The 49ers were not at their best in the first quarter, but once they were, the Eagles had no shot to beat them.
Days like today make this job even more fun than it normally is. Let's get to it.
Brock Purdy: A-
Brock gets major credit for not panicking after 6 plays and -6 yards of offense in the first quarter.
After that, Brock was his normal efficient self, leading the offense to 462 yards of offense and 6 straight touchdown drives. The only reason I'm not giving him an A is because almost 70% of his yards came after the catch, which is more than some of his other best games this season. Admittedly, that's being really nit-picky.
I want to highlight one play that Brock made that should get more love, but won't. It came in the third quarter when the Eagles had all the momentum. Philly had just scored on the drive where Dre Greenlaw got ejected. It was 21-13, and the 49ers were facing a 3rd and 7 at their own 26 yard line after Purdy was sacked on first down and CMC ran for five yards on second down. A three-and-out would have set up the Eagles for one of their patented comebacks, but it never happened.
Instead, Purdy calmly hit Brandon Aiyuk on a comeback for 10 yards and a first down, silencing the crowd, moving the chains, and stunting Philadelphia's momentum. Two plays later Brock hit Deebo Samuel over the middle for a 48 yard touchdown, the 49ers went up by multiple scores, and the route was on. None of that happens without that conversion to Aiyuk on third down.
All told on the day, Purdy tied a career-high with 4 TD passes, threw for 314 yards, and only put the ball in harm's way one time the entire game. Oh, and then there's this:
Christian McCaffrey: A
McCaffrey's excellence has become routine at this point. He tallied 20 touches for 133 total yards and a touchdown in the game, and a lot of 49ers fans would say it wasn't even a big CMC day yesterday. Do not take these types of games for granted - the man is incredible.
The rushing touchdown was historic for two reasons. First, it gave CMC 17 total TDs for the season. That's more than any 49ers player has ever had, save for Jerry Rice's legendary 23 touchdown year in 1987.
It also made him just the third player ever with 50 career rushing TDs and 25 career receiving TDs (Marshall Faulk and Lenny Moore are the others). When you have an incredible player like CMC surrounded by talent and deployed by an offensive genius like Shanahan, this is the production you can get.
Receivers: A
Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk, George Kittle, and Jauan Jennings all made their mark on this game.
Deebo's contribution is the easiest to see. 4 catches, 116 yards, and 2 TD through the air. Another on the ground. It was obvious that he had something to prove in this game and he absolutely proved it. When Samuel gets the ball in space, he's as dangerous as anyone in the NFL.
Brandon Aiyuk didn't have the biggest game statistically, but all of his receptions were important. The touchdown in the first quarter was obviously big because it gave the Niners the lead after a disastrous start. He also had a 12 yard catch on 2nd and 15 that allowed the offense to convert an easy 3rd and 3 earlier in that drive. I already mentioned the big 3rd down conversion. We're at the point with Aiyuk now where even his average game still contributes in a major way.
Jauan Jennings only had 3 catches in the game, but two of them either went for a first down or a touchdown. Also, it's always nice when your third wide receiver can do this:
George Kittle's afternoon shouldn't be forgotten, either. When the offense was sputtering, Kittle helped get them back on track with sure-handed catches on third down and huge chunk plays in the open field. Kyle Shanahan seems to be acknowledging Kittle's impact as a receiver recently, dialing up plays that have allowed him to gain at least 60 yards in five of his last six games.
Defensive Front: A-
Even without Dre Greenlaw for the majority of the second half, the 49ers front seven was impressive as hell in this game.
Let's start with the fact that Philly ran the ball for just 2.6 yards per carry in the game. Their longest carry of the day went for 7 yards and it came on a Jalen Hurts scramble. Hurts only notched 20 yards on the ground the entire game. This was a dominant performance by the front seven, made even more impressive by their pass rushing discipline. For almost the entire day, the 49ers employed a "mush-rush," sacrificing potential sacks to maintain control of the edge and keep Jalen Hurts in the pocket.
Since the bye week, the 49ers defense has completely righted the ship. With three more sacks Sunday they now have 18 sacks in their last four games and have shown the ability to completely smother opposing offenses.
One sour note that kept this from a perfect grade: Dre Greenlaw, what the ever-loving bleep are you doing?! You shouldn't come close to a 15 yard penalty on every tackle. When the guy is near the sideline, don't slam them to the ground. We've seen too many dumb penalties from him this year, and taking any kind of swing at anyone is simply inexcusable. The Eagles should never have had a non-player/coach touching players, either, but Greenlaw could have walked away and instead escalated the situation. As a result, the 49ers were missing one of their best defenders in what would soon become a one score game on that drive.
You simply cannot have that going forward.
Secondary: A
While I'll be the first to admit that the 49ers benefitted from an officiating crew that was letting defenders get pretty handsy with receivers, the Niners also took advantage of that and made 11 pass break ups in the game.
Ambry Thomas and Mooney Ward combined for 7 PBUs by themselves. Thomas in particular was targeted deep down the field to no avail. His impact since being inserted into the lineup over Isaiah Oliver cannot be overstated. He is absolutely fulfilling the promise the 49ers saw in him when he was drafted in the third round three years ago.
AJ Brown did end up with a hell of a day, but most of his damage was done on the first two drives of the game, or after the 49ers were up by multiple scores. He joins a long list of wide receivers to have a great statistical performance against the Niners and virtually no impact on the final score of the game.
Kyle Shanahan: A
He scared everyone early by not giving Christian McCaffrey a touch on the first two drives, but after that the 49ers offense was a well-oiled machine. Six straight touchdown drives was the most for the Niners in more than three decades, and arguably the single most impressive offensive performance in the Kyle Shanahan era.
The 49ers never took their foot off the gas in this game, including going for it on 4th and 1 at the Eagles 36 yard line early in the fourth quarter. Jauan Jennings scored 5 plays later and the game was over after that. Kyle could very easily have tried a field goal there to go up 31-13. Instead, he sent a message to his team and to the Eagles that his team was not going to be stopped.
Special Teams: B+
They weren't called on to do much, but what they were asked to do they handled well - except for Ronnie Bell fumbling a punt return filling in for Ray-Ray McCloud. Luckily for the 49ers the ball went out of bounds, but we've now had two straight weeks where the special teams unit has put the ball on the ground. That has to be cleaned up going forward because the Niners won't always get friendly bounces.
RELATED: If you missed our Instant Reaction podcast after the game, check it out below!
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