If the San Francisco 49ers have taught you anything over the years, it’s never to say never. We wondered whether defensive coordinator Robert Saleh could muck the game up enough to keep the offense in it.
Jalen Hurts was only pressured on 16.2 percent of his dropbacks, yet he only completed 57.1 percent of his passes with a paltry 4.8 yards per attempt. Saquon Barkley had a 29-yard run, but only averaged 3.08 yards per carry on his other 25 attempts. Saleh and the defense did their job.
Holding any
offense under 20 points when you’re at full strength is a challenge. To do it with the motley crew bunch the 49ers put on the field makes 19 seem like a miracle.
You could see the offense begin to figure things out as the game went along, despite George Kittle’s absence. As has been the case for the vast majority of the season, they came through when it mattered. We are probably talking about a loss today if Brock Purdy didn’t lead a game-winning touchdown drive at the end. That was Purdy’s fourth game-winning drive in the playoffs, good for the sixth-best of all time.
Let’s get into the Winners and Losers from Wild Card weekend.
Winners
Eric Kendricks
Kendricks had 10 tackles, and six of those were stops. He was targeted twice and allowed seven yards. Fittingly enough, Kendricks sealed the game by nearly intercepting a pass.
There were multiple plays where Kendricks lined up on the line of scrimmage and stood his ground against an offensive lineman. He also drew a critical holding call on the one designed run to Hurts. The Eagles tried to run a “slide” route with Dallas Goedert, where he runs behind the line of scrimmage and comes across the formation. Kendricks sniffed it out for a tackle for loss.
Kendricks did not miss a tackle for the second straight game. That is the first time this season that one of the 49ers linebackers has not missed a tackle in successive games—that includes Fred Warner. Kendricks’ six stops were one shy of Warner’s season high of seven.
Kendricks was incredible.
Demarcus Robinson
There wasn’t a day that went by in training camp that you didn’t read about Robinson. We saw flashes here and there from Robinson this season, especially after the bye, but those were one-play sample sizes. Robinson didn’t surpass 44 receiving yards in a game this season. He had that many on his first reception.
For Robinson to beat Quinyon Mitchell, one of the three best cornerbacks in the game, was something nobody outside of the 49ers building expected. Robinson got Mitchell once more for a first down. He had Adoree Jackson in a blender, catching all four of his targets for 48 yards and three first downs.
Robinson made an impressive adjustment on a 16-yard catch in the fourth quarter on a pass that initially looked errant. Robinson finished with 111 receiving yards and a touchdown. He looked like a WR1.
Garret Wallow
Who? The team leader in tackles with 11. Wallow had four stops, two hustle stops, and a couple of plays that won’t show up in the box score. One of those was on a screen pass in the third quarter, where he beat the offensive lineman to a spot, forcing an incompletion.
Wallow limited the damage his way in coverage to 47 yards on eight targets. He broke up one target to Goedert in the fourth quarter. His style of play was night and day from the games Curtis Robinson played. That aggression was the difference in Wallow making plays.
Kyle Juszczyk
The 49ers’ third-most targeted player was a fullback. He benefitted from Christian McCaffrey’s gravity on the 27-yarder, rolled his way to a first down on another, but the catch near the goal line when Juszczyk had to reach behind him saved three points. It was not an easy catch whatsoever, but Juszczyk’s adjustment kept the Niners out of 2nd & goal from the 10. You’re unlikely to score a touchdown against the Eagles’ defense in that situation.
The 49ers drew up a play for Juszczyk on first down in the fourth quarter after they took over when trailing 19-17. It was only a five-yard gain, but that gain kept them ahead of the chains. It tells you how much trust the team has in Juszczyk.
Marques Sigle
Situationally, Sigle could’ve struggled, and it would have been understandable. The last time we saw the 49ers’ rookie safety in extended action was his last start in Week 7, nearly three months ago.
Sigle had eight tackles, three stops, and a pair of tackles where he ran down the Eagles from across the field. You can’t help but notice his speed. Best of all, Sigle didn’t miss a single tackle, despite facing multiple open-field instances.
That speed showed up in coverage:
Sigle looked like a player who belonged on the field. He wasn’t the only rookie.
Upton Stout
On 4th & 2, Stout gave the offense a rare opportunity at midfield.
DeVonta Smith is legit. He’s also faster than 98 percent of the people on a football field. So for Stout to undercut that route screams volumes.
Stout is another player who, stylistically, is a defensive coordinator’s dream. He does not care who is between him and the ball-carrier. He’s going to go through you, or at least try. Stout had five tackles and a pair of stops. He was targeted three times. He allowed 0 yards in coverage. There were routes in the slot when the 49ers were in man coverage, and Stout was running stride for stride down the field with Smith.
Stout is the best defensive back and arguably the best player on the 49ers’ defense. It’s been quite the turnaround from earlier in the season. His hustle stands out once a quarter.
The 49ers have been their best all season with Stout on the field. This game was no different: the Eagles had a -.53 EPA when they faced the 49ers’ nickel personnel.
