Well, that played out nothing like we thought it would. After all the talk about the Niners bringing a third-string quarterback to Lincoln Financial Field for the NFC Championship Game, Brock Purdy didn’t even make it out of the first quarter after being blown up by Haason Reddick. Instead, they had to go to fourth-stringer Josh Johnson, who himself had to leave the game, forcing a one-armed Purdy to re-enter in the third. Neither guy was going to lead San Francisco to a come-from-behind win in enemy territory, even with two healthy elbows.

It was ugly at times, especially that stretch of the first half when San Fran’s defense was “flying around out there” and Shane Steichen’s offense couldn’t pick up two yards. There was just enough shitty play to put that doubt in the minds of every Eagles fan watching live or on television, like “surely they can’t lose this… right?” But a series of bad Niner penalties and then a backbreaking Johnson turnover allowed the Birds to snap out of the funk, extend the lead to 14, and then put it to bedin the second half.

That means the Birds are GOING TO THE SUPER BOWL BABY. We’re SUPER BOWL BOUND for only the fourth time ever. You never stopped believing, did you? We tried to keep it positive on Crossing Broad all year long, and hopefully you were able to avoid the Negadelphia pitfall as well. It was evident early on that this team was special, and now they’ve got a chance to go win it all for the second time in six seasons.

I repeat – we are SUPER BOWL BOUND.

Let’s fucking go (to the observations)!

 

1) Once Anita Baker hit that national anthem, you knew Jalen Hurts was going to be on the winning side of this one. He didn’t play a great game, but had a couple of key moments, like that 3rd down conversion on the San Francisco 3rd down blitz, which was key to the opening drive score. He missed several passes and didn’t do much with his feet until late in the third quarter, but he protected the ball and didn’t cough it up, which will get the job done on most nights. He’ll need to be better in the Super Bowl, but we’ll leave the talking heads to bitch about that for the next two weeks.

2) Fred Warner going down injured on the 2nd play of the game could have been a huge turn of events, but he only ended up missing two plays. Warner is a Pro Bowler who finished the regular season with 130 tackles.

3) Nick Bosa looked to be lined up exclusively against Lane Johnson early on. He did a nice job of keeping Hurts contained and forcing him outside instead of allowing him to step up in the pocket. San Fran started moving their guys around a little bit as the game went on, but overall they did a really nice job just limiting Hurts’ mobility until the Eagles finally started to wear them down in the second half.

4) My God, what an effort from DeVonta Smith on the opening drive. Thankfully the Birds got up to the line of scrimmage and snapped the ball right away, because they showed a different angle later in the quarter and the ball squirted out from underneath him:

5) Greg Olsen pointed out the blocking from the offensive line on the first score, but it looks even crazier when you freeze the frame and show the hole Miles Sanders had to run through. Two perfect double teams here to part the Red Sea:

6) FANTASTIC job by the Eagles’ replay people to call for the challenge flag on the Purdy fumble. That was the biggest difference early on – the San Fran folks deciding not to challenge the DeVonta Smith catch, while the Birds got a takeaway because their video people were all over it. Give those people a raise.

7) Big fart noise for the inside handoff to Kenny Gainwell on 3rd and 4. That was four-down territory and they couldn’t pick up enough yardage to justify going for it near midfield.

8) The Eagles knocking Purdy out of the NFC Championship Game without blitzing (it was a five-man front and Linval Joseph was just standing there eating a double team) could not be a more poetic moment considering all of the negative shit directed at Jonathan Gannon this season. You don’t have to be “more aggressive” when you’re getting home out of your common fronts. It also helps that San Fran was attempting to block Reddick with tight ends, which turned out to be a horrendous idea. No clue what the thought was there.

Bill Streicher – USA Today Sports

9) Hurts had A.J. Brown on that 3rd and 9 and just overthrew him. There was an opportunity when Purdy left the game to get more points on the board and those two drives didn’t really go anywhere, hence the tightening of sphincters.

10) “We cannot confirm whether the ball hit the wire or not.”  

How is it that we have 700 cameras and 70 bazillion people watching at home and can’t determine whether or not the ball hit the wire on a punt?

Anyway, San Fran got the ball at the 50-yard-line there, so it would have been significant if Brett Kern was given a mulligan.

11) Two delays of game and an illegal formation on the first two Josh Johnson drives. The pre-snap stuff was what you’d expect when a team has to put its fourth quarterback in there.

12) Looked like a rare bad pull from Hurts on that near-safety. If that was an RPO, it should have gone to Sanders, but Bosa was in the backfield before Jack Stoll could even get over there anyway. Doomed to fail, that one.

13) Embarrassing tackling efforts from the defensive backs on that Christian McCaffrey touchdown run. Darius Slay paying homage to Asante Samuel with the whiff. Marcus Epps dove for the legs and didn’t even touch him.

14) Rugby scrum middle cannot be stopped. The overhead view is really gnarly too, shows how much push they really get.

15) Good call on 3rd and 6 pass interference against A.J. Brown. Jimmie Ward basically spun him in a circle and didn’t take his hands off him.

16) T.Y. McGill with his best penalty at Lincoln Financial Field since the 2020 tank game against the Washington Football Team.

17) San Francisco’s D is so good on the perimeter. Nothing doing for Hurts trying to get out on the edge in the first half. They got that pre-halftime drive going with north/south running from Gainwell, before Sanders went untouched into the end zone. Good downhill rushing and some bad Niner penalties? That’s the reason they scored on that drive. Up until that point, things were getting really iffy.

Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

18) Nothing much to say about the Josh Johnson fumble. He just took his hands off the snap and dropped the ball. Absolutely killer sequence, which put the defense right back on the field after a 14 play, 75-yard drive that took almost seven minutes off the clock.

19) Good bump music on the broadcast. Heard Oasis and The Roots in there.

20) Kyle Shanahan, if he knew Purdy couldn’t throw, should have gone to McCaffrey as his QB a lot sooner. Go to some sort of Wildcat, because you definitely weren’t coming back from multiple scores just handing it off and running reverses.

21) Gainwell played a great game. Not only the running during the key 2nd quarter drive, but that catch and turn to move the sticks in the third was equally fantastic. He really gave them a change of pace and some directness when they looked stuck in the mud. They needed to get “out the mud” ala BBall Paul.

22) Gotta love the obligatory 3rd down bomb to Quez Watkins, which always falls incomplete. Hopefully we don’t see that one in the Super Bowl.

23) Good news – San Fran’s defense is better than the Chiefs and Bengals combined. The Birds will score in Glendale.

24) Eleven San Francisco penalties for 81 yards. This would be my third key moment/takeaway from the game, right behind the Purdy injury and DeVonta Smith “catch” and non-review.

25) They’re going to the Super Bowl for the fourth time in franchise history. I know we had the win against the Patriots six years ago, and finally got over the hump, but the infrequency with which these appearances take place shouldn’t be lost on anyone. Enjoy this one. Savor it.