The Linc – The definitive matchup for Eagles vs. 49ers

Philadelphia Eagles news and links for 12/2/23.

Let’s get to the Philadelphia Eagles links …

49ers-Eagles has serious Game of the Year potential; plus, Denver’s revival and the art of scripting plays – NFL.com
Philadelphia has constructed an imposing defensive front of its own, with Haason Reddick, Josh Sweat, Fletcher Cox, Brandon Graham and a host of young defenders (chiefly, Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis) making plays. The Eagles roll over opponents with a deep and talented rotation that relentlessly pursues the ball and hunts quarterbacks on critical downs. While the Eagles’ defensive front sets the tone, the offensive line currently separates this team from the rest of the pack. Jordan Mailata, Landon Dickerson, Jason Kelce, Cam Jurgens and Lane Johnson possess the strength, power, explosiveness and athleticism to knock defenders off the ball or latch onto would-be tacklers in space. As a unit that excels on gap-scheme and zone-based runs in front of a dynamic quarterback (Jalen Hurts) and versatile group of running backs (including big-play specialist D’Andre Swift), the offensive line sets the stage for the Eagles’ punishing ground game. Considering how the rushing battle frequently decides the outcome of games, don’t be surprised if Philadelphia’s O-line vs. San Francisco’s D-line is the definitive matchup on Sunday.

NFL Week 13 predictions, fantasy sleepers, key stats, buzz – ESPN+
Can Jordan Davis and the Eagles stop the 49ers’ running attack? Davis, a 2022 first-round pick by the Eagles, leads the entire NFL in run stop win rate as an interior defender (48%). RSWR measures run-stopping performance in a variety of ways, most notably a player’s ability to beat their blocker or make a tackle within 3 yards of the line of scrimmage. The Philly defensive tackle hasn’t played a ton this season, but Davis’ snap count increased significantly last week against the Bills (62 snaps), and he could be crucial against the 49ers. No team in the NFL calls designed runs at a higher rate than San Francisco (47%), and running back Christian McCaffrey leads the league in rushing at 939 yards (4.9 per carry).

49ers analyst gives 3 reasons why the Eagles will win in Week 13 – BGN
1. The difference in aggression between Kyle Shanahan and Nick Sirianni. The closer a game is, the more important situational management becomes. Nick Sirianni recognizes the value of 4th down conversions when it comes to stealing extra points, plays and yards from your opponent. Kyle Shanahan does not. The Eagles have attempted 25 fourth down conversations, and made 12 of them. The 49ers have attempted 15 such conversions and made six of them.Put simply, Sirianni coaches to win, while Kyle Shanahan coaches not to lose. In a game between two evenly matched teams, winning and losing may come down to the coach that isn’t afraid to give his offense one more chance to pick up a fourth down or a touchdown.

Eye on the Enemy #159: Rob Stats Guerrera on what will happen to the 49ers if they lose this game – BGN Radio
John Stolnis talks with the Gold Standard Network’s Rob Stats Guerrera about what will happen to the 49ers if they lose this game, match-up advantages and why he thinks the 49ers energy and desperation to win may be their undoing.

Eagles analyst gives 3 reasons why the 49ers will win in Week 13 – The Gold Standard Network
1 – The Eagles can’t beat the 49ers playing from behind. In order to beat the 49ers, the Eagles must dictate the game script. They need to shut down San Fran’s rushing attack and force Brock Purdy to drop back and pass much more often than he’s used to doing.That much is easier said than done, especially for a team that’s entered halftime trailing in each of their last four games. Credit the Eagles for playing well from behind, but that’s just not the spot you want to be in against the 49ers. Staying ahead could be difficult for an Eagles team that hasn’t been nearly as good as their opposition when it comes to protecting the ball and taking it away. The 49ers have the league’s best turnover differential at +11 while the Eagles actually rank 19th at -2. The worry here is that Jalen Hurts, who has the NFL’s second-longest average time-to-throw, will hold onto the ball for too long and give the 49ers’ front chances to sack him. We could see a strip-sack or an interception generated from him being hit while throwing. Hurts has been able to overcome turnover issues for most of the season, but he’s about to be dealing with his smallest margin for error yet.

Is Week 13 more important to the 49ers or the Eagles? – Niners Nation
As I shared above, I do believe that the 49ers will beat the Eagles this week, and I don’t think it’ll be that close with a final score of 27-17. That would put Philadelphia at 10-2 and San Francisco at 9-3, with the latter earning the tiebreaker. I could even see the Eagles losing on the road next week to a Cowboys team that has seen elite quarterback play from Dak Prescott this season, dropping them to 10-3 and providing Dallas control of the No. 1 seed for the time being. But, I don’t see Philadelphia losing a game down the stretch, which would place them at 14-3 at the worst. Dallas, on the other hand, still has to face the Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins, and Detroit Lions after the Eagles. I anticipate them losing at least one of those games, dropping them to 13-4 at best and out of competition for the NFC East title. As for San Francisco, while I envision them beating the Eagles, I don’t see them currently winning out with a game like the Baltimore Ravens still on the schedule. I predict them to finish 13-4, which would keep them out of contention for the No. 1 seed, even with the victory over Philly.

