games (against the 9-8 New York Giants and a 49ers’ team sans a quarterback).

The looming question entering the Super Bowl is are the 2022 Eagles truly great, or fortunate?

It will be determined in Super Bowl LVII on Sunday, February 12, 2023, at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.

Jalen Hurts completed a modest 15 of 25 for 121 yards and scored a third-quarter touchdown (his 15th rushing TD, the most all-time for an NFL quarterback), and rushed for 39 yards. He involved six different receivers, while the defense smothered Purdy, then the overmatched Johnson, then Purdy again.

By then, Purdy couldn’t lob the ball 10 yards and it was apparent.

The Eagles now advance to the Super Bowl for the first time since 2017 and for the fourth time in franchise history, and third time since 2004.

Miles Sanders rushed for 42 yards on 11 carries and scored two touchdowns, and the Eagles rushed for 148 yards and four touchdowns.

The Eagles ran 70 plays to the 49ers’ 45 plays, held the Niners to 164 yards of total offense, 81 yards rushing and recovered three fumbles.

There was a lot of good, sprinkled with some bad and some ugly in the Eagles’ 31-7 NFC championship victory over the one-dimensional San Francisco 49ers.

The Good

It starts again with the foundation and that’s up front in right tackle Lane Johnson, right guard Isaac Seumalo, center Jason Kelce, left guard Landon Dickerson and left tackle Jordan Mailata, and tight end Dallas Goedert absolutely manhandling and controlling the 49ers’ defense to the tune of four rushing touchdowns, 269 total yards, 148 coming on the ground.

Defensive end Josh Sweat’s three-yard takedown of Christian McCaffrey on the Niners’ first play of the second half. By then, Niners’ coach Kyle Shanahan was looking in the stands for anyone who could throw a football more than 10 yards.

San Francisco’s back-up quarterback Josh Johnson looked like he needed a Depend diaper on the fumble at the Niners’ 30 with 1:11 left in the half. Haason Reddick pounced on the fumble and the Eagles capitalized, heading into halftime with a commanding 21-7 lead on Boston Scott’s 10-yard touchdown run. Until the last 96 seconds of the half, the Eagles did not look good.

Sanders’ second touchdown, a 13-yard run with 1:36 left in the half. Kelce pulled left and took out linebacker Dre Greenlaw, Dickerson sealed off the Niners’ Kevin Givens, and Mailata manhandled Niners’ end Samson Ebukam. Sanders went untouched into the end zone for a 14-7 lead—to get a quiet crowd engaged in the game again.

Kenneth Gainwell’s 17-yard run just before the two-minute warning of the first half, which brought the ball to the San Francisco 24. On the play, Kelce and Dickerson pulled, Mailata occupied the Niners’ Jordan Willis coming up field, creating a pathway for Gainwell. Another Gainwell 17-yard gain with 5:00 left in the third quarter came during a crucial time, on a third-and-five at the Eagles’ 29. Hurts hit Gainwell, who generated the yards-after-catch by running through several Niners’ defenders. Gainwell had a nice overall game, rushing for 48 yards on 14 carries and two catches for 26 yards.

On the Niners’ first possession, Reddick’s 10-yard sack on Brock Purdy on a second-and-six at the 50, recovered by Linval Joseph at the Eagles’ 44. On the play, Reddick caught a piece of Purdy’s arm during his throwing motion and Purdy sat the remainder of the first half for what San Francisco’s medical team reported at nerve damage. Reddick’s second sack for minus-9 against Niners’ back-up quarterback Josh Johnson came on the Niners’ second drive.

Sanders’ 6-yard touchdown run had great blocking from Kelce, right guard Isaac Seumalo on one side, and Dickerson and Mailata plowing back Niners’ tackle Javon Kinlaw, and Seumalo teaming with Johnson in shoving back Kerry Hyder.

