PHILADELPHIA — The San Francisco 49ers had been out of choices at quarterback. Brock Purdy could not throw (elbow) and Josh Johnson could not reenter the sport (concussion). There had been no different viable alternate options.
San Francisco was all the way down to their fourth-string quarterback in opposition to one of many biggest go dashing items in NFL historical past. The 49ers can thank the Philadelphia Eagles protection for placing them in that place.
No matter who was taking part in quarterback, the 49ers had been going to have their fingers full.
“Shit, it did not matter who was in,” Eagles defensive finish Josh Sweat stated. “We had been simply searching.”
The Eagles did not have their typical dominant sack efficiency on the stat sheet, however that was as a result of the 49ers could not throw the ball both due to Purdy exiting a good portion of the sport and Johnson leaving within the third quarter after being evaluated for a concussion. Philadelphia completed with simply three sacks, however 18 pressures and 7 quarterback hits within the dominant 31-7 victory — the most important hit approaching simply the 49ers’ sixth offensive play of the sport.
Facing a second-and-6 at midfield, the 49ers determined to line up a good finish on Haason Reddick on a Purdy dropback. Reddick simply received to Purdy and knocked the ball unfastened because the Eagles recovered. That play knocked out Purdy till the third quarter, and when he returned he might solely muster two passes that went for a complete of 4 yards.
Reddick placed on a giant smile when he was requested about San Francisco boldly placing a good finish in opposition to him — the league chief in sacks (together with the postseason).
“Really, actually unhealthy issues.”
Reddick grew to become the primary participant in franchise historical past with two sacks within the first half of a postseason sport. He completed with two sacks, three pressures, one quarterback hit, a pressured fumble and a fumble restoration. He solely go rushed on 14 snaps, but had a stress fee of 21.4%.
Simply put, Reddick was dominant. He’s the chief of the protection now.
“I really like that,” Eagles edge rusher Brandon Graham stated, who used to carry that title throughout Philadelphia’s final Super Bowl run. “I do not care who makes the play (right here), simply make it. I do know my function. I do know what I gotta do (now). I’ll take the scraps.”
Graham was no slouch on the Eagles line of defense this 12 months both, certainly one of 4 gamers with 10-plus sacks on the season — the primary workforce in NFL historical past to perform that feat (Reddick, Graham, Sweat, Javon Hargrave). The Eagles have 78 sacks within the common season and postseason, the third most in NFL historical past. They are 4 sacks away from matching the 1984 Chicago Bears for the all-time mark.
“This is what we delight ourselves on,” Sweat stated. “It simply reveals how we work collectively and all we have been by way of all 12 months and the way every man works nicely with one another. This is the factor I’m essentially the most happy with for this group.”
Philadelphia’s go rush has made a press release all season in attending to the quarterback. The Eagles have 49 sacks of their final 10 video games because the unit has been essentially the most dominant on a loaded workforce all 12 months.
The Eagles definitely impacted the end result of the NFC Championship Game due to the go rush.
“Those guys’ job is to hit the quarterback, have an effect on the sport,” Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni stated. “And they certain did that right now.”
