NFL Wild Card Weekend continued on Sunday with a late afternoon playoff clash between the Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers. Fittingly in a game with some of the league’s biggest names, we got plenty of explosive moments in this elimination game.
Let’s dive into our winners and losers from the 49ers vs Eagles, with San Francisco winning 23-19.
Winner: DeMarcus Robinson, WR, San Francisco 49ers
DeMarcus Robinson made his presence felt immediately on Wild Card Weekend. He slipped past All-Pro cornerback Quinyon Mitchell for a slick grab and then made multiple defenders miss on his way to a 58-yard catch-and-run that set the offense up inside the 25-yard line. Just a few plays later, Brock Purdy found Robinson again for the first score of the game. It wound up being one of the best performances of Robinson’s career, eclipsing the 100-yard mark for just the third time since he entered the league a decade ago.
Loser: A.J. Brown, WR, Philadelphia Eagles
When you are drawing the camera’s attention to what is happening on the sideline rather than on the field, it is probably not a good night. A.J. Brown had a few chances for big plays downfield today, with one of the misses falling squarely on his shoulders. Displeased with his overall lack of involvement in the offense and the missed opportunities, Brown got into a heated exchange with head coach Nick Sirianni on the sideline and had to be physically separated by security. While howling winds played a factor in the Eagles’ passing game struggles during this Wild Card matchup, Brown’s antics will only fuel the offseason trade rumors. When he got his shot at redemption in the fourth quarter, he dropped it on 3rd-and-5 at midfield.
Related: A.J. Brown Gets into it with Nick Sirianni
Winner: Dallas Goedert, TE, Philadelphia Eagles
It is not always about how many touches you get, but what you do with them. Dallas Goedert started things off by going in motion and taking a handoff from Jalen Hurts into the end zone for a game-tying touchdown in the first quarter. It would not be his last trip to pay dirt. Midway through the second quarter, he made a great adjustment on his route to get open for Hurts as he rolled out, then took it in for the go-ahead touchdown. The yardage totals certainly didn’t pop off the screen, but Goedert was a red-zone specialist on Sunday. He then came up clutch again with the fourth-down conversion to keep the Eagles’ comeback hopes alive.
Loser: Reed Blankenship, S, Philadelphia Eagles
Yes, that one. Eagles safety Reed Blankenship already had not been having a great night against San Francisco. However, he avoided the game-changing mistake until the fourth quarter. With Jauan Jennings taking the reverse and rolling out, Blankenship inexplicably made the decision to focus on Jennings and let Christian McCaffrey slip right by him on the wheel route. Why? That is hard to explain. All that really matters is the end result: Blankenship leaving McCaffrey wide-open downfield and making it an easy “drop-in-the-bucket” pass to the All-Pro offensive weapon in the end zone for the go-ahead score. In a game that Philadelphia seemed to have some control of until that moment, Blankenship’s blunder proved disastrous. To make matters worse, he later had a defensive holding pnealty on 2nd-and-6 that wiped a sack and set San Francisco up in the red zone.
Winner: Saquon Barkley, RB, Philadelphia Eagles
Saquon Barkley was essentially the Eagles’ only source of production outside the one-yard line tonight. Even with the offensive line allowing frequent penetration—resulting in Barkley being taken down multiple times for a loss—he still found ways to create explosive plays. Barkley fought and maneuvered his way to a 100-yard performance, a mark that feels remarkable given how atrocious the run blocking was so often on Sunday. Barkley delivered a performance worthy of a win, but he couldn’t overcome his teammates and coaches.
Loser: Kevin Patullo, Philadelphia Eagles Offensive Coordinator
First, it is worth revisiting just how vulnerable this injury-decimated 49ers defense had been as of late. In the final four weeks of the season, opponents averaged nearly six yards per play and 355 total yards per game, with a 45.5 percent third-down conversion rate against San Francisco. Even without Lane Johnson, Philadelphia should have been able to figure out something offensively; it just never really happened. Comments made by Hurts coming into this week suggested the players did not have much confidence in the play-calling, and performances like this by Philadelphia validated the concerns fans, analysts, and even some players have had about Patullo this season. The Eagles finished the night going 5-for-16 on third down (31.3% conversion rate) and averaged 4.3 yards per play. He’s the biggest reason why the Eagles’ season is over.
Winner: Christian McCaffrey, RB, San Francisco 49ers
While Christian McCaffrey could not get anything going on the ground on Wild Card Weekend, he certainly made his catches count. The two biggest receptions came in the fourth quarter: McCaffrey first got open on a wheel route and hauled in Jauan Jennings’ pass for a go-ahead score, then delivered another go-ahead touchdown catch—this time from Brock Purdy—only minutes later. Tonight captured what CMC can do, as he almost always finds a way to step up even when one aspect of his game is not working.