The Eagles’ opening drive. Hurts went 5 for 7 for 54 yards and converted a third down and a fourth down. The Eagles went 66 yards over 11 plays, absorbing 5 minutes and 12 seconds off the clock. It was the 10th time the Eagles scored on their opening drive of the game and featured seven passes, three runs and one San Francisco sack.

The incredible one-handed catch by DeVonta Smith (a gift, considering the replay showed Smith actually dropping the ball) on fourth-and-three at the San Francisco 35 on the Eagles’ first drive. The 29-yard reception set up Sanders’ 6-yard touchdown run and an Eagles’ 7-0 lead. Hurts made the play possible, rolling left and throwing across his body right. He motioned to Smith as he was running, and threw it on the go, when Smith got behind Niners’ nickelback Jimmie Ward.

On the Eagles’ fifth overall play, they were faced with their first third-down. Hurts picked up a blitz by Greenlaw coming straight up the middle, and found A.J. Brown for 10 yards on a third-and-eight at the San Francisco 42.

The Bad

With 10:39 left to play, Dickerson coming up holding his right arm at the elbow and leaving the game.

Hurts’ 12-yard run with 3:47 left in the third quarter on a first-and-10 at the San Francisco 35. The game was over. Purdy couldn’t throw. The 49ers had no quarterback and their only other option was to run McCaffrey out of the wildcat, so why risk Hurts? At the end of the play, you’ll notice, Greenlaw came in somewhat late and threw a right shoulder into Hurts’ back. Hurts winced for a moment before he got up. With the Super Bowl at stake, again, why risk Hurts to injury there? Hurts even admitted before the game that he was not 100-percent healthy.

A.J. Brown’s drop on a slant on the Eagles’ second play of the second half at the Eagles’ 20.

How twisted this is, the Eagles’ first half. They went into intermission leading 21-7 against a depleted team with a quarterback that did not know what he was doing. The Eagles didn’t take the lead until the last 1:36 of the half, on Sanders’ second touchdown and the Scott score, courtesy of the Niners’ second turnover. Until then, it was an even game, which the Eagles should had command of after Purdy went out after the first series. Hurts later scored a 1-yard touchdown on that same drive for a 28-7 Eagles’ lead.

Seumalo getting nailed for a false start with 4:36 left in the first half, forcing a first-and-15 at the Eagles’ 42.

Linebacker Kyzir White getting beat by McCaffrey on a 9-yard reception to the Eagles’ 25 on San Francisco’s first scoring drive. The Eagles were woefully running behind McCaffrey every time he was in the open field during that possession.

Linebacker T.J. Edwards getting picked off by Niners’ guard Daniel Brunskill on McCaffrey’s 9-yard gain to the Eagles’ 46 with 11:15 left in the first half.

The Eagles’ second drive, off the Reddick sack and Joseph fumble recovery, and doing nothing with it. The Niners’ shut the Eagles down at midfield.

The miscommunication on the offensive line to allow Niners’ defensive tackle Kevin Givens to slice through and pull down Sanders for no gain on first-and-10 at the Niners’ 42 on the Eagles’ first possession.

The Ugly

McCaffrey’s 23-yard touchdown run that tied the game at 7-7 with 8:29 left in the first half—led by fourth-string Niners’ quarterback Josh Johnson. It was a run of will. Eagles’ safety Marcus Epps crashed the gap and literally rolled over and missed, cornerback Darius “Big Play” Slay whiffed at air, safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson looked like he was knocked off of McCaffrey by his own teammate, tackle Javon Hargrave, and McCaffrey ran free.

Tight end Jake Stoll getting beat backside by Greenlaw when Sanders was taken down for a one-yard loss at the Eagles’ five on their fourth possession. Then, one play later, Stoll completely missed Nick Bosa, who took down Hurts for a 3-yard sack. It was not a good series for the Eagles’ back-up tight end, who had no problem talking and pointing fingers at the San Francisco special after the opening kickoff.

