The 49ers’ trick play touchdown on Sunday against the Eagles featured 49ers wide receiver Jauan Jennings throwing the ball to Christian McCaffrey with Eagles defensive end Jalen Carter bearing down on Jennings — and 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy watching.
Purdy was in a position where he could have stepped in front of the on-rushing Carter and slowed down his path to Jennings. But Purdy made a business decision not to take the brutal shot that Jennings took instead. Purdy said after the game that he felt bad as he saw Carter drill Jennings.
“I was on the edge, sort of blocking, sort of not on the play and then I look back, saw JJ get hit and I was like, ‘Dang. Should I have done something about that?’” Purdy said.
Purdy said he has great respect for Jennings’ ability to step into throws even though he knows he’s going to get hit.
“I looked up in the air, and Christian tracked it, it was wobbling in the wind, and the fact that Christian caught it over his shoulder, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh!’ and I looked back to JJ like, ‘You alright?’ and celebrated. It was a really cool play. JJ is a baller, man. He did the same thing in the Super Bowl. Took a hit, threw to Christian on a trick play for a touchdown,” Purdy said.
Carter got a penalty for roughing the passer for his hit on Jennings. The 49ers are probably better off with Purdy avoiding that kind of hit any time he can.
Eagles Clips
Jauan Jennings was a four-star, dual-threat quarterback recruit out of high school, ranked ahead of Sam Darnold, Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson. The 49ers wide receiver threw a 21-yard touchdown pass to Christian McCaffrey in the team’s 25-22 Super Bowl LVIII loss to the Chiefs.
He threw another touchdown, this one a 29-yarder to McCaffrey, that gave the 49ers a 17-16 lead early in the fourth quarter on Sunday. The 49ers won 23-19.
“I was just thinking, ‘Get the ball, execute, tuck the ball away, make the defense think I’m running it,” Jennings said, via Kirk Larrabee of 49erswebzone.com. “And I saw Christian get open and [made] the right pass.”
Offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak suggested running “sky bang reverse pass,” a play the team hadn’t run since 2019 when wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders threw a touchdown to running back Raheem Mostert in a game against the Saints. They had the play in mind earlier in the game, setting it up with a sweep to wide receiver Skyy Moore.
On the double-reverse pass play, Moore took the handoff from Brock Purdy, tossed it to Jennings on a reverse before Jennings threw it to McCaffrey. Jennings drew a roughing-the-passer penalty on the play, too.
“We were trying to set it up a little bit,” Shanahan said. “We got a jet sweep to Skyy earlier in the game and we had to be on the right hash for the play because Jauan’s not left-handed, so we’re just hoping to get it around there. Klay suggested it. It was a hell of a suggestion.
“Jauan threw a perfect ball, which made me a little scared. I thought he should have just thrown a bad ball and put it on him, so I thought it was a hell of a catch by Christian, and I didn’t see it, but knowing that he got roughed up and stuff just shows what a G [that] Jauan is.”
The 49ers had practiced the play several times during the season, so when it was called, they were prepared for it.
“We had it up earlier in the year too, you know, some trick plays and stuff you have in some weeks,” Purdy said. “Some weeks you don’t. So, that’s something that we’ve sort of been working on, I guess, over the last I don’t know, however many months. But it was cool in that moment that they believed in JJ to get it done, so it’s cool.”
The Eagles’ season came to a fitting end against the 49ers on Sunday afternoon.
The team’s offensive inconsistency had been an issue all season and Sunday’s performance was right in line with their previous 17 games. After scoring 13 points in the first half, the Eagles managed two field goals and three three-and-outs before turning the ball over on downs in the final minute of their 23-19 loss.
Offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo has heard plenty of criticism for the offensive issues and he’s not guaranteed to be back for a second year in the role. On Monday, running back Saquon Barkley was asked about Patullo’s detractors and said he doesn’t “think that’s fair at all” because the level of execution on the field wasn’t where it needed to be.
“Did I play to the level I did last year? I don’t think so. I let him down, I let my teammates down. It’s a group thing,” Barkley said, via Eliot Shorr-Parks of WIP.
Quarterback Jalen Hurts was more circumspect on the topic. He said that he puts “my trust” in head coach Nick Sirianni, General Manager Howie Roseman and team owner Jeffrey Lurie when it comes to decisions like that. Hurts, Barkley and everyone else should find out what the Eagles decide to do with Patullo in the near future.