IDKs
Brock Purdy
This is nothing new, but let the record show that I believe interceptions are overrated. If you cannot overcome an interception as a team, you probably didn’t deserve to win. The 49ers ran 59 plays. Two plays should not decide the outcome.
After re-watching the game, Purdy’s first interception was a miss. He didn’t see the initial read, which was Jauan Jennings, and came off that throw, and was late to Skyy Moore, who didn’t do Purdy any favors after failing to come back to the ball.
The second interception was an underthrow on a pass Purdy tried to zip in there. The throw might have hung up longer in the air because of the wind, allowing Quinyon Mitchell to undercut the route.
The fumble before the half ended up costing Eddy Pineiro a chance at a field goal.
There were two plays when Purdy missed an open receiver, leading to an incompletion. Purdy finished the game 5-for-14 under pressure with an interception and only 2.9 yards per attempt. Brock was clearly impacted in that regard statistically.
Still, he was throwing jump passes for first downs, consistently climbing in the pocket and either scrambling or avoiding negative plays. Ripping it down the field and not tucking his tail after turning it over twice were big reasons the 49ers continued to move the ball.
The throw near the goal line to Juszczyk was purposely behind him. On 3rd & 10, after climbing the pocket, Purdy held onto the ball as long as he could before Jake Tonges made it to the second window. The Eagles had a free rusher on a blitz, and instead of a sack, it was an incomplete pass. That happened on the game-winning touchdown drive.
Deommodore Lenoir
Lenoir allowing a 29-yard gain early on felt like a “Here we go again” moment. Lenoir got his wish and played against the No. 1 wide receiver all game.
Lenoir was targeted nine times, giving up six receptions for 55 yards and a pair of first downs. It would have been worse had A.J. Brown not dropped a first down. There were a few other times when Brown wasn’t targeted, but he had a couple of steps on Lenoir. In coverage, it was not a good game for Lenoir. It was effectively another first down, as Smith caught a 13-yard pass on 3rd & 14 that led to a tush push.
He ended up with three stops, avoided the big play—albeit with help from the Eagles. In context, it was the first time all season Lenoir played cornerback on both sides of the formation while traveling. The Eagles sought Lenoir out. Giving up yards against a team that goes out of its way to throw it outside of the numbers was always going to happen.
Lenoir kept the ball in front of him and the damage to a minimum. He’ll likely get another chance next week against an offense that only throws it to one receiver. Lenior is a big talker. His play hasn’t backed it up this season. He will have another opportunity to back up his trash talk with his play next Saturday.
Winners
There is no sense in talking about the lack of pass rush. We know what they are at this point in the season. There is also no logical reason to point out “losers” after a road playoff win where you lost an All-Pro tight end, when you were already without your WR1.
It’s also why you won’t see Christian McCaffrey. He should be listed every week. He had another incredible game, but the bar has been set for a player of his caliber, where that’s the expectation.
Kyle Shanahan
The third down call before halftime, where it was a quarterback draw with the Eagles protecting the sideline, was brilliant. It won’t be discussed because of the fumble, but I’ve never seen that before.
In Week 18, I thought Shanahan bailed out Nick Emmanwori by not making him turn and run. You bail out these “freak athletes” by only having them defend underneath routes. Sure enough, Shanahan learned his lesson. He attacked Mitchell and Cooper DeJean with downfield routes. That’s how you beat these kinds of defenses.
There were different blocking designs to protect Purdy, allowing him to throw the ball down the field. Speaking of designs, McCaffrey’s final touchdown was unique, coming out of the backfield from the left side, despite starting on the right.
Beginning the fourth quarter with a trick play nobody saw coming was peak Shanahan. Earlier in the drive, the design and timing of a screen pass to McCaffrey for a first down were impeccable.
The 49ers had the highest success rate of any offense against a Vic Fangio defense in the previous two seasons. Adding in the context of who was missing, Shanahan coached circles around one of the best defenses and coordinators in the NFL. He was special in the Wild Card round.
Robert Saleh
Shanahan called Saleh’s performance “unbelievable.”
To hold the Eagles to 19 points, Hurts to 168 yards, 4.8 yards per attempt, a negative EPA per dropback, all while pressuring him 16.2 percent of the time, is, indeed, unbelievable. Barkley was limited to a 42.3 success rate and only one rush of 10+ yards.
Hurts was 3-for-6 for 17 yards with a -3.23 EPA versus Cover 1. He was 6-for-11 for 44 yards and a -3.07 EPA against Cover 4. Hurts completed 2 of 5 passes for 20 yards and a -0.32 EPA against Cover 6. The team that’s been leaning on Cover 3 during the past month, after all of the injuries, threw different looks at the Eagles, and most of them worked.
It didn’t happen often, but on the eight plays when Hurts was pressured, he completed two passes for 12 yards and was sacked. Surprisingly, Saleh blitzed Hurts 32.4 percent of the time. That tells me he was comfortable going down swinging while being aggressive. It’s the only way to go out.
The Eagles had a -1.77 EPA against the blitz, struggled mightily when the 49ers were in Nickel, hello Upton Stout, and went 5-for-16 on third downs.