Cornerback Josh Jobe with the foolish personal foul call on the Niners’ punt with 1:59 left in the first quarter, pushing the Eagles back to their 15. What compounded it was Jobe shoved the Niners’ Tarvarius Moore in the face right in front of the referee.

Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter based in the Philadelphia area who has written feature stories for SI.com, ESPN.com, NFL.com, MLB.com, Deadspin and The Philadelphia Daily News. In 2006, he was nominated for an Emmy Award for a special project piece for ESPN.com called “Love at First Beep.” He is most noted for his award-winning ESPN.com feature on high school wrestler A.J. Detwiler in February 2006, which appeared on SportsCenter. In 2015, he was elected president of the Boxing Writers Association of America.

The world-famous NYC icon is lit up green on Sunday night after the Birds took down the 49ers.

Whenever a team starts winning consistently, they are bound to pick up a number of bandwagon fans along the way. The Philadelphia Eagles are heading back to the Super Bowl after stuffing the San Francisco 49ers into a dumpster on Sunday afternoon and now millions of fans, in the Delaware Valley and beyond, are celebrating.

New York City, the world famous cultural hub and global financial epicenter which is just a few short hours north of Philadelphia and has zero professional football teams that play within the city limits, is joining in on the festivities Sunday night by lighting up the Empire State Building in green!

With no local team to support, it only makes sense that New Yorkers would pick the next closest team to them, in this case the Philadelphia Eagles, to cheer on as they try and win their second Super Bowl in franchise history.

While we know that Broad Street is full of green-clad revelers celebrating the Eagles big win, we also now know that fans up and down Broadway are firing up their speakers to play the Eagles Fight Song and cheer on their new favorite team.

Big smiles, a few profanities, and pure happiness from the NFC Champions.

The Philadelphia Eagles are NFC Champions and have punched their ticket to the Super Bowl!

This Eagles team is special, always has been and continues to be. Head coach Nick Sirianni put an emphasis on connection all season and said their love for one another was the primary motivator down the stretch. It worked. The guys are having fun, playing together, and lifting each other up when needed.

Look at these two! Jalen Hurts and A.J. Brown have dreamed of playing together since college, and in one season on the same team, have put together performances that resulted in one of the most dynamic offenses in franchise and league history.

Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images

With smiles all around, these guys played hard on Sunday and celebrated hard afterward. They deserve it, and more!

And, I don’t know about that Jordan Davis, but you can have this one.

Some former Eagles were celebrating the big win, too.

Tell ‘em, Torrey!

Speaking of the Cowboys, even Dez Bryant was pumped for Darius Slay and his journey to this point.

That would certainly be welcome news for someone considered a top candidate for the Texans head coaching job.

Various head coaching positions have started filling, with some candidates having first and second interviews. Eagles’ defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon was a top candidate for the Houston Texans job, and was being discussed for the Arizona Cardinals position, as well.

With the Eagles now on their way to the Super Bowl, Gannon spoke to a reporter post-game and made a comment that may have been hyperbole, or might actually be what his future holds. When it was mentioned that the NFC Championship Game might be his last one in Philly, Gannon scoffed it off, and said, “Philly is keeping me.”

That’s obviously great news if it holds to be true. Gannon certainly has turned the Eagles defense around from their struggles in 2021, with the group absolutely dominating games from the defensive front to the backfield. His non-scheme, scheme, has found a groove, and they’ve found a way to utilize the versatile talent they have throughout the roster.

Gannon did get some help from the Eagles’ front office with some key additions this offseason — here’s looking at you Haason Reddick —, and with their ability to rotate guys up front without any sort of step-down in quality, those guys stay fresh, and stay after the opposing QB for 60 long minutes.

We’ll see if Gannon really does end up staying in Philly (maybe he got caught up in emotion?), but head coach Nick Sirianni will be more than happy to welcome his friend and colleague back — especially after defending him profusely the past couple weeks on the radio and in press conferences.

