Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
We’re breaking down the Eagles matchup against the 49ers, and previewing who has the advantage in critical situations
The Philadelphia Eagles will play at home for the second-consecutive week when they host the San Francisco 49ers at Lincoln Financial Field.
This will be the 37th matchup, with the Niners hold a 21-14-1 lead and it’ll be the first meeting between the two teams since last season’s NFC Championship Game. San Francisco is looking to improve to 11-6-1 when visiting Philadelphia.
With kickoff quickly approaching, we’re looking at who has the advantage in key situations.
We’re projecting the Philadelphia Eagles depth chart for the Week 13 matchup against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field
The Eagles (10-1) are about four hours away from hosting the 49ers (8-3) on Sunday afternoon in a rematch of the NFC Championship Game.
This matchup concerns the Philadelphia defense and their ability to handle and contain the San Francisco offense.
The Eagles released their final injury report ahead of Sunday’s matchup against the 49ers, and Fletcher Cox has been listed as questionable with a groin injury.
All-Pro right tackle Lane Johnson (groin) was a full participant during Friday’s practice and has no game status designation for today after missing the win over Buffalo.
Tight end Dallas Goedert (forearm) returned to practice for the first time since fracturing his forearm in Week 9. He was a limited participant and is doubtful for today’s game against the 49ers.
With kickoff fast approaching, here’s an updated depth chart after several roster moves.
We’re looking at seven matchups to watch when the Philadelphia Eagles face the San Francisco 49ers in Week 13
After ten months of talking, speculations, what-ifs, and rule changes, the San Francisco 49ers will get another shot at the Philadelphia Eagles with a healthy Brock Purdy at quarterback.
Philadelphia will be without Zach Cunningham (hamstring), while Fletcher Cox (groin) is a game-time decision.
With kickoff fast approaching, here’s a look at seven key matchups to watch.
We’re previewing Philadelphia’s matchup vs. San Francisco and looking at who the NFL experts are picking in Eagles-49ers
After ten months of talking, speculations, what-ifs, and rule changes, the San Francisco 49ers will get another shot at the Philadelphia Eagles with a healthy Brock Purdy at quarterback.
It’s the return of Purdy, along with a talented skill position group that has the Niners favored on the road against a 10-1 Eagles team.
Philadelphia will be without Zach Cunningham (hamstring), while Fletcher Cox (groin) is a gametime decision.
With kickoff fast approaching, here’s a look at who the NFL experts are picking.
The Philadelphia Eagles are willing to do whatever it takes and dropped this epic hype video ahead of Sunday’s matchup against the San Francisco 49ers.
After ten months of talking, speculations, what-ifs, and rule changes, the San Francisco 49ers will get another shot at the Philadelphia Eagles with a healthy Brock Purdy at quarterback.
Purdy was knocked out of the NFC Championship loss to the Eagles.
After Josh Johnson was forced to exit, the NFL instituted a new rule, allowing teams to dress three quarterbacks, with the third signal-caller only entering the game in case of two guys leaving with an injury.
With the matchup now just 24 hours away, the Eagles dropped this epic hype video, letting fans and the Niners know that they”‘ll do “whatever it takes.”
Whatever it takes pic.twitter.com/oXqGA4cybg
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) December 2, 2023
Quarterback Jalen Hurts was 15-25 passing for 121 yards passing on the day, as Philadelphia racked up the bulk of their yards on the ground.
Miles Sanders and Kenneth Gainwell had 40+ yards rushing, while Boston Scott scored a touchdown in his third straight game.
San Francisco quarterback Brock Purdy was forced to exit the first quarter with an elbow injury, and the NFC West champions saw their offense sputter from theirs.
Purdy was forced back into action after fourth-string quarterback Josh Johnson suffered a concussion.
Since then, Deebo Samuel has called James Bradberry “trash,” and Nick Bosa has called for the tush push to be banned.
During the NFL schedule release, 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan was excited about the league giving his team a chance to have a healthy Purdy under center.
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We’re looking at the Philadelphia Eagles updated 53-man roster for the Week 13 matchup against the San Francisco 49ers
The Eagles and 49ers are a little over 40 hours away from an NFC Championship game rematch that has grown contentious since last January.
Philadelphia will be without Zach Cunningham (hamstring), while Fletcher Cox (groin) is a gametime decision.
With kickoff fast approaching, here’s an updated 53-man roster for the Eagles.
We’re looking at several critical keys for the Philadelphia Eagles defense against the San Francisco 49ers offense in Week 13
The Eagles (10-1) will host the 49ers (8-3) on Sunday afternoon in a rematch of the NFC Championship Game.
This matchup is all about the Philadelphia defense, and their ability to handle, and contain the San Francisco offense.
Dating back to Week 4, Haason Reddick is tied for fourth in the NFL with 15 QB hits, 46 pressures and he’s tied for sixth in the NFL with 8.5 sacks. Josh Sweat has produced the 4th-most pressures (59) in the league, behind Micah Parsons (71), Nick Bosa (66) and Josh Allen (65).
With kickoff fast approaching, here are several critical keys for the Eagles defense.
Brock Purdy’s 28-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Aiyuk against the Seahawks showed a veteran’s understanding of the nuances of quarterback play.
The San Francisco 49ers have more weapons on offense than some teams would know what to do with. When you have George Kittle, Deebo Samuel, and Christian McCaffrey on the field at the same time, and Kyle Shanahan calling the plays, that’s a spicy meatball for any defense.
