The Philadelphia Eagles came into Week 13 sporting a 10-1 record that featured a string of come-from-behind wins that the team earned to attain that lofty status.
The Birds were playing their third game in 13 days, the San Francisco 49ers came to the Linc coming off a mini-bye.
Something had to give.
The 49ers came to town loaded for bear. They have carried a chip on their should since that 31-7 blowout, never conceding the game to the Eagles, whose pass rush knocked both their quarterbacks out of the game by halftime.
49ers wide receiver/running back Deebo Samuel was the most vocal of the bunch, insulting Eagles players, calling defensive back James Bradberry “trash” last February and doubling down on his comments leading up to this regular season matchup.
Samuel more than backed up his trash talking Sunday when the 27-year-old scored three touchdowns – one rushing and two through the air to lead the 49ers (9-3) to a 42-19 win over the Birds (10-2) at Lincoln Financial Field in front of 69.879 soggy fans.
Samuel caught four passes for 116 yards and two touchdown passes.
Obviously in a game like this, there is a lot of blame to go around. Head coach Nick Sirianni kept the overall explanation simple.
“We didn't coach good enough, didn't play good enough,” Sirianni said at his postgame press conference. “Simple as that…and why do you not do that? Well, you have to give credit to them, too. That's a really good football team. If you don't come out and play your best game against the guys that they have and the coaches that they have, it's going to look like that.
“So, we have to coach better. Have to play better. We have a lot to clean up.”
The game started off well enough for the Eagles, who will be off to Dallas next week for yet another nationally televised game.
THE GAME STARTED OFF WELL ENOUGH FOR THE EAGLES
On the third play of the Birds first drive, Jalen Hurts hit A.J. Brown for a 38-yard catch-and-run. Eagles looked good on opening drive...38-yarder to AJ Brown impressive. Then drive fizzled at the eight-yard line.
The Eagles took 3-0 lead with 9:51 left in the first quarter on a Jake Elliott 26-yard field goal.
When the 49ers to got the ball for the first time, it seemed to get even better for the Birds.
On San Fran’s first drive, Haason Reddick struck early with a two-yard sack. The 49ers go three-and-out.
The Eagles again looked good on their second drive. The Birds marched 12 plays, 53 yards but fizzled again at the 21-yard line, ending with a 39-yard field goal. The Birds led 6-0 with 2:01 left in the first quarter.
On the drive, Hurts took a terrible 15-yard sack after he slipped on a passing play where he just stood deep in the pocket waving at Brown to go to the corner of the end zone.
Defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw was credited with the sack.
With 2:01 left in the first quarter, Hurts has engineered two spirited drives and just six points to show for it.
But the Birds defense forced another three-and-out. Hope right? Not today.
On their next drive, the 49ers drove 85 yards on eleven plays ending with Brock Purdy throwing a two-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Aiyuk to make the score 7-6.
The Eagles started their next drive with a 49ers nine-yard sack, followed by a 21-yard catch-and-run to DeVonta Smith. But that was it.
The 49ers took over at their own ten-yard line.
Purdy mixed up gash plays across the middle to George Kittle (25 yards) and up the middle to Christian McCaffrey (16 carries) to drive to the Eagles 40-yard line at the two-minute warning.
The Birds struggles continued with Josh Sweat getting called for off sides a second time in the first half.
Deebo Samuel then rushed 14-yards to the Birds five-yard line with 45 seconds left in the half.
The 49ers took a 14-6 lead into the locker room after Christian McCaffrey punched in a score with 41 seconds left in the second quarter.
Hurts, who was 26 of 45 for 298 yards and a touchdown pass, was asked how disappointed he was to score field goals instead of touchdowns in the first quarter.
“When you think about, you know, how important it is to start fast, and I feel like we started with good rhythm,” said Hurts, who was sacked three times and was not intercepted. “Good tempo. Good execution for the most part. We just kind of weren’t able to connect and execute like we wanted to in the red zone.
“When you’re playing a good team like that, every little thing matters. That’s a credit to them and the way they played today and how they executed.
“I think for us we just have to do a better job - a better job of controlling things we can and play cleaner. They played well and took advantage of their opportunities. That’s a really good football team. Really great players. They did a great job today.”