Hurts plowed through the line of scrimmage to score his 15th rushing touchdown of the season to give the Birds a 28-7 lead in the NFC Championship game.

The Philadelphia Eagles took a 28-7 lead over the San Francisco 49ers at the end of the third quarter thanks to a Jalen Hurts 1-yard QB sneak. Not only did that touchdown probably put the NFC Championship Game out of reach for the shorthanded Niners, it set an NFL single-season record for rushing scores by a quarterback!

It kinda makes sense for him to hold this record because he can squat 600 pounds and I don’t think any other quarterback can do that.

Hurts now has 15 rushing touchdowns on the season, which breaks the record of 14 that Cam Newton had set in his rookie season back in 2011. Hurts has 11 rushes for 39 yards against the Niners on Sunday, while Boston Scott has added one rushing score and Miles Sanders has two of his own.

San Francisco came into the NFC title game with the league’s No. 1 defense but the Birds have methodically crammed it down their throat all afternoon to take time off the clock and tire out Nick Bosa and Fred Warner and crew.

The extremely talented and handsome Eagles quarterback is...not the best singer in the world.

The Philadelphia Eagles are headed back to the Super Bowl after pummeling the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday afternoon, 31-7. After the game was over the Birds were celebrating on stage after receiving the NFC Championship trophy and FOX Sports’ Terry Bradshaw invited Jalen Hurts to lead the joyous crowd in the singing of the Eagles Fight Song.

Hurts, who is an extremely talented athlete and an impossibly handsome person, is...not very good at singing and also sounded like he even got some of the words wrong. We will, I’m sure, forgive his tone-deafness and blame it on all of the adrenaline that was probably still coursing through his veins that took away his regular angelic singing voice.

The Birds will now celebrate and await the winner of the AFC Championship Game between the Kansas City Chiefs (Andy Reid! Jason Kelce’s little brother!) and the Cincinnati Bengals. WOOOOOOOOOO SUPER BOWL LET’S GOOOOOOOOOO!

Let’s get into it!

Talk about a crazy wild game!

The Eagles started off strong scoring on the opening drive, but a ton of missed opportunities for the Eagles allowed the 49ers to stay in the game early. Running back Christian McCaffrey put the 49ers on his back running the ball in for a score to tie the game 7-7.

The game didn’t stay tied long, though. Both Miles Sanders and Boston Scott scored before halftime, extending the lead 21-7.

Jalen Hurts didn’t look like himself for a majority of the game, holding on to the ball for way too long and overthrowing several passes. He finished 15-pf-25 for for 121 yards, with a rushing TD — the Eagles fourth of the day.

The Eagles’ 39 rushing touchdowns this season, breaking the record set by the 1924 Frankford Yellow Jackets. The Eagles now have the most by any franchise in a season in the history of the NFL. This is also the first time Eagles have ever had four rushing TDs in a playoff game.

One Eagles player that deserves a ton of praise for his performance is Haason Reddick. As I predicted, Haason Reddick wrecked this game. Reddick had three tackles, two sacks, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery in the first half. An absolute monster.

Kenny Gainwell continues to come in clutch in the post-season, he had 13 carries for 42 yards.

There’s so much to discuss! Join Shane Haff, Jessica Taylor and Jonny Page NOW on the BGN Instant Reaction Show as they react to the Eagles performance. We’re taking your questions, comments in addition to sharing your three word reactions.

No worries if you miss the live show, it will be available on Apple podcast, Spotify and anywhere else that you get your podcasts shortly after the broadcast. You can also go back on the YouTube page and watch it there.

Tune in now!

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Which of these teams will be headed to the Super Bowl?

The Cincinnati Bengals are on the road against the Kansas City Chiefs to compete on Sunday evening for the AFC Championship.

These two teams are no strangers, with the Bengals beating the Chiefs in last year’s conference championship, 17-14 in overtime. That was the one and only time these teams have faced off in the postseason — notably because Cincinnati has historically struggled to make it to the playoffs altogether. But, the Bengals have had the Chiefs number the last couple seasons, not only beating them in the postseason, but winning their two most recent regular season meetings, as well.