But with all those weapons, we may be giving Brandon Aiyuk short shrift. The fourth-year first-round pick from Arizona State has become a major factor — he leads the team in targets with 63, only Kittle (46) has more receptions than Aiyuk’s 45, he leads the team in receiving yards with 881, and he’s tied with Kittle for the team’s most touchdown receptions with five.
One of those touchdowns came against the Seattle Seahawks on Thanksgiving night, and it was a fascinating look into how well quarterback Brock Purdy is playing, and how solid his connection with Aiyuk is.
With 7:59 left in the fourth quarter, the 49ers had second-and-7 at the Seattle 28-yard line. At the snap, Purdy read the play from left to right against the Seahawks’ Cover-3 defense. The first read was to fullback Kyle Juszczyk to the left flat out of motion, the second was to Kittle on the deep post, and the third was to Aiyuk on a post that was affected by cornerback Devon Witherspoon.
The nuances of the play were impressive. Purdy ran short boot-action, drifting to his left, as he made the reads. The Seahawks showed a two-high look presnap, but dropped into single-high as safety Quandre Diggs came down to the second level, and linebacker Bobby Wagner dropped into coverage on Kittle. Diggs, Wagner, and safety Julian Love had Kittle boxed in, and Purdy saw that as he dropped to throw. So, the big pay was to Aiyuk, but Purdy had to wait that out, and he had to trust Aiyuk to be where the throw was before Aiyuk even bent the route — which is when he threw the ball.
Add in the fact that Purdy had to short-hop the throw because pressure was coming, and the fact that he hit Aiyuk right on the hands with Witherspoon and Love tightly converging was something else.
“I have all the confidence in the world in B.A.,” Purdy said a couple of days before San Francisco’s31-13 blowout win. “You watch the film, the separation that he creates, you get the ball in his hands, obviously the second gear that he has to pull away from DBs or whoever’s on the field. He does it all. And I think he’s just one of the most underrated receivers I think in the NFL. We have so many playmakers, like Kittle, McCaffrey, and Deebo , but B.A. and what he’s done in his production as a receiver, he’s got it. And so, I have all the confidence in the world in him and he’s always where he needs to be. As a quarterback, that’s all you could ask for.”
Purdy’s sense of anticipation — he already has a veteran’s understanding of how routes will break — has not been lost on his receivers. Aiyuk in particular has said that Purdy just understands what routes he’s going to run. That sounds simple, but if you watch enough bad quarterbacking, you’ll know that it isn’t.
“I know people say this all the time, but it’s just reps on reps,” Purdy said. Practice. It started out I think in camp for us when I got back it was just studying how B.A. runs, how he breaks in and out of breaks. He is different from Deebo, he is different from George. And so, sort of just taking note of that. And then B.A.’s just got length, man, he’s got range. And so, I know where he can get to and where I shouldn’t throw the ball and where he’s not going to be. And then obviously the games and stuff and the experience that we had last year together, we’ve built on that, I feel like. But, throwing with anticipation is huge for me. And so, he understands that. And when I let the ball go, he gets to where he needs to be, and we’ve made it happen.”
They’ve made it happen all season long, they made it happen against the Seahawks, and they’ll try to make it happen again on Sunday when the 8-3 49ers take on the 10-1 Philadelphia Eagles in what might be the game of the year so far.
In this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” the guys detail this play, and discuss Purdy’s maturation into a top-tier processor.
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You can watch this week’s “Xs and Os,” featuring all of Week 13’s biggest NFL matchups, right here:
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You can also listen and subscribe to the “Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…
…and on Apple Podcasts.
Up next in our 30 Most Important Bears is Khari Blasingame, who will again be counted on to pave the way in the ground game.
The Chicago Bears are gearing up for the 2023 NFL season, which features plenty of new and returning faces within the organization. There are a number of players, coaches and front office members that are crucial to the team’s success this season.
Every day from now until the start of training camp, we’re counting down our 30 Most Important Bears for the 2023 season. We’ll recap their 2022 season, look ahead to 2023 and tackle the biggest question facing them this year.
At No. 29 is fullback Khari Blasingame, who will once again be counted on to help lead the way for the Bears’ rushing attack.
Is Dre Greenlaw the 49ers’ most underrated player?
The 49ers have a lot of very good players. Trent Williams, Nick Bosa, Fred Warner, Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel and George Kittle are all headliners who get plenty of praise as reasons San Francisco has been in Super Bowl contention despite their woes at quarterback.
While the high praise is well-earned for those stars, it leaves a slew of other important players flying under the radar. Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar wrote a piece highlighting every team’s most underrated player, and listed linebacker Dre Greenlaw for the 49ers.
Here’s Farrar on Greenlaw:
Last year, Greenlaw had a career-best season with a sack, six quarterback pressures, 125 solo tackles, 71 stops, and 87 catches allowed on 111 targets for 708 yards, 453 yards after the catch, two touchdowns, one interception, six pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 95.5. Basically, Greenlaw was close to the action at all times, and he was up to any challenge.
This is probably the correct choice. Greenlaw is so often overshadowed by fellow LB Fred Warner, who is atop the conversation for best off-ball linebacker in the NFL. In reality Greenlaw would be the best LB on perhaps half the teams in the league. Maybe more. He should get more shine as a reason the 49ers’ defense is as good as it is.
There are a handful of other players who fit here for the 49ers as well. Let’s look at that group:
