49ers gain control after ugly start to take down Eagles, improve to 2-0
It wasn’t an aesthetically pleasing win, but the 49ers will take a hard fought road victory nonetheless.
“The hard ones,” linebacker Fred Warner told reporters afterward, “are the ones that mean the most.”
San Francisco’s 17-11 slobber-knocking victory over the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday was an ugly affair, particularly in the first half. But it made the case the 49ers are capable of winning in different ways, which is important for teams that consider themselves contenders.
Last week the offense controlled the game in Detroit. Philadelphia’s defense on Sunday began the game by hitting San Francisco’s offense in the mouth.
The 49ers improved to 2-0 on the season, having won back-to-back road games to start the year, which last happened during their Super Bowl campaign in 2019. This one also came off a week-long stay in the Eastern time zone to cut down on travel. The team practiced at the Greenbrier resort in West Virginia following last week’s win over the Detroit Lions before traveling to Philadelphia on Saturday.
“Any time you’re on the road for 10 days, it’s a lot,” tight end George Kittle said. “Guys mentally and physically — you’re not in your routine, you’re not in your home place.
“To be able to come into Philly, against a team that has a fantastic defense and a lot of weapons on offense, to grind it out in a grimy, dirty game like that and get the (win), you gotta have wins like that under your belt if you expect to have a good season.”
San Francisco’s offense was getting dominated in the first half while the defense was being tested by Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts. But the road team ultimately bounced back from a frenetic start and began controlling the game late in the first half while also getting some good luck along the way.
“That defense makes you earn it,” Jimmy Garoppolo said. “Their front’s as good as it gets.”
The 49ers went without a first down on their first three possessions for the first time in the Kyle Shanahan era. They were outgained, 145-14, in the first quarter while looking sloppy and disorganized. The Eagles’ defensive line was controlling the trenches while right guard Daniel Brunskill had a particularly hard time against Philadelphia’s interior.
Garoppolo appeared rattled, missing fullback Kyle Juszczyk on a screen pass and wide open receivers down field, Mohamed Sanu and Trent Sherfield, for big gains.
But San Francisco was able to take advantage of some breaks and the Eagles being unable to finish drives. They had a long touchdown taken off the board after receiver Jalen Reagor stepped out of bounds before making the catch when he beat rookie cornerback Deommodore Lenoir getting his second straight start with the team’s top two corners Jason Verrett and Emmanuel Moseley out with knee injuries.
Moseley has a chance to return next week in the home opener against the Green Bay Packers, which is sorely needed after losing Verrett for the season with an ACL tear. Veteran Josh Norman made his debut and played well, save for a pair of pass interference penalties, including a suspect call in the end zone in the first half.
Early in the second quarter, 49ers defensive tackle D.J. Jones made a third-down stop on a run up the middle, beating Brandon Brooks, one of the best guards in the NFL, who appeared to hurt himself on the play. Then defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw blocked a field goal try after he came into the weekend uncertain to play because of a nagging knee issue.
Their next series, the Eagles couldn’t take advantage of a 91-yard connection from Hurts to speedster Quez Watkins, who also beat Lenoir. After a Warner tackle for loss on a run near the goal line and an awkward quarterback keeper ending with Jimmie Ward pushing Hurts out of bounds, the Eagles tried another “Philly Special” play they ran in their Super Bowl win after the 2017 season.
But unlike that play, this one didn’t work.
It called for a reverse to former college quarterback Greg Ward, who looked for Hurts in the right corner of the end zone after he faked like he was no longer involved in the play. He was well covered by defensive back K’Waun Williams and there were no other options available.
Fittingly, the throw ended up in a trash can behind the end zone, leading to a turnover on downs.
“It was the biggest sequence of the game, for sure,” defensive end Nick Bosa said.
Bosa logged his second and third sacks of the season. The 49ers’ defense hunkered down and allowed just 125 yards in the second half. Bosa added two more quarterbacks hits, a tackle for loss and a forced fumble. Lenoir bounced back from getting picked on early to break up three passes. Safeties Jaquiski Tartt and Jimmie Ward also broke up deep passes as the Eagles aggressively tried to make plays over the top.
After the fourth-down stop on the botched “Philly Special,” San Francisco drove 97 yards over 4:08 and finally found a rhythm. Shanahan dialed up screens and quick passes to try negating Philadelphia’s ferocious pass rush and it worked. The result was a Jauan Jennings touchdown. It was his first career touchdown after a bad hamstring strain kept him from playing during his rookie season in 2020.
The former Tennessee Volunteer was wide open with some help from Kittle as a decoy pulling defenders toward the middle of the field. The score gave the 49ers an improbable 7-3 lead into the break despite being outplayed for the majority of the first half. It was Jennings’ first career catch.
The score was set up by a 40-yard catch and run by Deebo Samuel, with Garoppolo fitting in a well-placed throw between two defenders. It was easily Garoppolo’s best throw to that point, which seemed to settle him down after the bad start. He finished 21 of 29 with 181 yards. Samuel led the team in receiving for the second straight week with six catches for 93 yards. Brandon Aiyuk played a more prominent role this week, though he only had one catch.
The third quarter went scoreless as the 49ers forced two punts. Then San Francisco began to assume control. They went on a 16-play, 85-yard scoring drive that took the energy out of the raucous building. The possession lasted nearly nine minutes of game time. Reserve running back JaMycal Hasty had the longest run of the game to that point, a 21-yard sprint to the right, where he got good blocks from Mike McGlinchey, Juszczyk, Alex Mack and Sherfield.
It set up Garoppolo’s first rushing touchdown of the season. He converted a quarterback sneak after Elijah Mitchell was ruled just short of the goal line on a run that was initially ruled a score.
Like last week, the Eagles made it a one-score game in the late moments. Hurts had a pair of runs through the left side of San Francisco’s defense, including one for 27 yards that drew a questionable personal foul from safety Jimmie Ward as he hit Hurts as he stepped out of bounds. Two plays later, Hurts scored on a keeper and backup running back Kenneth Gainwell converted the 2-point conversion to make it 17-11.
The 49ers were able to get the game-sealing first down on the following series with Garoppolo successfully running his fourth quarterback sneak of the game on third and 1. He caught a break as it appeared the snap came after the play clock expired. Butit allowed the 49ers to end the game as the Eagles were out of timeouts.
Garoppolo converted four quarterback sneaks on the day. Shanahan said afterward that Garoppolo has been successful on all 11 of his quarterback sneaks since coming to the 49ers.
Unlike 2019, when the 49ers didn’t play in many defensive struggles en route to getting to the Super Bowl, Shanahan was happy to see his team come away with a rare ugly win.
“That’s what you have to do to be a good football team,” Shanahan said. “Each week is a totally different week and a totally different story. ... I was just happy we fought together. You’d love for this one to be easier, but we found a way to get a really tough win.”
This story was reported remotely as The Bee on was not on site for the game.