There has been a lot of back and forth between these newly-deemed rivals this past week, but the Chiefs are certainly looking to get their revenge on a team that has decades of underdog motivation stored up.

Here’s everything you need to know about Saturday’s games.

Cincinnati Bengals vs. Kansas City Chiefs

Game time: 6:30 PM EST
Channel: CBS
Online Streaming: FuboTV | Paramount+
Location: GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium | Kansas City, MO
Announcers: Jim Nantz, Tony Romo, Tracy Wolfson (field reporter)
Radio: SIRIUS: 82 (CIN), 81 (KC), 88 (National) | XM: 225 (CIN), 227 (KC)

Odds courtesy of DraftKings SportsBook

Cincinnati Bengals: +1.5 (+105)
Kansas City Chiefs: -1.5 (-125)
Over/under: 48 points

SB Nation Blogs

Bengals: www.CincyJungle.com

Chiefs: www.ArrowheadPride.com

Picks

Reacts Results

Open thread: Discuss Sunday’s game in the comments below.

Big fight to end the Eagles-49ers Sunday matchup.

With a just a few minutes left to play, both benches cleared for a fight after 49ers’ Trent Williams threw Eagles safety K’Von Wallace to the ground following a scrum.

Things had already been testy, but with the Eagles up 31-7 with under five minutes to play, Williams took things a little further and we got a full-fledged fight. It wasn’t obviously clear what Wallace’s role in the situation was, but it was enough to get the flag and ejection.

Wallace will likely face a fine from the penalty, as will Williams, but the Eagle shouldn’t be subjected to any kind of suspension for the Super Bowl.

That kind of penalty would be a huge deal if it weren’t for the circumstances, but with the Eagles already securing the NFC Championship and headed to the Super Bowl, it’s all smiles as they ran out the clock.

The Philadelphia Eagles are going back to the Super Bowl and heading to Phoenix — get your NFC Championship gear now!

WE’RE GOING TO THE SUPER BOWL!

The Philadelphia Eagles beat the San Francisco 49ers 31-7 on Sunday in a landslide home game, to earn the title of NFC Champions — and a spot in Super Bowl LVII.

They now have two weeks to prepare before returning to the biggest stage in sports, to take on the winner of the AFC Championship game. As we all know, the Eagles were last in the Super Bowl in 2017-18 season, when they beat the New England Patriots 43-31 in Minnesota. A lot has changed since then, but the Eagles seem destined to do it all over again ... thankfully in a much warmer host city this time.

Before you start packing your bags for Phoenix, Arizona, or planning your Super Bowl party plans, be sure to stock up on some official NFC Championship merchandise from Fanatics to flaunt your fandom where ever you go.

Now that their ticket is punched, start shopping for Super Bowl tickets at TickPick.

The Birds are going to the Super Bowl!

The Philadelphia Eagles are through to the SUPER BOWL after beating the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game on Sunday! Final score: 31 to 7.

This was a weird one! To start, at least.

Early on, the Birds had an opportunity to break this game open. Their opening drive featured a crazy one-handed DeVonta Smith fourth down catch (that may not have actually been a catch) that set up a Miles Sanders rushing touchdown. Then Haason Reddick strip-sacked Brock Purdy, who got injured on the play, to give the Eagles a chance to go up two touchdowns.

But Philly failed to capitalize with their offense struggling to get going against the 49ers’ stout defense. And despite being down to fourth-string quarterback Josh Johnson, San Francisco was able to tie the game at seven all due to a great touchdown run by Christian McCaffrey that also involved a lot of bad Eagles tackling.

The Eagles answered right back with a long touchdown drive — which was assisted by multiple 49ers penalties — with a lot of running to retake the lead. And then the Eagles’ third touchdown was set up by a short field after Johnson fumbled and the ball was recovered by Reddick (who else?).

