Here are the top five game-changing factors for the 49ers when they face the Eagles on Sunday.
1. Pass the ball
This should go without saying, but the 49ers started passing against the Eagles in the NFC Championship Game, and Brock Purdy tore his UCL on the first drive. Simply running the ball would have prevented this. Christian McCaffrey, the 49ers’ running back, is the team’s MVP. Allow him to carry the offense. Protect Purdy, who struggles to throw the ball in the rain and has a habit of throwing passes to the opposing team.
No slow developing play-action passes from under center — that’s what Kyle Shanahan called when Purdy got injured in Philadelphia last season. Respect the Eagles pass rush, put Purdy in the shotgun and help him get the ball out of his hands quickly.
3. Block Haason ReddickTake him seriously. The 49ers always take Micah Parsons seriously, and as a result they never let him wreck the game. Treat Reddick with the same respect, because he’s that good. That means don’t ever block him one on one with a tight end. Block him with multiple players every snap.
Hurts is a fine quarterback, but he isn’t a good enough pocket passer to beat the 49ers from a single position. The 49ers should win if they can keep him motionless. They should lose if they surge past him and open up scrambling lanes. Furthermore, the 49ers have always failed to contain mobile quarterbacks.
Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni makes a good one on a weekly basis, which is one of the reasons the Eagles have been able to come from behind and win games, as opposed to the 49ers, whose head coach Kyle Shanahan has not been able to make mid-game adjustments in the biggest games of his career. Consider the two Super Bowls in which he trailed by double digits. In both cases, he was unable to make the in-game change required to close the door and complete the game. On Sunday, he’ll have to make that adjustment.
