The San Francisco 49ers season came to an end on Sunday with a 31-7 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.
Here are my ten takeaways from the loss:
1.) Throw the challenge flag! Kyle Shanahan said postgame that he was going to challenge the 29-yard catch by DeVonta Smith, which allowed Philadelphia to convert on fourth and three, but he didn’t see an angle to overturn the play.
If in doubt, throw the flag and live with the loss of a timeout.
2.) Who thought it would be a good idea to use Tyler Kroft to block Hassan Reddick?
The backup tight end was beat twice for sacks in the first eight plays of the game. The first sack basically ended any chance the 49ers had at winning.
3.) Brock Purdy hit his first two passes. On the third he was hit by Reddick while throwing, injuring his elbow. He returned to the game in the third quarter, but it was clear he could not throw the ball.
4.) Christian McCaffrey is amazing. He ran over and through the Eagles’ defense for the only 49ers’ score of the game.
5.) San Francisco couldn’t get away from beating themselves. After tying the game at seven, the 49ers’ defense gave Philadelphia three first downs by penalty leading to an Eagles touchdown.
6.) Instead of sitting on the ball and going into the half down by seven, Kyle Shanahan decided to go for it. On the second play Josh Johnson dropped the snap. Philadelphia recovered the fumble and quickly scored to take a 14 point lead into halftime.
Conservative Kyle would have been the better choice there, considering they were down to a quarterback who joined the team midway through the season.
7.) The 49ers were undisciplined today, especially on defense, where they gave the Eagles six free first downs on penalties. Jordan Mason added another when he ran into the punter in the third quarter.
8.) Philadelphia’s pass rush was as dominant as expected. They hit Purdy and Johnson seven times on just 18 49ers pass attempts.
9.) If the 49ers had a quarterback, this game would have been much closer. There’s no way of telling how it would have played out, but it was clear the 49ers weren’t 24 points worse than the Eagles.
San Francisco played the final 26:49 without a quarterback who could throw the ball. They had no chance once Josh Johnson was lost due to a concussion.
10.) Philadelphia is a fantastic place to watch a football game. Their fans are loud and passionate, but based on my experience, they are not the hooligans they are portrayed as.
Source link