The game was capped off with the Eagles going on yet another long drive with Jalen Hurts sneaking it in to go up three scores late in the third quarter.

Speaking of the Eagles’ quarterback, he was certainly not his sharpest in this game. Hurts failed to capitalize on the 49ers’ weakness against deep passes with too many inaccurate throws. But Hurts deserves credit for using his legs in some key spots. And he didn’t put the ball in harm’s way, which has been a strength for him all season long.

Hurts was ultimately aided by the defensive dominance (three takeaways) and a strong performance from the Eagles’ running game (257 yards and 4 touchdowns) against 49ers defense that entered this game allowing the fewest rushing yards per attempt in the entire NFL. The Birds will need Hurts to be better the next time that he plays. The good news is that he gets two weeks to rest his shoulder before that one!

The Eagles are going to the big game for the first time since winning Super Bowl LII in February 2018. It’s there they’ll face the winner of Sunday night’s AFC Championship Game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Cincinnati Bengals.

Just one more win away from the Eagles claiming their second Vince Lombardi Trophy.

Read on for a recap and stay tuned for BGN’s postgame coverage, including the BGN Radio postgame show!

FIRST QUARTER

• The 49ers won the coin toss and elected to defer to put Jalen Hurts on the field first. Boston Scott took the opening return to their own 34-yard line. Nice start. A bit of a scrum broke out after the play but no flags were thrown. Chippy. 49ers star linebacker Fred Warner went down on the Eagles’ second play, which was a Miles Sanders run that resulted in a first down. Nick Bosa drove Lane Johnson back to force Hurts into a run to the sideline for no gain to set up 3rd-and-8. On third down, Hurts somehow completed a pass to A.J .Brown over the middle despite having a free rusher in his face. Wow. Crazy that Hurts was able to get off a catchable pass and a nice grab by Brown to keep it off the ground. Facing another third down, Hurts completed a pass to Goedert to bring up 4th-and-3. On fourth down from the opposing 35-yard line, Hurts didn’t have a lot to work with so he rolled left ... and found DeVonta Smith for a ONE-HANDED CATCH along the sideline. Wow. Credit to DeVonta for immediately getting up and telling the offense to get a play off to prevent the 49ers from challenging in case it wasn’t actually complete. After a wasted play just to prevent a challenge, Sanders got into the end zone with a big hole up the middle. Easy. Incredible start. Upon further review, DeVonta did NOT catch it ... but ... hey. It counts! EAGLES 7, 49ERS 0.

• The 49ers used six plays to drive to the 50-yard line ... where Haason Reddick got to Brock Purdy to affect the QB’s throw and almost create a pick for T.J. Edwards, who dropped it. After a challenge, however, it turned out that Reddick strip-sacked Purdy and it was a fumble! Has Reddick has been an absolute beast or what?
• The Eagles took over at their own 44-yard line. They went three-and-out after a Kenneth Gainwell went for no gain on 3rd-and-4. Brett Kern almost pinned the 49ers deep in their own territory with a coffin corner punt but it went out of bounds for the touchback.

• Josh Johnson, the 49ers’ fourth-string QB, entered the game with Purdy suffering a right elbow injury on Reddick’s forced fumble. Reddick was left unblocked to put a huge hit on Johnson to bring up 3rd-and-15. Might wanna block that guy! Then a delay of game penalty set the 49ers back to 3rd-and-20. The 49ers picked up 16 yards on a coward’s draw and then punted.

• The Eagles got set back to their own 15-yard line after an unnecessary roughness penalty on Josh Jobe on punt return coverage with DeVonta Smith, not Britain Covey, lined up as the punt returner. The Eagles picked up one first down before then getting to 3rd-and-10 after the 49ers sniffed out a designed QB run. After the Eagles called a timeout, Hurts’ third down pass to an open Brown deep down the field was ... well overthrown. Second week in a row that Hurts left a likely TD throw to Brown on the field. Can’t waste those opportunities.
• The Eagles were trying to argue that Kern’s punt, which only went 34 yards (yuck), hit the FOX broadcast camera wire. The refs said they couldn’t confirm that that was the case, so, no retry. Also, an illegal use of hands penalty on Zech McPhearson essentially made it a 24-yard punt. Some real bad special teams penalties.

