How the Eagles' title defense unraveled against the 49ers
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Photo: Mitchell Leff/Getty Images
The Eagles' title defense ended in gutting fashion Sunday with a 23-19 wild-card-round loss to the 49ers.
Why it matters: It feels like a wake for a city accustomed to watching its team compete deep into the postseason.
The Eagles lost for several reasons, but here are our four biggest takeaways:
Perfect was too often the enemy of the good.
A theme of the season: The Eagles' listless offense was disjointed and too methodical for most of the game. They would take too long to snap the ball in up-tempo situations when they could have exploited the 49ers' run-down defense.
- Philly tried to audible at the line of scrimmage to the "perfect" play way too often, Fox Sports analyst Tom Brady said during the broadcast, rather than running what they had called.
No knockout blow
Eagles cornerback Quinyon Mitchell came up with two clutch second-half interceptions, but the Birds got only a field goal from of those turnovers.
- The first INT came with Philly up 13-10 in the third quarter, setting the Eagles up near midfield. But they were forced to punt.
- Mitchell's second INT with about 13 minutes left in the fourth quarter completely turned the tide in the Eagles' favor, but they settled for a field goal instead of what could have been a game-sealing TD.
Blankenship's blunders
For some reason, Reed Blankenship allowed San Francisco's running back Christian McCaffrey to trickle behind him on the 49ers' reverse-pass TD early in the fourth quarter.
- Blankenship's mental lapse puzzled Brady since the Eagles' safety appeared to have quickly diagnosed the trick play and was in position to snuff it out.
- Later, Blankenship was called for a crucial holding penalty on the Niners' go-ahead scoring drive late in the fourth quarter.
- The monumental mistake gave San Francisco a first down on a play that ended with quarterback Brock Purdy being sacked.
Jake Elliott's big PAT miss
The Eagles' kicker missed only one of his 42 extra-point tries in the regular season. But he missed a PAT in the first quarter that later haunted the Birds.
- The Eagles were in field-goal range on their final drive of the game.
Yes, but: Down four, they couldn't trot on Elliott for a potential game-tying field goal to send the game to overtime.
- Jalen Hurts' fourth-down gasp fell incomplete, and the Eagles' season was over.