PHILADELPHIA – Heading into the NFC Championship Game on Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers, the Eagles are trying to stick to their normal routines — study regimens, workout schedules, meal plans, sleeping patterns, you name it.
So, cornerback Darius Slay passed out the usual desserts after Friday’s practice — same as always. Every week, the Eagles have been served banana pudding, topped with a chessmen cookie, and Slay helped his wife Jennifer prepare this batch, with the hope that there’s one more to come.
Slay is one of many Eagles who have not been this deep into a playoff run. He’s never been this close to a championship. A win on Sunday will propel the Eagles to Super Bowl LVII in Scottsdale, Ariz., to face the Cincinnati Bengals or Kanas City Chiefs.
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“My mindset is always the same going into the game, but it does feel good to still be playing and be blessed to be one of the only four teams still playing,” Slay said. “Everybody’s at home, chillin’ with their feet up with something, getting ready to watch us. I’m having fun. I was in Detroit for seven years. It was rough, so I’m living it up right now.”
Slay and the rest of the secondary will be tested with their coverage and their tackling. According to Pro Football Reference, the 49ers finished the regular season fifth in the league in yards after catch, with 2,240 — led by running back Christian McCaffrey, who had 710 yards, and wide receiver Deebo Samuel, who has the most yards after the catch in the playoffs this year at 139.
During Thursday’s practice, the defensive backs sharpened their pursuit angles and tackling, chasing down the tackling donuts. Slay said there was a lot of focus on limiting those extra yards.
“They are great after the catch,” Slay said. “Deebo does a great job. 11 (wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk) and 85 (tight end George Kittle) do a good job, along with McCaffrey. They have good guys that could really drop it down low and get a lot of extra yards after the catch. After seeing that on film, we have to be a great tackling team because they will definitely hurt you . They are a very talented group. We have to go out and tackle.”
Cornerback James Bradberry added that the 49ers use a lot of motion to gain pre-snap intelligence on the defensive scheme that’s been called and to set up their shots downfield. They often make one play look like something the defense has seen before — but it’s not.
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“It’s definitely hard trying to read the quarterback and his drop-back and the momentum and mannerism of the receiver, trying to distinguish the difference between the quick game or play-action pass,” Bradberry said. “You have to watch the film and read the quarterback’s mannerisms when he’s doing his plays in play-action passes versus what he’s doing on regular dropbacks. It comes down to watching the film and listening to the coaches.”
The safeties will play an important role in preventing any deep shots down the field, providing run support and patrolling the middle of the field, where the 49ers like to target Kittle, a second-team AP All-Pro who has seven catches for 132 yards in the playoffs. Safety Marcus Epps knows the challenges the 49ers present.
“They do a good job schematically in a run game and in the passing game,” Epps said. “They try to cause some matchup problems, and they try to do different things to get the defense out of position, so we will have to execute at the highest level.”
The secondary knows they will have to play well for the Eagles to advance to the Super Bowl. However, with all the added pressure, they are keeping things loose, something Epps said has led to where they are now.
“It feels great, but we know all the work we put in and how far we’ve come,” Epps said. “We didn’t come this far just to come this far. We know what our goals are still, but we still have to take it one day at a time and continue to get better every day. That’s just how this team is. We don’t get too high or too low. We kind of stay in the moment. We don’t focus on external factors. We just come to work every day and try to get better every day.”
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Chris Franklin may be reached at cfranklin@njadvancemedia.com.
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