The Eagles scored two touchdowns in the first half of Sunday’s game against the 49ers, but their offense couldn’t get back to the end zone after halftime and the 49ers will be moving on to a matchup with the Seahawks after a 23-19 win at Lincoln Financial Field.
It was a familiar script for the Eagles this season and head coach Nick Sirianni called offensive inconsistency “kind of our story as the year progressed.” Sirianni hit familiar notes by saying that he didn’t think the team got overly conservative after halftime and that they’d look for any answers they can find to unlocking a better performance.
Another familiar trope of Sirianni’s postgame press conferences has been questions about offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo. Patullo’s work in his first season calling the plays has been heavily scrutinized and Sirianni said the team will do the same in the coming days.
“There will be time to evaluate everybody’s performance,” Sirianni said, via a transcript from the team. “Right now, I feel for all our guys in the locker room, all the players, all the coaches, the front office, everybody that works so hard, the fans that come out and support us, Mr. [team owner Jeffrey] Lurie. I feel for all of us, all of them, and there’ll be time to evaluate everything coming up.”
Patullo was the Eagles’ fourth offensive coordinator in the last four seasons. Two of his predecessors moved on to head coaching jobs, but the other was fired and Patullo could join that side of the ledger if the Eagles decide he was the weak link this year.
Many will think Sunday’s playoff loss to the 49ers will be receiver A.J. Brown’s last game with the Eagles. Philadelphia coach Nick Sirianni doesn’t sound like he wants that to happen.
“He’s got the best hands I’ve ever seen,” Sirianni said about Brown after the game, via Tim McManus of ESPN.com. “The way he catches the ball, the amount of different types of catches that he’s made. When you get as many targets as he does, you’re going to have some drops. . . . I know he will beat himself up on that.”
Along the way, Sirianni and Brown had a sideline interaction that required the intervention of Big Dom. Sirianni downplayed it during the game, and after it.
“I think he knows how I feel about him,” Sirianni said regarding Brown. “I have a special relationship with him. We’ve probably [gone] through every emotion you can possibly have together. We’ve laughed together. We’ve cried together. We’ve yelled at each other. We’re both emotional. I was trying to get him off the field, and that happens in this game. . . . That happens in this game, but I love him.”
Love, hate, or ambivalence, something has to change. And the Eagles undoubtedly will get calls about Brown. The only question is whether those calls will lead to negotiations. And whether those negotiations will lead to a fresh start for the Eagles, and for Brown.
It was another long day for the Eagles’ offense. And it was another quiet showing for receiver A.J. Brown. After the 23-19 loss, Brown stayed quiet.
Via NBC Sports Philadelphia, Brown declined to speak to reporters after the game.
It’s not the first time he has done it. He’ll possibly have something to say on social media, or during the annual clean-out of the locker room.
If Brown had spoken, he surely would have been asked about the first-half interaction with coach Nick Sirianni, And Brown may have been asked whether he wants to be traded in the offseason.
Possibly to New England, where he’d be reunited with his former head coach in Tennessee.
The Eagles won’t be the next team to win back-to-back Super Bowl titles.
Christian McCaffrey scored two touchdowns in the second half and the 49ers defense was able to come up with a fourth down stop in the final minute to seal a 23-19 road win. The victory sets the 49ers up for their second matchup with Seattle in the last three weeks and they’ll be hoping for a different outcome than the loss they suffered against the Seahawks in Week 18.
The 49ers’ win also means that the Rams will travel to Chicago to face the Bears in the divisional round.
McCaffrey’s first touchdown catch came on a 29-yard pass from wide receiver Jauan Jennings on the first play of the fourth quarter. It extended McCaffrey’s streak of postseason games with a touchdown to eight — which is also his total postseason appearances — and McCaffrey found the end zone again with under three minutes to play.
A Jake Elliott field goal had put the Eagles back up 19-17, but Brock Purdy hit Demarcus Robinson and McCaffrey for first downs and the Eagles had a sack wiped out by a defensive holding penalty during the drive. Purdy then delivered a touchdown pass to McCaffrey on a third down from the Eagles’ 4-yard line. Eddy Pineiro missed the extra point, but the Eagles still needed a touchdown to win the game.