SECOND QUARTER

• The 49ers took over at midfield. The 49ers got knocked back with a second delay of game penalty. Then knocked back again with Javon Hargrave sacking Johnson. Then Hargrave nearly picked Johnson but had to settle for the credited deflection instead. On 3rd-and-20, Johnson was nearly sacked again with the Eagles’ pass rush absolutely destroying the 49ers’ offensive line. Instead, it was an incompletion to force another punt.
• The Eagles started at their own 6-yard line. Hurts nearly got tackled for loss for a safety on a play where Bosa was left unblocked and a pulling Jack Stoll ... jumped out of the way instead of blocking him? Ugly. On third down, Hurts overthrew Brown to bring up a punt.

• The 49ers took over with good field position at the Eagles’ 46-yard line. Purdy was getting some throws in along the sideline but Johnson remained in at quarterback. The 49ers got to 2nd-and-10 at the 23-yard line ... and Christian McCaffrey broke eleventy billion tackles (read: actually from Marcus Epps, Darius Slay, C.J. Gardner-Johnson, Javon Hargrave) for a touchdown run. Wow. Credit to CMC for a great effort ... but also a terrible time for the Eagles’ early season poor tackling to come back. Tie game after squandered opportunities for the Birds to break it open early on. EAGLES 7, 49ERS 7.
• The Eagles got to 4th-and-1 from their own 35-yard line and Sirianni decided to go with the sneak. Correctly ballsy ... and it worked. Right as I was about to tweet that the Eagles hadn’t targeted DeVonta Smith since his 4th down catch on the opening drive, Hurts took a deep shot to him ... that the receiver couldn’t come down with against tight coverage. Welp. On third down, Hurts nearly threw a pick over the middle ... but it would have been wiped out anyway with a defensive pass interference penalty. It looked like the Eagles were going to get hit with a holding penalty ... but it ended up being illegal hands to the face on Landon Dickerson to turn what would’ve been 3rd-and-12 into a first down. Then Isaac Seumalo had a false start to put the offense behind schedule. A nice, short Gainwell catch-and-run set up 3rd-and-2. On third down, Gainwell carried for a first down. Then Gainwell again for another first down, this time on a 17-yard gain. A totally different player than he what we saw in the regular season. Corey Clement redux?! A defensive holding penalty (lot of calls in the Eagles’ favor here, huh) drawn by Dallas Goedert getting held by Jimmie Ward put the Eagles at 1st-and-10 from the opposition’s 18-yard line. A Sanders run where he kinda outran his blocking went for five yards. Back to Sanders for a 13-yard run into the end zone! 14-play, 75-yard drive that took 6:53 off the clock. Who said the 49ers can’t be run on? EAGLES 14, 49ERS 7.

• The 49ers took over at their own 25-yard line with 1:36 left in the second quarter. A mishandled snap by Johnson resulted in a Reddick recovery! Lol, wow.

• The Eagles took over at the opposition’s 30-yard line. They got to 1st-and-goal from the 10-yard line with a facemask penalty drawn by Boston Scott. Then Scott took his next carry for a 10-yard touchdown run! And just like that it was a two-score game. The Eagles initially lined up to go for two points ... but then called a timeout and just kicked the extra point. Odd. But the right call. No need to invite more variance with the 49ers on their fourth-string QB. EAGLES 21, 49ERS 7.

• The 49ers took over with 10 seconds left in the second quarter. Nothing cooking.

