49ers Temperature Check - Wild Card Edition
49ers' "never say die" mentality helped to gut out a victory in Philly.
The 49ers traveled across the country for a matchup with the defending Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles and came out with a gut check 23-19 victory that saw many highs and a few lows. What stood out in the 49ers victory that will send them to Seattle next week?
Hot:
Demarcus Robinson
Apparently Dearcus Robinson is making a habit of having big post season games against the Eagles. Last year he helped the Rams push the Eagles to the limit, and again this year, Robinson was Brock Purdy’s most effective weapon. Six catches for 111 yards and a touchdown was an incredible performance, certainly Robinson’s best outing of the season. Robinson drew a perfect quarterback rating when targeted on the night.
JUUUUUICE!!!!
When George Kittle left the game, Kyle Juszczyk stepped up in a massive way. While four catches for 49 yards may not appear to be much on a stat sheet, the effort that came with them and the moments they came in couldn’t have been bigger. His long catch of the night was a 27 yarder that set up the go ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter. The 49ers have no shortage of leadership in their locker room, and Juice showed why he has consistently been named team captain on Sunday.
Jauan Jennings
In what appeared to be an exact replay of Jennings Super Bowl touchdown pass, Jennings threw an absolute dime on an end around pass for 29 yards to Christian McCaffrey for the 49ers go ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter. Along with his lone catch of 45 yards in the second quarter, Jennings’ few plays provided big highlights.
Christian McCaffrey
McCaffrey was again the bell cow of the 49ers offense with 48 rushing yards and another 66 yards through the air. Along with his catch from Jennings, CMC’s four yard touchdown on a textbook “Texas” rout would put the final score on the board and would be enough to hold off the Eagles.
Robert Saleh’s young (and new) defenders
If you said you weren’t worried about the 49ers having to start two linebackers that had only been with the team for a handful of weeks, you were probably lying to yourself. But then they played a solid and pretty disciplined game. Eric Kendricks and Garrett Wallow were sound in their game play while combining for 21 tackles, with Kendricks making a handful of plays to seal the win for the Niners. Marques Sigle saw a return to the field in place of Ji’Ayir Brown when he was injured. Sigle’s highlight was a tackle of Eagles receiver Devonte Smith while one on one in the open field.
Lukewarm
Brock Purdy
Purdy’s night was bookended by great drives that resulted in touchdowns. His opening drive was about as crisp as he has been all year, and the last drive of 66 yards was the game sealer. In the middle got a little hairy though. Two interceptions to Eagles CB Quinyon Mitchell put the team in tough spots, but the defense was able to mitigate any damage. A potential scoring drive just before the half was ended after a Purdy fumble, also caused by Mitchell, that went out of bounds and resulted in a ten second runoff that would end the half.
Cold
Another devastating injury
It wouldn’t be a 49ers game if there wasn’t some form of heartbreaking injury. This time it would be the heart and soul of the offense in TE George Kittle as he would tear his Achilles early in the second quarter, ending his season and possibly putting next season in jeopardy. Thankfully, Jed York brought the tequila to the locker room to wash away the pain.