NFL
By: Brock Vierra
On top of the 49ers holy mountain of coaches sits two legends. Bill Walsh and George Seifert turned the golden city into a city of champions. Three Super Bowls for Walsh and five for Seifert (three as an assistant under Walsh and two as head coach) have both gentlemen immortalized in the bay. The next man on the cusp of that vaunted immortality is Kyle Shanahan. In his sixth season in charge, his Niners are about to participate in their third NFC championship game and are looking for their second appearance in the Super Bowl in four years. Let’s look at the Niners matchup against the Eagles this weekend.
The Good: A victorious effort on Sunday gives the Niners another happy playoff memory against their rival, the Dallas Cowboys and there was a lot to celebrate. George Kittle remains an absolute monster in both the run and pass game. People want to compare Kittle to Travis Kelce because they play the tight end position but in reality, the position is the only thing they share. Kelce is more of a pass catcher, and versatile target whereas Kittle always plays close to the offensive line. Kittle sets edges and provides damaging blocks at both the line of scrimmage and the second level and his juggling catch is one of the most impressive catches on the season while being a clear momentum shifter.
Elijah Mitchell proves he’s still an excellent second option while it seems like Kyle Shanahan is saving Deebo Samuel’s running back skill till the postseason which is paying dividends. The offensive game has some nice pieces but the defense was the true game-breaker last weekend. Two interceptions and a lockdown run defense tell the story of the game via numbers but it was the shutdown of all Cowboys offensive weapons outside of CeeDee Lamb that insured both a trip to the NFCCG and DeMeco Ryans a head coaching job.
When it comes to the NFCCG, Samson Ebukam’s and Nick Bosa’s ability to set edges should limit Jalen Hurts ability to run to the edge. Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw are some of the surest tacklers in the NFL and Warner has been a revelation since he entered the league. This will make Dallas Goedert’s ability to change games limited as well. Charvarius Ward has been the DB the Niners have been searching for since their Super Bowl run with Jimmie Ward performing at a higher standard than the All-Pro Safety that lines up across from him.
The Bad: The offense on Sunday was horrible. We started to see the cracks in Brock Purdy and the Cowboys held the offense in check for most of the game. Christian McCaffery seemed to have a calf flare up which is concerning given his injury history, limiting him in the second half and Trevon Diggs was a second away from grabbing a game-changing interception. In short, the Niners got lucky and this game came down to the Cowboys losing instead of the Niners winning.
As mentioned, the Niners played great defense except when it came to CeeDee Lamb. Lamb went off for 10 receptions for 117 yards which is very concerning when the Eagles have AJ Brown who is at the very least, on par with Lamb on his worst day and a top-three wide receiver on his best. Unlike Lamb, Brown has a true WR partner in Devonta Smith and both have supplemental pieces in the underrated Zach Pascal and the speedy Quez Watkins. It’s two separate WR rooms in terms of comparison which is not good considering what one man did on his own.
The Call: I’m not ready for this ride to end and neither are the 49ers. It’s rare for Kyle Shanahan to have two straight weeks of poor offensive performance and the Eagles have shown a tendency to get beat with an inside running attack. The Eagles defense is unfortunately very deep with talent so the Niners process of wearing teams down won’t be as effective but Jalen Hurts hasn’t faced a defense this tough this season either. I’m taking the Niners 31-28. Their run game is too strong and Kittle is too effective. The Niners have shown an ability to consistently pull out close victories and the Eagles DB room, though the best in the league will have too many weapons to handle.
