PHILADELPHIA – Leading up to Sunday’s NFC Championship Game between the Eagles and the San Francisco 49ers, much of the discussion was about the 49ers defense, which finished the regular season as the top-ranked in the league after allowing just 300 yards per game.
The Eagles defense bit its tongue. After all, the Eagles — as the second-best defense — finished only a yard per game behind the 49ers, while racking up 70 sacks in the regular season and five more in a playoff win over the Eagles defensive end Josh Sweat heard the comments and took them personally.
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“To be honest, I don’t even know where they got that from,” Sweat said. “They were doing their thing, and they played well this season, but I feel like it was a bit disrespectful after everything we accomplished and the numbers that everybody put up. I don’t know where it came from, so we just had to go out there and show it. Their defense was good, too, but we had to show that we were better.”
Better and more physical: iIn Sunday’s 31-7 win, which sends them to the Super Bowl, the Eagles knocked both 49ers quarterbacks from the game. Starter Brock Purdy likely hurt his ulnar collateral ligament on a hit by linebacker Haason Reddick in the first quarter, then had to return to the game, even though he could barely grip the ball, when back Josh Johnson was knocked out of the game with a concussion on a hit by defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh.
The Eagles limited the 49ers to 164 yards — 81 yards rushing — while collecting three sacks and forcing three turnovers while punching their ticket to Super Bowl LVII in Glendale, Ariz., on Feb. 12.
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Reddick figured the 49ers were in trouble when Purdy, who entered the game 7-0 as a starter, was sidelined.
“When it happened, I was just like “sh-t” Sweat said. “We made a couple of stops, and there’s nothing they could do now. We had them right where we wanted them, and there was nothing they could do. I wanted them to pass some more so we could get some more sacks, but it is what it is. All that matters is we are going to the Super Bowl.”
Defensive end Brandon Graham said 49ers tight end George Kittle made some comments that Graham didn’t want to publicize. Graham probably was referring to Kittle’s smirking answer when he was asked if the Eagles’ defense could match his physicality.
“We’ll see on Sunday, won’t we?” Kittle said. “I mean, they’ve got six first-round draft picks on the D-line. They have physical guys in the secondary, physical guys at linebacker. Whatever you see on paper, sure.
“When you look on paper, you say, ‘Yeah, we should be able to match physicality,’ and things like that, and then you get on the field on Sundays and the film after the game will show you exactly what you’re asking. I know we’re going to come out and be violent and physical. I’m expecting them to be the same thing. But we’ll see.”
Kittle then broke out in a huge grin.
With the Niners offense operating without healthy quarterbacks, Kittle finished with three catches for 32 yards.
“We took a little bit of umbrage with it, but we just kept quiet and casual because we heard some things that we didn’t like,” Graham said. “People were trying to be sarcastic and doing little stuff, which is cool because we got much respect for him, because (Kittle) is a baller. He said some stuff, but he’s a baller. We had a lot of respect for him, and he had us really making sure that we were on our A game today, so it’s a credit to them because of how they play.”
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Chris Franklin may be reached at cfranklin@njadvancemedia.com.
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