The San Francisco 49ers (9-3) marked Sunday’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles (10-2) on their calendar, and they played like it.
After trailing the Eagles 6-0 at the end of the first quarter, San Francisco scored touchdowns on six straight possessions and defeated Philadelphia 42-19 at Lincoln Financial Field.
San Francisco, who lost their starting quarterback Brock Purdy to injury on the first possession of last season’s NFC Championship game, where they were defeated by the Eagles 31-7, got their revenge.
Philly’s defense could not stop San Francisco’s playmaker. Purdy threw for 314 yards and four touchdowns, Deebo Samuel caught four passes for 116 yards and two touchdowns, and Christian McCaffrey ran for 93 yards and one touchdown.
This was a dominating performance by the 49ers.
“They got after us good today,” Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni said after the loss. “Again, a lot of credit to them. They’re a really good football team. We didn’t play our best game. They’re really good. You can’t play that way and coach that way against a really good team.”
Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, who had to be evaluated for a concussion in the third quarter but returned in the fourth, says the team must learn from this loss.
“Win. You know, find ways to win,” he said. “That’s always the mentality. That’s always the approach. I think this is a moment where you go back and you reflect on it. You learn from it like every win. You know you treat them all the same. When you win or when you lose. It’s about, ‘What can I learn from this?’ So you know the process remains the same in terms of how we respond and how we approach it. Just have to be self-critical, as we always are. Analyze everything as it’s supposed to be and respond.”
An interesting situation happened in the third quarter after 49ers LB Dre Greenlaw was flagged for a personal foul when he slammed Eagles WR DeVonta Smith to the ground. Following the play, Greenlaw would get into it with Eagles Chief Security Officer Dom DiSandro on Philly’s sideline. Greenlaw finger would touch DiSandro’s face. Ultimately, Greenlaw would be ejected, and DiSandro would be removed from the Eagles sideline.
49ers head coach Kyle Shannahan was not happy with what went down on that play, but he was pleased with his team’s response.
“That is why I tried my hardest not to lose my mind I hope I didn’t embarrass myself too bad,’ he said. “I didn’t get to see it all from where I’m at, but when I started hearing people explain it to me and stuff, I just can’t believe someone uninvolved in a football game can taunt our players like that and put their hands in our guy’s face. From what I was told, Dre did it back to him, and I was told that he mashed him in the face a little bit, so he got ejected. It was a very frustrating play. I have to watch it to have a true opinion on it. I love how we rallied after.”
Credit to the 49ers; they might be the best team in football, and they sent a message to the Eagles, but you don’t win the Super Bowl in December, so there’s still a lot of football to be played. Plus, the Eagles are still the number one seed in the NFC.
We’ll see how the Eagles respond next Sunday night in Dallas against the Cowboys.
On Thursday, the NFL announced that the Week 15 Philadelphia Eagles at Seattle Seahawks game will move to Monday Night Football on ESPN while the Kansas City Chiefs at New England Patriots matchup will be played at 1 p.m. ET on FOX.
Week 15 will also feature an NFL Network tripleheader on Saturday, Dec. 16.
The final Week 15 schedule (all times ET):
Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023
Los Angeles Chargers at Las Vegas Raiders
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8:15p
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Prime Video
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Saturday, Dec. 16, 2023
Minnesota Vikings at Cincinnati Bengals
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1:00p
|
NFLN
|
Pittsburgh Steelers at Indianapolis Colts
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4:30p
|
NFLN
|
Denver Broncos at Detroit Lions
|
8:15p
|
NFLN
|
Sunday, Dec. 17, 2023
Atlanta Falcons at Carolina Panthers
|
1:00p
|
FOX
|
Chicago Bears at Cleveland Browns
|
1:00p
|
FOX
|
Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Green Bay Packers
|
1:00p
|
CBS
|
New York Jets at Miami Dolphins
|
1:00p
|
CBS
|
Kansas City Chiefs at New England Patriots
|
1:00p
|
FOX
|
New York Giants at New Orleans Saints
|
1:00p
|
FOX
|
Houston Texans at Tennessee Titans
|
1:00p
|
CBS
|
San Francisco 49ers at Arizona Cardinals
|
4:05p
|
CBS
|
Washington Commanders at Los Angeles Rams
|
4:05p
|
CBS
|
Dallas Cowboys at Buffalo Bills
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4:25p
|
FOX
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Baltimore Ravens at Jacksonville Jaguars
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8:20p
|
NBC
|
Monday, Dec. 18, 2023
Philadelphia Eagles at Seattle Seahawks
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8:15p
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ESPN/ABC
|
|
On Monday night, Nick Sirianni got the biggest regular season win as an Eagles head coach when they defeated the Kansas City Chiefs on the road 21-17 in a rematch of last year’s Super Bowl, which the Eagles lost.