It looked like a drop by wide receiver A.J. Brown might bring the drive to a quick end, but Jalen Hurts hit tight end Dallas Goedert for a fourth down conversion. Hurts got the Eagles to the 20-yard line with a pair of throws to wide receiver DeVonta Smith, but a one-yard sack and three straight incompletions brought an end to any hopes of a Super Bowl repeat in Philadelphia.
The Eagles had a 13-10 lead, but their offense failed to pick up momentum in the second half. They had three three-and-outs to go with a pair of Elliott field goals and the long offensive slumps that were a theme of their season will need to be addressed in an offseason that’s starting earlier than anyone in Philly would have hoped.
The 49ers will head to Seattle without tight end George Kittle. Kittle was ruled out with an Achilles injury in the second quarter and it will be a great surprise if the word is anything other than a torn tendon. Wide receiver Demarcus Robinson stepped up with six catches for 111 yards and a touchdown and the Niners will need others to do the same if they’re going to upset the Seahawks and return to the NFC Championship Game for the fifth time under head coach Kyle Shanahan.
The 49ers reached into their bag of tricks on the first play of the fourth quarter and they’re back in front of the Eagles as a result.
49ers quarterback Brock Purdy gave the ball to wide receiver Skyy Moore on a jet sweep and Moore flipped it to wideout Jauan Jennings on a release. Jennings pulled up and delivered a perfect pass to running back Christian McCaffrey for a 29-yard touchdown.
The extra point put the 49ers up 17-16 with 14:52 left to play in Philadelphia.
McCaffrey has now scored at least one touchdown in each of his first eight playoff appearances. He’s the fourth player in NFL history to score in eight straight playoff games.
It was also the second passing touchdown of Jennings’ postseason career. He threw one in their Super Bowl LVIII loss to the Chiefs, so the 49ers will be hoping things turn out better than they did in Vegas.
Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni downplayed his sideline exchange with wide receiver A.J. Brown late in the first half of Sunday’s game against the 49ers.
Sirianni was seen yelling at Brown to get off the field after the wideout failed to reel in a pass from Jalen Hurts on third down. Brown had some words for Sirianni in response and the Eagles’ top security officer Dom DiSandro got between the two men before things escalated any further.
As the second half got underway, Erin Andrews of Fox Sports recounted her conversation with Sirianni about what happened.
“Emotions, they run high — especially in the playoffs,” Andrews relayed. “Of course, after this game, we’ll go back to loving each other. But look, this is just the way it is. We’re just fine, thanks.”
It’s not the first time that either Sirianni or Brown has had their emotions spill out during a game and the Eagles have weathered previous storms, so all should remain well as long as they advance to the divisional round.
The 49ers’ last playoff game in Philadelphia went south after quarterback Brock Purdy suffered a serious elbow injury and they’ll be hoping to avoid a similar fate after losing tight end George Kittle on Sunday.
Kittle had to be carted off the field after suffering a right leg injury and the 49ers ruled him out for the rest of the day with an Achilles injury a short time later. It looked like Kittle ruptured the tendon and that would leave him out for any remaining games the 49ers play in the postseason as well.
That will all be sorted out soon enough, but, for now, the 49ers know they’ll need to try to mount a comeback without one of Purdy’s top targets. The Niners were able to pick up a field goal on the drive when Kittle went down in the second quarter and they forced an Eagles punt on the ensuing drive, but their final possession of the first half ended when quarterback Brock Purdy fumbled before getting out of bounds on a scramble.
Since these are the 2025 Eagles, that punt came after a little bit of drama involving A.J. Brown on the sideline. Head coach Nick Sirianni and the wide receiver exchanged words after Brown was unable to reel in a pass from Jalen Hurts on third down, but cooler heads appeared to prevail before the team went into the locker room.
That left the score 13-10 Eagles at the half. The Eagles will get the ball to start the third quarter.
Purdy is 10-of-15 for 168 yards and a touchdown to wide receiver Demarcus Robinson. Christian McCaffrey has three catches for 22 yards, but has only managed 13 yards on eight carries.
Eagles running back Saquon Barkley has had more success and heads into the second half with 15 carries for 71 yards. Tank Bigsby added 20 yards on three carries and the Eagles will likely be leaning on the run game as they play with a lead.
