Philadelphia Eagles vs San Francisco 49ers
Philadelphia Eagles vs San Francisco 49ers
It’s a clash between the two most dominant teams in the NFC when the Philadelphia Eagles host the San Francisco 49ers.
This is the first time these teams have matched up this season and a trip to the Super Bowl is on the line between two quarterbacks who are a combined 22-1 in their starts this season.
Philadelphia has the advantage of a more experienced quarterback in Jalen Hurts, one who his coach compared to Michael Jordan earlier this week. Hurts passed for 22 touchdowns and rushed for 13 during the regular season and the Eagles have won 15 of his 16 starts. He has a very talented supporting cast in wide receivers AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith, tight end Dallas Goedert and running back Miles Sanders. Hurts missed two games due to injury late in the season but his right shoulder is close to fully recovered now. Aussie Jordan Mailata is a key part of the Eagles success and the 166kg man mountain will be doing his best to protect Hurts’ blind side. The Eagles have won 11 of 12 games when favoured at home with Hurts at QB. He’s a key part of the league’s most lethal rushing attack, with the Birds ranking number one in Rushing DVOA and overall Offensive DVOA in Hurts games.
The Eagles defence ranked second in the NFL in allowing just 301.5 yards per game and was the league’s best in Pass DVOA. Their 75 sacks are the third most in NFL history and the highest since the Chicago Bears of 1985 who are often touted as the greatest defence of all time. Philadelphia has done a great job of protecting the ball. They had only four games all season with more than one turnover, and in the other 14 games only turned it over six times. Their defence forced at least one turnover in all but two games and that meant the Eagles lost the turnover battle just five times all season.
San Francisco is riding a 12-game winning streak and is stacked on both sides of the ball.
Brock Purdy was tagged as ‘Mr Irrelevant’ since he was the last pick of the draft but he’s quickly become a Cinderella story. It is quite incredible that the third-string quarterback is undefeated in eight starts and has the best QBR in the NFL since he debuted in early December. Wide receiver Deebo Samuel, tight end George Kittle, and running back Christian McCaffrey are just a few of the weapons that have helped the rookie quarterback. A dominant offensive line has also helped. But Purdy has never faced a defence as strong as the Eagles, who held opponents to the lowest net yards per pass attempt in the regular season.
Veterean San Francisco kicker Robbie Gould has never missed a playoff field-goal attempt, let alone an extra point. His playoff career record is a perfect 29-for-29 on field goals and 38-for-38 on PATs.
The 49ers have the NFL’s number-one ranked defence. They allowed 6.4 yards per pass attempt, the league’s lowest yards per carry and had the third-highest interception rate. Defensive end Nick Bosa spearheads a strong defensive rush and the Defensive Player of the Year finalist will make life as difficult as possible for Jalen Hurts. It’s worth noting that San Francisco has only played two teams this season that ranked top ten in both rushing and passing offence – they gave up 34 and 44 points in those games.
Hurts’ relative experience to that of Purdy could be the difference here. Although Purdy hasn’t shown any signs of nerves as yet, the record of rookie quarterbacks in big road games is poor including 0-4 in Championship games. The Eagles have weapons on offence, an extremely physical defence and home ground advantage. Go with the Philadelphia to punch their ticket to the Super Bowl.
Bet: Eagles -2.5
Same game multi: Eagles -2.5 / Over 46.5 / Purdy Under 244.5 passing yards at $6.50