After the game, Sirianni was seen talking a little trash to the Chiefs fanbase, which we’ve seen him do last year following the team’s win over the Colts in Indy.
Chiefs LB Willie Gay called Sirianni’s reaction to the fans “corny.”
On Friday, Sirianni discussed his interaction with Chiefs fans.
‘Yeah, you know, emotions run high in games,” Sirianni said. “I give it to the Kansas City fans. They were rowdy. They had some good things to say coming in at halftime. They had some good things to say when they would score. I don’t hear fans all that often; I did in this game. I definitely heard them at halftime.
“I give them credit. They aren’t Philly fans. They’re not as good as Philly fans, but I definitely heard a couple things they were saying in the game.
“You always look at those things. To me, with everything that I am, I’m not going to hide who I am. I think that, shoot, I talked to my buddy after the [Indianapolis] game last year because I had something like that with the Indy game and he said that he was talking to another teacher because he’s a teacher and he said — how did he say it? It was interesting.
“The other teacher said to my best friend, he was like, ‘Hey, did you see how cool it was that Nick was celebrating with the Eagles fans after the game?’ He laughed. He goes [jokingly], ‘Nick wasn’t celebrating with the Eagles fans, he was talking [trash] to the Colts fans. He’s been doing that since I’ve known him. That’s who he is.’
“You know what? I think if you’re somebody you’re not, that gets seen through by everybody, and so, hey, like that was some — I was emotional after the game. That was a little playful back and forth with the Kansas City fans.
“But, again, I tip my hat to them. They’re not as good as Eagles fans, but they’re good fans, and we heard them. That’s the way it went after the game.”
Sirianni and the Eagles are having a lot of success right now, so his reactions are acceptable. However, if Philly starts to struggle sometime in the future, Sirianni’s reactions might be questioned. At this point, Eagles fans should enjoy the ride.
Super Bowl LVII was an opportunity for the 2022 Philadelphia Eagles to win the franchise’s second Super Bowl, and after 30 minutes, the Eagles led the Chiefs 24-14.
However, Kansas City stormed back in the second half and ultimately defeated the Eagles 38-35.
On Monday night, the Eagles can get revenge when they travel to Kansas City to battle the Chiefs.
Obviously, the Eagles want to win, but that won’t change what happened in February, which the players discussed this week, and what Eagles coach Nick Sirianni discussed on Saturday.
“I mean, the sentiment of they’re not giving us their ring back if we beat them this week,” Sirianni said. “That’s more of like– we’re not going up there to win the Super Bowl. We’re going to play a good football team in a hostile environment and looking to get better this week to put ourselves in position to go 1-0 this week.
“Again, the message, I wouldn’t say that’s been the message. We’ve all talked about that, you know, this game is a regular season game, but every regular season game we play means a lot to us. We got to go up there with our best foot forward to play against a really good team.
“Yeah, again, it’s just that whole mentality of like make sure you’re getting yourself up for every game and doing the right things every single game because they’re all important, and this one is the most important because it’s the next one.”
All these games are important for the 8-1 Eagles, who are looking to get the number one seed in the NFC and a first-round bye, and they have a brutal five-game stretch, which includes games against the Bills, Cowboys, and 49ers, so they have to keep winning. Again, a win over the Chiefs won’t change what happened in the Super Bowl, but it will keep them on track to capture the top spot in the NFC, which would help them get back to the big game.