Niner Talk – Iggles Blitz
If SF beats the Eagles on Sunday, that will make them believe even stronger that they would have prevailed in January with a healthy QB. That will eat at them, knowing bad blocking cost them a trip to the Super Bowl. If SF loses to the Eagles, they could start to really doubt themselves. “Do the Eagles have our number? Are they to us what we are to Dallas?” A win for the Eagles would make them 11-1, but wouldn’t change their mentality. They wouldn’t get a sense of validation or anything like that. The Eagles won in January and don’t see that as a fluke. They believe in themselves and that Jalen Hurts guy, you know, the dude who almost never loses. A loss for the Eagles would drop them to 10-2, but wouldn’t really change anything. Nick Sirianni is masterful at getting his team to live in the moment. They don’t get too high, they don’t get too low. That is part of the secret sauce that keeps them winning. The Eagles don’t go into berserk mode when they’re up 24-10 and they don’t panic when they’re down 17-7. They play the next play and just keep grinding. This game means so much more to SF. It will make it that much sweeter if the Eagles are able to win and can continue to live in the heads of Niners players for the foreseeable future.

In Roob’s Eagles Observations: Why DeSean Jackson is a legit Hall of Fame candidate – NBCSP
5. The Eagles haven’t allowed a 100-yard rusher this year, although they’ll get quite a challenge Sunday from Christian McCaffrey, who’s averaging 85 rushing yards per game. And they’ll have to face him without Zach Cunningham and possibly without Fletcher Cox. Isiah Pacheco (89) and Josh Allen (81) are the only players who’ve rushed for even 60 yards against the Eagles. The last back to surpass 100 yards against the Eagles was Houston’s Dameon Pierce, who had 139 yards in Week 9 last year in the Eagles’ 29-17 win at NRG Stadium. So including postseason, the Eagles have gone 23 straight games without allowing a 100-yard rusher. That’s their longest streak since a 27-game streak over the 2016 and 2017 seasons. The last opposing back to rush for 100 yards at the Linc is Clyde Edwards-Helaire of the Chiefs, who had 102 yards in the Chiefs’ win early in 2021. The last year the Eagles didn’t allow a 100-yard rusher was 1991, when the most yards by an opposing back was Earnest Byner’s 95 in Washington’s 23-0 win in Week 5 at RFK.

Spadaro: 6 key storylines to follow Sunday vs. 49ers – PE.com
6. Who jumps out and makes the difference that we don’t know about? Quickly, a weather update: Rain is again in the forecast – if so, it would be the fifth game with rain for the Eagles this season and the third straight – and the field at Lincoln Financial Field has been re-sodded. What that means, we will find out. But who besides the “stars” changes the course of the game? Could it be on special teams, where the Eagles have been so good and the Niners are historically very good? Is someone like Kenneth Gainwell or Olamide Zaccheaus or Jalen Carter or Jordan Davis or Christian Elliss in line to win the game for the Eagles?

‘He can do everything’: D’Andre Swift’s performance this season proves his value — and that running backs do matter – Inquirer
When the Eagles offense is sputtering midway through a game, D’Andre Swift sometimes will offer a simple, but effective reassurance. The running back has developed a tendency to ignite the offense out of cold spells with big runs the last few games, something he typically manifests in the huddle between plays, according to Eagles left tackle Jordan Mailata. “‘We’re going to get this [expletive] right now,’” Mailata said, reenacting Swift’s typical message. “We’re good.” In his first year with the team, Swift has delivered on those promises. He wasn’t the flashiest option available to replace Miles Sanders last spring, but has become one of the Eagles’ best offseason additions while leading their running back committee with elite production and timely runs.

NFL Team Needs Tracker: One upcoming free agent, one 2024 NFL Draft prospect for all 32 teams after Week 12 – PFF
Prospect: Ohio State RB TreVeyon Henderson. Henderson has now missed time over each of the past two seasons after looking like the next great Ohio State running back in 2021, and this is exactly why we think Philadelphia may look to buy low on a very talented player who could be available later than his skill set suggests. Henderson is a proficient runner on zone and gap looks, averaging 3.78 yards after contact per attempt in 2023, and has also shown the ability to catch the ball out of the backfield. His 1.61 yards per route run is a top-20 mark in the FBS at the position.