THE GAME ENDED IN THE THIRD QUARTER
The 49ers opened the second half driving 75 yards on ten plays ending when Deebo Samuel rushed to the right for 12 yard touchdown to make the score 21-6.
The Eagles scored their first touchdown on their next drive that went 75 yards but was helped with two major penalties on the 49ers defense.
After being called for unsportsmanlike conduct, 49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw took a swing at Eagles security official Dominic DiSandro. Greenlaw was ejected as was DiSandro.
The Eagles made the score 21-13 when Hurts shoved the ball into the end zone from the one.
But it was all 49ers after that.
The score swelled to 28-13 as the third quarter ended…Samuel scored on a 48-yard catch-and run from a short pass from Purdy.
It was 35-13 when Jauan Jennings scored on a 18-yard pass from Purdy.
Former Eagles defensive tackle Javon Hargrave, in his first year as a 49er, recorded two assisted tackles, a quarterback hit and a defended pass.
The 30-year-old did not seem to want to blow the result out of proportion. The 49ers have lost three games this year.
“We just had a good game today,” Hargrave said. “We were just clicking on all cylinders. We got crucial stops and offense kept moving the ball and executing at a high level.”
Hargrave said Hurts was as tough as ever…they just had their day.
“We got to him a little bit,” Hargrave. “But he made it hard for us to get back there.”
The 6-foot-2, 302-pounder said there is much more football to play.
“We have five more games in the season,” he said. “You know it’s going to come down to every game.”
Did Hargrave get any sense the Eagles seemed fatigued at all?
“I don’t think so,” Hargrave said. “We just had a great game today. I don’t really look inside that or think about it.”
Hargrave agreed that neither team should take too much from the win or the loss. It not be in the 49ers best interest to stay in the moment too long.
“We know it’s December football, we have to bring our best foot forward,” Hargrave said. “And just play out game.
Hargrave said he switched jerseys with Eagles defensive tackle Milton Williams. He said he wanted Brandon Graham’s and Slay’s “they left too early….But I’ll get them later.”
Bradberry, who was credited with just one assist on a tackle, was asked if he thought San Francisco was really fired up for this game.
“I think they approached it as a big (NFC) conference game for them,” Bradberry said. “That’s how we approached it as well.”
STATS AND QUOTES
Purdy was 19 of 27 for 314 yards, four touchdown passes and a quarterback rating of 148.8. He was sacked twice and did not throw an interception.
He was asked about playing in Lincoln Financial after the injury last season. Did coming here bring back some bad memories, feelings for revenge?
“It was sort of in my mind, I got hurt here,” the 23-year-old said. “That was this year, late in January, but was it going to be the revenge game or anything like that?
“No. For me, it was Week 13. We’re going into a new year. It’s a hostile environment. We needed this game.
“We need this game and obviously we have some really important games coming up too, so that’s where I was at with that.
“I didn’t want to get distracted by, ‘I’ve got to go back and show everybody what could’ve happened or what could’ve been.’ Got a new team. This is 2023 and that’s where my mind was at.”
His offense was outstanding. Purdy was asked how special the offense’s performance was:
“Outside those first two drives, it’s like that’s the Niner football that we know,” he said. “That’s the offense that we know. Everyone’s doing their part, everything’s clicking obviously, some great play calls, and then everyone just makes plays and does it the right way.
“We protect the ball, defense does their job, that felt good. And that’s what we’re always trying to do. That’s the standard that we know and that’s the standard that we’ve set over the years. That’s what we expect out of ourselves.”
A.J. Brown caught eight passes for 114 yards.
DeVonta Smith made nine catches for 96 yards and a touchdown.
Hurts rushed seven times for 20 yards and a touchdown.
The 49ers rushed 28 times for 146 yards.
The Eagles never got anything going on the ground. The team rushed 18 times for just 46 yards.
D’Andre Swift carried the ball just six times for 13 yards. He caught two passes for seven yards (targeted six times). He was taken into the injury tent with just three minutes left in the game after what many thought was a late hit by cornerback Deommodore Lenoir.
Word in the locker room (not official) is that Swift is in concussion protocol.
Eagles linebacker Nick Morrow, who played many more minutes this week to fill in for Zach Cunningham who was with an injury. *
Email Al Thompson at al.thompson@footballstories.com