After nine games, it’s safe to say that the Eagles don’t know how to win pretty, but fortunately for them, none of that matters.
Philly’s (8-1) defense bent a lot on Sunday against the Cowboys(5-3), but they didn’t break as they would defeat the Cowboys 28-23 at Lincoln Financial Field.
Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott completed 29-of-44 passes for 374 yards and three touchdowns; however, the Eagles’ defense stood up when it mattered most.
With the help of three penalties, Dallas drove the ball from its own 14-yard line to Philly’s six-yard line, but two penalties and a big sack by Josh Sweat pushed the Cowboys back to the 27-yard line. The Eagles sealed the victory when Sydney Brown forced a fumble against CeeDee Lamb at Philly’s three-yard line that Reed Blankenship recovered as time expired.
With the win, the Eagles improved to 8-1, which is the best record in the league. Philadelphia has either held or shared the top mark in the NFL every week since Week 1 of 2022.
Jalen Hurts, who completed 17-of-23 attempts for 207 yards (9.0 avg.), two touchdowns, and one touchdown on the ground, gave the Eagles’ defense credit for the win.
“A ton of credit for that defense, man, [for] how they played out there today,” Hurts said. “So, those are opportunities for us to grow, and we need to learn from that. But, I think for our defense and being in the situations that they’ve been in, and I rarely ever talk about that. Obviously, we all have our role, we all challenge ourselves to be better at our roles and our jobs. But, you look at the defense and the situations that they’ve been in throughout the season and how they showed up today in this moment, whether it was a [defensive pass interference], a holding, or whatever, they found a way to respond. So it’s a great job by them. And obviously, with them [the Cowboys] having an opportunity to score as many as they did and not giving them one – [Eagles DE Brandon Graham] got into the ball to put us in a game of inches, you know, and just a ton of credit for them, just continue to grow, that’s the mindset.”
The Eagles have yet to play a complete game, but they’re still 8-1; however, winning is all that matters.
“We still have yet to play a complete game,” Hurts said. “We’re still hungry and eager to continue to grow and build upon the things that we’ve been able to do. Just way to show up in the end. Obviously we have some things that we want back defensively, offensively, and on special teams. But it’s always about finding a way… But all that matters is winning. That’s something that I’ve been saying all year.”
Near the end of the first half, Hurts already injured left knee got twisted up, and he struggled to get to his feet. He returned and gutted it out the rest of the way. Hurts danced around questions surrounding his knee, and fortunately, the Eagles have a bye next week before they battle the Chiefs in a rematch of last year’s Super Bowl.
“I don’t think the bye week could come at a better time,” Hurts said.
Many expected a shootout on Sunday night when the high-powered Miami Dolphins(5-2), led by former Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, visited Lincoln Financial Field to face the Philadelphia Eagles(6-1), who are led by former Alabama quarterback Jalen Hurts.
Entering Week 7, the Dolphins led the league in points per game, total offense, passing offense, rushing offense, and red zone offense, while the Eagles’ offense was top-5 in total offense and points per game.
However, what we got was some solid plays from both defenses.
Miami forced two turnovers that led to 10 points, including a pick-six by Jerome Baker that tied things up at 17 in the third quarter. Conversely, Philadelphia limited Miami’s offense to season lows in points scored (17), total yards (244), passing yards (199), rushing yards (45), and time of possession (23:17).
In the end, the Eagles’ offense had the last laugh. After Baker’s pick-six, Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts led Philadelphia on an eight-play, 75-yard drive that ended with an A.J. Brown 14-yard touchdown reception. Following a Darius Slay interception, Hurts led Philly on a 13-play, 83-yard drive, which included two fourth-down conversions in their own territory, and that drive ended with a three-yard Kenneth Gainwell touchdown as the Eagles, who were dressed in their throwback Kelly Green uniforms, defeated the Dolphins 31-17.
After the win, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni discussed the play of the defense.
