San Francisco 49ers vs Philadelphia Eagles NFL Playoffs NFC Championship prediction, game preview, odds, how to watch, Sunday, January 29
San Francisco 49ers vs Philadelphia Eagles NFL Playoffs NFC Championship Prediction Game Preview
San Francisco 49ers vs Philadelphia Eagles How To Watch
Date: Sunday, January 29
Game Time: 3:00 PM ET
Venue: Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, PA
How To Watch: FOX
Record: San Francisco 49ers (13-4), Philadelphia Eagles (14-3)
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Why San Francisco 49ers Will Win the NFC Championship
The system is working.
For everyone waiting for Brock Purdy to become, well, Brock Purdy, that’s not happening.
He has been brilliant, but it’s also because there’s a perfect storm of things happening with the San Francisco style of play.
1) Don’t screw up by throwing 2) very safe, short-to-midrange passes to 3) elite playmakers like Deebo Samuel, Christian McCaffrey, and George Kittle who can crank up yards after the catch. 4) Rely on a solid running game to take the pressure off, and 5) when in doubt, eat it, live to fight another day, and count on the No. 1 defense in the NFL to take care of the rest.
That’s where the “Mr. Irrelevant” aspect to Purdy’s narrative aids. It means all of the other parts have to work, and it takes a quarterback without the ego that needs to be fed a slew of downfield shots.
It also helps that Purdy doesn’t need a ton of time in this style of offense. The Dallas pass rush certainly got him enough to matter, but that wasn’t always the worst thing. He was able to avoid making mistakes because he never had to force anything.
San Francisco is just fine playing the long game.
Dallas helped feed right into the San Francisco style with just 16 carries between Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard. The Eagles have to show the patience to keep running even when it’s not working, and that’s not going to be easy as long as San Francisco’s methodical offense is able to control the tempo.
7-of-14 on third down conversions. Almost 33 minutes of possession. Yes, San Francisco couldn’t put the game away and had to settle for way too many field goals, but it put Dallas in a position to have to panic a bit even though it was down just one score throughout the second half.
Yeah, the Eagles beat the Giants three times in the last six games, but more than that, Week 6 was the last win over a team that made the playoffs.
There’s a flip side to all of this, though…
– Why Philadelphia Eagles Will Win
– 49ers vs Eagles Prediction, What’s Going to Happen
NEXT: Why Philadelphia Eagles Will Win the NFC Championship
Why Philadelphia Eagles Will Win the NFC Championship
Get off to a decent start and the Eagles might be able to put this away quickly.
That’s been the thing about the tremendous run under Brock Purdy – the 49ers never had to panic or press too much. Even in the overtime win over the Raiders and the team got down, he was okay, the running game took over – Christian McCaffrey was terrific – and the downfield shots were relatively safe.
There’s a difference between getting behind against Las Vegas and getting down to this Eagle team.
San Francisco’s problem in this is that Philadelphia has the ability to out-49er the 49ers.
Yeah, Purdy is fantastic at getting the ball in the hands of his weapons and playmakers. Philadelphia has better wide receivers, a strong tight end in Dallas Goedert, and enough depth at running back to do a variety of things. No, the Eagles don’t have a Christian McCaffrey, but the 49ers don’t have a running weapon like Jalen Hurts.
And all of it feeds into what the Eagles like to do.
They lead the NFL in yards allowed per pass attempt. You want to dink and dunk on quick timing plays, Brock Purdy? Great. The Eagles don’t allow big things to happen when players get the ball in their hands.
You want to run and keep running, Niners? That’s fine, but again, Philadelphia has the ability to do this just as well or better. San Francisco is 2-4 when allowing 99 rushing yards or more.
Philadelphia has been held under 100 yards just five times and is 12-0 when hitting the mark.
– 49ers vs Eagles Prediction, What’s Going to Happen
NEXT: What’s Going To Happen, Who’s Going To Win San Francisco 49ers vs Philadelphia Eagles NFC Championship
What’s Going To Happen, Who’s Going To Win San Francisco 49ers vs Philadelphia Eagles NFC Championship
Don’t be stunned if these two open it up a wee bit.
The weather in Philadelphia is expected to be perfect for late January, and maybe even a little bit warm.
It’s not going to be a high-octane firefight, but both offenses should be able to work well enough to make this a back-and-forth battle. Sort of like the San Francisco win over Dallas, field goals will matter, but there’s going to be one big difference.
Field goals won’t win this. The Eagles won’t buckle in the red zone like Dallas did.
For all of the great things San Francisco does, it’s not all that great on either side of the ball inside the 20. It’s going to have to take a few more chances when there’s a scoring opportunity, and that’s just not its style.
It’ll be tight throughout, both defenses will have their moments, and the chances will be there to take over. Again, though, Philadelphia will be a wee bit better at coming away with seven when it gets the shot.
San Francisco 49ers vs Philadelphia Eagles NFC Championship Prediction, Line
CFN Prediction: Philadelphia 27, San Francisco 23
Line: Philadelphia -2, o/u: 45.5
ATS Confidence out of 5: 3.5
San Francisco 49ers vs Philadelphia Eagles Must See Rating: 5
NFL Expert Pick: San Francisco vs Philadelphia
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Story originally appeared on College Football News