THIRD QUARTER

• Josh Johnson remained in the game to start the second half. The 49ers got to 3rd-and-13 after McCaffrey was tackled for a loss. On third down, Johnson was able to find a wide open George Kittle along the left sideline. Why such a soft spot in coverage there? The 49ers got hit with their THIRD delay of game penalty to put the 49ers behind schedule. Johnson got hurt after getting hit by Ndamukong Suh to put an injured Purdy back into the game to face 3rd-and-14. The 49ers lined McCaffrey up at QB and had him run to bring up a punt.
• The Eagles took over at their own 17-yard line. Brown dropped a slant to bring up 3rd-and-7. On third down, Hurts’ deep shot to Brown was out of bounds and incomplete. Hurts’ deep ball accuracy is ... hurting.
• Purdy re-entered the game. The 49ers got to 3rd-and-13 and Kyzir White made a nice tackle on CMC to force another punt.
• The Eagles slowly but surely moved to midfield with a Gainwell catch-and-run on a 3rd-and-5 mixed in there. A deflected target to Zach Pascal brought up 3rd-and-6. On third down, Chavarius Ward had a nice pass breakup on a deep shot intended for Quez Watkins. The Eagles brought Kern in to punt and it was almost blocked ... but instead the 49ers got called for roughing the kicker for 15 yards (as opposed to running into the kicker for 5 yards). Huge penalty that put the Birds are the opponent’s 35-yard line. Hurts took off running into an area vacated by a blitzing Talanoa Hufanga for 12 yards. He can be pretty dangerous when he’s decisive. Hurts took off running for another first and got hit way late out of bounds by Talanoa Hufanga to put the Birds at the 3-yard line. Scott run got to the 1-yard line. Then a Hurts sneak was stopped. Then another Hurts sneak got it into the end zone! Huge 15-play, 91-yard drive to make it a three-score game while taking 7:50 off the clock. EAGLES 28, 49ERS 7.

FOURTH QUARTER

• The 49ers turned the ball over on downs after driving 28 yards to their own 47-yard line. Just nothing cooking with an inability to throw the ball.
• Dre Greenlaw got flagged for trying to punch the ball out well after the play was whistled dead to turn a third down stop into another Eagles first down. An unraveled 49ers team. The Eagles kept running Gainwell to bleed clock and settled for a Jake Elliott 31-yard field goal. EAGLES 31, 49ERS 7.
• A scuffle broke out that resulted in both Trent Williams (giant baby) and K’Von Wallace both being ejected. Reed Blankenship stripped Deebo Samuel and recovered for another takeaway!
• Gardner Minshew and the backups entered the game with just over four minutes to play. The Eagles go to 4th-and-2 at the two-minute warning ... and converted it for a first down. The 49ers did not utilize their remaining three timeouts. The Eagles went with victory formation to close it out! (Should’ve rubbed it in by throwing it for 38 to 7! Oh well.)

FINAL SCORE: EAGLES WIN, 31 to 7

LINEUP NOTES

• DeVonta Smith, not Britan Covey, was back as the Eagles’ punt returner on the 49ers’ first punt. Covey was back for the 49ers’ second punt and thereafter.

INJURY NEWS

• Fletcher Cox slowly walked to the locker room late in the first quarter. He returned early in the second quarter.
• Landon Dickerson got banged up earlyish in the fourth quarter. He slowly walked off the field and Andre Dillard replaced him at left guard.

After the second quarter, the Eagles are up by a score of 21-7.

This is your third quarter thread for the Philadelphia Eagles vs. San Francisco 49ers NFC Championship game. Join the discussion in the comments below.

Here is some basic information to help guide you through the game:

• How to watch the game - TV schedule and online streaming information;
• Follow us on Twitter: @BleedingGreen;
• Follow along with 49ers fans at Niners Nation;
• Live game stats;
• Eagles full regular season schedule;
• Current Eagles depth chart;
• Current Eagles roster

...

Note: This is an open thread. Discuss the game and stay tuned for new threads after each quarter.

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