“We have a good defense,” he said. “Great job to the defensive staff first and foremost to put them in positions to make plays, but at the end of the day, it’s about the players making the plays. We made them one-dimensional. I can’t tell you how much respect I have for [Dolphins Head Coach] Mike [McDaniel] and his staff and those players… I never saw anybody as fast as [Dolphins WR] Tyreek Hill in person. I mean, damn, he’s fast as hell, but great job by our DBs.”
Hurts, who completed 23-of-31 attempts for 279 yards, three total touchdowns(one on the ground) but had two turnovers and has 10 total turnovers this season after seven games, bounced back after that pick-six in the fourth.
“I mean, nothing really needs to be said,” Hurts said. “It’s another very unfortunate play, but you know, we’re mentally in the game; it’s just pressing on and continuing to do the things we can control. You know, we did a great job there, great job. It was obviously a big moment in the game, and then [Eagles CB Darius] Slay making the play he made, the defense playing great all night. It was a great team win.”
Hurts did wear a brace on left knee in the second half, but he downplayed the injury after the game. Hopefully, it’s nothing serious.
This was probably the most complete game the Eagles have played this season. The defense stepped up and the offense put up points on the board. In the future, the Eagles must limit the turnovers.
Ultimately, this was a quality win for Philly against a good football team.
Notes:
Hurts is tied with Randall Cunningham (32, 1985-95) for the most rushing TDs by a QB in Eagles history. Overall, it is tied for the 5th-most in franchise history, behind Steve Van Buren (69, 1944-51), Wilbert Montgomery (45, 1977-84), LeSean McCoy (44, 2009-14) and Brian Westbrook (37, 2002-09).
A.J. Brown paced the Eagles with 137 yards and 1 TD on 10 receptions (13.7 avg.).
Brown became the second NFL player since the 1970 merger to record 125+ receiving yards in 5 consecutive games, joining Calvin Johnson in 2012.
Brown also joined Terrell Owens (9/26/04-10/31/04) and Harold Jackson (12/12/71-10/2/72) as the only Eagles to produce 5 straight games with 100+ receiving yards. The last NFL player to register 100+ receiving yards in 5 consecutive contests was Michael Thomas (10/10/19-11/24/19).
Dallas Goedert hauled in 5 passes for 77 yards (15.4 avg.) and 1 TD.
Josh Sweat led the Eagles’ defense with a career-high-tying 2.0 sacks. Overall, it was the fifth 2.0-sack game of Sweat’s career (last: 12/18/22 at Chicago). His multi-sack performance marked the fourth consecutive week in which an Eagles player turned in 2.0+ sacks.
With 1:46 left in Sunday’s loss to the Jets, the Eagles trailed New York 20-14 after Breece Hall’s eight-yard touchdown run.
Philadelphia had one final drive to try to take the lead from their own 25-yard line. Jalen Hurts’ pass to A.J. Brown was thrown high and incomplete on first down. On the second down, Hurts’ pass to DeVonta Smith fell incomplete, and on third down, Hurts completed a two-yard pass to Smith. Finally, on fourth and eight, Hurts long pass to Smith fell incomplete, and the game was over.
The Eagles would suffer their first loss of the season.
On Monday, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni discussed what went wrong on that final drive.
“Again, it’s always going to be — they’re sinking out underneath stuff, forcing you to check it down, forcing you to go the long way down the field,” Sirianni said.
“The one we had, the first one to [WR] A.J. [Brown], I’m actually probably more glad that that wasn’t complete, so it takes a hit off A.J., stops the clock. The second one got a little bit of pressure off that right edge on that particular play. The third one we completed underneath to [WR] DeVonta [Smith] similar to the A.J. one.
“Then the fourth one on fourth down, you know, hey, they’re sinking out underneath everything and had everything kind of in front of them where we had to go past the sticks in that one. We didn’t want to check it down in that situation, being fourth and 7 or 8.
“So again, it was a little bit of a situation of the game. Like always, we’re going to say we want maybe a call back here and there, and there is an execution thing you want back here and there.
