PHILADELPHIA — The 49ers got right back in the hunt for the No. 1 seed in the NFC with a decisive victory over their top competition.
After a slow start for both the offense and defense, the 49ers left little doubt with a 42-19 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field.
“I loved how excited and ready our team was for this game,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said. “And when you are that amped-up and ready to go, we understand how good that team is and their record, so that makes it bigger.”
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There might have been some areas where Shanahan and his coaching staff will work to improve, but in the big picture, the 49ers played about as well as possible against the team with the best record in the NFL.
The Eagles drop to 10-2 on the season, while the 49ers’ fourth consecutive victory improves their record to 9-3.
Here are the grades from the 49ers’ impressive Week 13 victory:
Rushing offense
San Francisco 49ers
It took until the third series of the game, but when the 49ers got things going on offense, they got things going.
And that includes the run game, as Christian McCaffrey gained 93 yards and a touchdown on 17 rushing attempts. The 49ers had 12 first downs on the ground and averaged 5.2 yards on their 28 rushing attempts, including one kneel-down at the end of the game.
The 49ers were able to control the game with McCaffrey tearing off big chunks of yards on the ground.
Grade: A
Passing offense
Quarterback Brock Purdy had a huge statistical game with a lot of help from his offensive line and his playmakers on offense.
Purdy completed 19 of 27 pass attempts for 314 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions. His passer rating was 148.8 in the game.
The 49ers’ offensive line did an outstanding job of protecting Purdy. He was sacked just two times for only minus-4 yards. Right tackle Colton McKivitz more than held his own against Eagles edge rusher Haason Reddick.
Deebo Samuel had a gigantic game with four receptions for 116 yards and two touchdowns. Brandon Aiyuk contributed five receptions for 46 yards, including a diving two-yard touchdown grab for the 49ers’ first score of the game.
Grade: A
Rushing defense
The 49ers’ run defense made the Eagles completely one-dimensional. The front six clogged up the rushing lanes against running back D’Andre Swift, who managed just 13 yards on six rushing attempts.
San Francisco also kept quarterback Jalen Hurts in check. He gained just 20 yards on the ground while running the ball seven times.
Philadelphia managed 2.6 yards per rushing attempt and their longest gain on the ground was just seven yards.
Grade: A
Passing defense
The 49ers got big games from cornerbacks Charvarius Ward and Ambry Thomas. They combined for seven passes broken up.
San Francisco had 11 passes defensed in the game. And they had outstanding coverage on the team’s three sacks, too.
The 49ers’ defensive line did an outstanding job of playing assignment football, as they were focused on getting push and being disciplined with their rush lanes.
Their top pass rushers took an unselfish approach. Javon Kinlaw had two sacks, and Kalia Davis added a sack later in the game. It was the first sacks this season for Kinlaw and Davis.
Hurts completed 26 of 45 passes for 298 yards and a touchdown, which came in the fourth quarter with the game out of hand.
The 49ers’ pass defense got off to a slow start, but ultimately enabled the team to gain momentum when it held the Eagles to two field goals in the first quarter.
Grade: A
Special teams
When the 49ers had Deebo Samuel line up deep to handle the opening kickoff, it showed what this game meant.
Coach Kyle Shanahan said Samuel and special-teams coordinator Brian Schneider spoke during the week about the possibility of Samuel returning kickoffs with Ray-Ray McCloud unavailable due to a ribs injury.
And while Samuel did not change the game on special teams, the fact he was out there to return two kickoffs for 60 yards had to set some sort of tone for the team.
Ronnie Bell muffed a punt out of bounds, but it did not have any negative impact.
Punter Mitch Wishnowsky averaged 47.5 net yards on two punts. And kicker Jake Moody made all six of his extra points.
Grade: A
Coaching
Defensive coordinator Steve Wilks and coach Kyle Shanahan installed game plans that the players were able to execute with precision.
Wilks put together a great plan to deal with Hurts, one of the top dual-threat quarterbacks in the league. Wilks asked the defensive line to take a measured, team-oriented approach to prevent Hurts from escaping up the middle on scrambles to pick up big yards.
Offensively, the 49ers were able to take advantage of the lack of speed at the linebacker and secondary levels of the Eagles’ defense.
After two three-and-outs to open the game, the 49ers put together six consecutive touchdown drives to blow the game wide open.
Grade: A
Overall
Things started horribly for the usually fast-starting 49ers’ offense. But the defense kept the Eagles out of the end zone, and then Purdy and the offense got rolling.
The 49ers ended up completely dominating the Eagles in what was their most-impressive showing of the season. Shanahan said there still are plenty of things to clean up, but he acknowledged the 49ers have made obvious improvements.
“I think we’re going in the right direction,” he said. “I think after our (three-game) skid, we’ve taken a step each week and gotten a little better. I think we were a little bit better than we were last week.”
Grade: A