Cowboys’ playoff position: Two schools of thought on the Eagles vs 49ers game – Blogging The Boys
If we’re being realistic, the Cowboys’ best chance to win the division is if somehow Tommy Devito and the New York Giants continue their winning ways and pull off an upset in one of their late-season matchups. If we come to terms with the likely reality ahead of us and accept that the Cowboys are destined for the five seed and would be playing a wild card road game against the NFC South division winner, which isn’t that terrible, then we should be asking ourselves, how would we like the rest of the seeding to go? Here is where we present an alternative rooting solution. Not everyone will buy in, but we wanted to put it out there. Assuming Dallas beats Atlanta or New Orleans, they would be in line to play the No. 1 seed in the NFC as long as the other division winners advanced. If Philly keeps winning, then that would be them. However, if the Eagles drop a couple more games, one of which is to San Francisco, then it could end up being the 49ers who own that top spot. Do we want that? Ask yourself who would you prefer the Cowboys play – the team that has bounced Dallas from the playoffs in two straight seasons, crushed them in Week 5, and have the second-best DVOA in the league, or the Fly Get By Eagles, Fly Get By ninth-ranked DVOA team? Maybe we shouldn’t be rooting for an Eagles loss on Sunday. Maybe it would ultimately be better if they just beat up on each other and the Eagles eked out another victory.

Commanders fans know what they want to do with the 1st round draft pick (even if we don’t know who the GM or coach will be) – Hogs Haven
It’s becoming clear that — barring one or more near-miraculous upsets in the final 5 games — the Commanders are going to have a very strong pick in the first round of the draft. […] Hogs Haven readers overwhelmingly answered that they want the team to pick an offensive lineman (and you can read that as Left Tackle). There are clearly dreams of re-creating the first 9 years of the Trent Williams experience, but seeing it through to a fairy tale ending this time.

Big Blue View mailbag: ‘Invictus’, Daboll-Martindale, Mike Munchak, Cam Brown, more – Big Blue View
I’m not sure that I buy Middlekauff’s assertion that the coaching staff “despises” Daboll. I think Daboll is hard on coaches. When I think back to the spring and summer practices I watched this year, I remember that a surprising amount of the yelling I heard from Daboll (which wasn’t a ton, but it was there) was directed toward coaches — often for personnel mix-ups in 7 on 7 or 11 on 11 situations. There are a lot of assistant coaches on the staff who had never worked with Daboll before. Hiring those types of assistants won Daboll a lot of praise, but it is also possible that some of those personalities don’t mesh. Maybe that is the case with Daboll and Martindale. Daboll won’t like this if it gets back to him, but I’m not sure his game ball for Martindale last week was genuine. The timing and the cameras made it seem contrived. Martindale has said again and again during his tenure how much he loves the Giants franchise, but it won’t shock me if he’s not back next season. It also won’t shock me if that is his choice.

Should the Ravens pursue signing Zach Ertz to help offset the loss of Mark Andrews? – Baltimore Beatdown
Enter the Baltimore Ravens who were dealt a significant blow on offense when they lost three-time Pro Bowl tight end Mark Andrews to a potentially season-ending ankle injury in their Week 11 win over the Cincinnati Bengals. They were one of four teams who were named as potential landing spots for the 33-year-old by Bleacher Report’s Jordan Schultz with the others being the Buffalo Bills, Kansas City Chiefs, and his former team in the Philadelphia Eagles who are also dealing with an injury to his former understudy, Dallas Goedert.

Jets waive Adrian Amos, reportedly by mutual agreement – PFT
The Jets have decided to waive safety Adrian Amos, and he’s apparently happy about that. Amos and the Jets mutually agreed to the parting, according to multiple reports. Perhaps Amos is hoping he’ll get claimed by another team, or that he’ll pass through waivers and be able to sign with another team. The Jets would be under no obligation to waive him if they wanted him, of course, but sometimes teams let players go when they don’t want to be there because, as Mike Tomlin says, they want volunteers, not hostages. [BLG Note: For what it’s worth, Sean Desai overlapped with Amos in Chicago from 2015 through 2018.]

DK Metcalf learning sign language to talk trash is the funniest bit in the NFL – SB Nation
Over the past few weeks eagle-eyed fans have spotted Metcalf making a series of gestures after big plays. Metcalf even admitted it on The Rich Eisen Show back in October: he’s been learning American Sign Language so he can safely talk trash without earning the ire of the officials.

TGIFootball #17: Previewing Week 13 in the NFL – The SB Nation NFL Show
RJ Ochoa, Brandon Lee Gowton, and Stephen Serda preview every game on the Week 13 slate across the NFL.

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