“You win as a team and lose as a team. We’re all in it together. There wasn’t one thing I could say. I just tried to explain to you every single play, but there wasn’t anything I can say this was the case. Again, when it’s not going right, it’s going to be hard to say it’s all on one thing. In that case, it wasn’t. It was on a bunch of different things.”
The Eagles’ offense struggled on Sunday, especially in the second half when they went scoreless.
In 12 all-time matchups against the Philadelphia Eagles, the New York Jets were 0-12, and on Sunday, it appeared the 5-0 Eagles were on their way to defeating the Jets again.
However, the Jets(3-3) vaunted defense stepped up. New York’s defense forced four turnovers, including intercepting Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts three times. Ultimately, the Jets(3-3) would defeat the Eagles(5-1) for the first time in franchise history, 20-14 at MetLife Stadium.
New York trailed 14-3 in the first half and 14-9 at halftime, but they shut out the Eagles in the second half; the Jets defense has not allowed a second-half touchdown in five of their six games.
New York was without their two starting cornerbacks, Sauce Gardner and D.J. Reed, but they still did a decent job on Philly’s big-time offense.
The Jets have had a lot of success against the top quarterbacks in the league. Through six games, the Jets have faced three 2022 Pro Bowlers (Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, andHurts). The Jets’ defense has held them to a combined 74 of 114, three touchdowns, eight interceptions, and a 62.1 passer rating.
Jets head coach Robert Saleh says his defense has been doing shutting down the top quarterbacks in the NFL all season long.
“I thought the defense was outstanding, per the usual,” Saleh said after the win. “Through these first six weeks, we have played a gauntlet of quarterbacks. I know we haven’t won them all, but we’ve embarrassed all of them. Just really, really proud of the defense and their resolve.”
Jets wide receiver Garrett Wilson was impressed with how New York’s defense stepped up despite the injuries in the secondary.
They are a special group to be able to step up on the perimeter like they did, next man up mentality and hold one of the best offenses for the last two years to what they did, hold some of those receivers from making big plays,” Wilson said. “A.J. Brown great player, he is going to get his, DeVonta Smith is a great player, he is going to get his, but to do what they did, keep them out of the end zone in the second half, it is so valuable.”
Jets LB Jermaine Johnson played well on Sunday; he helped force two of Hurts’ three interceptions, and he liked how the team battled against the Eagles.
“One hundred percent, but like I like to say, it’s no surprise to me,” Johnson said about the win. “I know the guys we have in here, the way we face adversity, the way we just shut out rat poison and negative comments and talk, even positive, too. These guys would show up to work every single day. We show up, and we do extra every single day… I’m just happy the way these guys showed out and the way we faced adversity and the way we came out victorious.”
Jets safety Tony Adams, who had his first career interception, which set up the game-winning touchdown, was happy that New York handled their business against the Eagles.
“I had a game-winning interception before in college, but it was nothing like this,” he said. To do it with these guys and this locker room, after all we went through, after the late news this week, it is an honor. It’s an honor to (handle) business with these guys, just doing my job.”
Extraordinary and improbable win by the Jets. While it wasn’t pretty, they got the job done.
Notes:
In the second quarter, DL Quinnen Williams recorded the first interception of his career, turning a tipped pass into a seven-yard return. He is just the fourth defensive lineman to record an interception this season, and the first Jets defensive tackle to record an interception since Shane Burton intercepted Trent Green in November of 2001 against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Also in the second quarter, LB Quincy Williams recovered a fumble. With an interception and a fumble recovery coming in the same quarter, the Williams brothers are just the second pair of brothers in the last 30 years to each record a takeaway in the same game for the same team (E.J. and Erin Henderson of MIN, 2010).
This is the second time in Hurts’ career that he was intercepted three times in a game.
The Philadelphia Eagles lost their first game of the season on Sunday as they fell to the New York Jets(3-3) 20-14 on Sunday at MetLife Stadium.
Philadelphia(5-1) led 14-3 in the second quarter and led for most of the game until the fourth quarter when Jalen Hurts threw his third interception of the game that led to an eight-yard Breece Hall touchdown run.
The Eagles had one more chance, but Hurts’ deep pass intended for DeVonta Smith fell incomplete, and the Jets’ comeback was complete.
Hurts, who had won 11 straight road games, struggled on Sunday. He finished the game, by completing 28 of 45 passes for 280 yards, one touchdown, and three interceptions; he added a rushing touchdown.
According to Hurts, the team did not play up to their standard.
The standard is the standard,” Hurts said. “It only rises. Today, we didn’t play to our standard. We didn’t play to our standard today. You turn the ball over as much as we did. Very unfortunate on two of them, I feel, but you just have to control the things that you can, and the objective is to play to our standard at all times and demand excellence of ourselves. And we were not today.”
It didn’t help that the Eagles lost All-Pro RT Lane Johnson in the first half; unfortunately, his replacement, Jack Driscoll, wasn’t very good.
Eagles center Jason Kelce, who set a franchise record with his 145th consecutive regular-season start on Sunday, says it’s hard to replace a player like Johnson.
One of the best tackles in the league,” Kelce said. “It’s difficult whenever you’re losing a player of that caliber, but I think there’s more than just that, and we’ve got to play better.”
Next week will be challenging as Philadelphia hosts the Miami Dolphins(5-1) next Sunday night.
Despite the loss, Hurts is confident that the Eagles will bounce back.
“It’s about how you respond,” Hurts said. “How we respond and what our mentality is moving forward. These things happen. This is the NFL. That’s a great team we played. A damn great defense we played. You turn the ball over four times you should’ve expect to win, so it’s an opportunity for us to look ourselves in the mirror and respond. I have confidence that this team will do so.”
Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni added: “A lot of different guys said different things, that’s what you want out of your team. That part was a big positive because they’re holding each other accountable; they’re holding themselves accountable. I’m holding myself accountable, and so I didn’t have to really say anything. The leaders on the football team did and we’ll keep what they said tight in there.”
Philadelphia has yet to play a complete game this season, but they should have won on Sunday. However, maybe this loss will motivate this team to play better going forward.
You can’t really stop it, but you can only hope to contain it.
The “Brotherly Shove” or “Tush Push” is a quarterback sneak on steroids.
Last season, the play worked 90% of the time for the Philadelphia Eagles, and they continue to have a lot of success with it this season.
On Sunday, the Eagles(5-0) travel to MetLife Stadium to battle the New York Jets(2-3).
As they prepare for the Eagles, Jets head coach Robert Saleh discussed the play and what they must do to stop it.
“It feels like the quarterback is wearing a bulletproof vest when you look at him; he’s got all that padding on,” Saleh said on Wednesday. “Whether they get it, we’re going to do our best to try to stop it. The quarterback’s got his, and they do a lot of stuff off it too. They got reverses, they got pop passes, they got stretch plays. They do a lot, so you got to be sound, you got to be disciplined. So, we’ll do our best in that regard, but if the quarterback carries the ball, we got to give him eleven kisses and figure out a way to do that…
“Well, they got five pro bowlers on the offensive line and a really damn good offensive line coach. They play violent, they play aggressive, they got a quarterback who’s super strong in terms of creating leverage. Like I said, I don’t think he feels pain when he gets hit, even though we’re going to try legally, legally, but he’s talented, the whole group is talented. So I think that’s the advantage they have.”
Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni knows teams will try their best to stop the play, and he will do all he can to keep the play successful.
“They know it’s an important play to be able to defend,” Sirianni said. “We know it’s an important play for us. I don’t think the media attention changes the way defensive coordinators and a head coach like Coach Saleh how they prepare and go about their business.
“And so, no, I don’t notice any difference of that. Just know that people are making an emphasis to stop it, and we’re making an emphasis to try to grow and get a little bit better at that each time we step on the field.”
In the end, in short-yardage situations, the Jets better be ready because everybody in the stadium knows what play is coming. We’ll see if they can stop it.
