On Saturday, the Atlanta Falcons named former longtime quarterback Matt Ryan to the newly created role of president of football.
Ryan, the Exton native and Penn Charter graduate, is now tasked with leading the search for the Falcons’ new coach and general manager. Each new hire will report directly to Ryan, who will leave his role as NFL analyst with CBS.
Falcons owner Arthur Blank on Thursday confirmed the team’s interest in Ryan. The team interviewed candidates for only two days before hiring Ryan.
“Arthur gave me the chance of a lifetime almost twenty years ago, and he’s done it again today,” Ryan said in a statement released by the team. “While I appreciate the time I had with the Colts and with CBS, I’ve always been a Falcon. It feels great to be home.”
Ryan was the Falcons’ starting quarterback from 2008-21 and was named the 2016 NFL MVP after leading the team to the Super Bowl. He holds most of the team’s major passing records, including yards, touchdown passes and completions, and he retired following one season with the Indianapolis Colts.
The Falcons have scheduled a news conference with Ryan on Tuesday.
Blank said Thursday he believed Ryan was qualified for the job despite his lack of front-office experience because of his high football IQ. Blank said in a statement Saturday that Ryan’s “leadership, attention to detail, knowledge of the game and unrelenting drive to win made him the most successful player in our franchise’s history.”
Added Blank: “I am confident those same qualities will be a tremendous benefit to our organization as he steps into this new role. From his playing days to his time as an analyst at CBS, Matt has always been a student of the game, and he brings an astute understanding of today’s NFL, as well as unique knowledge of our organization and this market. I have full confidence and trust in Matt as we strive to deliver a championship-caliber team for Atlanta and Falcons fans everywhere.”
The Falcons fired coach Raheem Morris and general manager Terry Fontenot last weekend, hours after the completion of an 8-9 season. It was the team’s eighth consecutive losing season. It will be Ryan’s challenge to help direct the team to its first playoff appearance since 2017.
Falcons owner Arthur Blank, left, has appointed former quarterback and Exton native Matt Ryan as the team’s president of football on Saturday.
Ryan acknowledges there will be an adjustment in his new job.
“My history with this team speaks for itself, and I’m really grateful for it, and the great relationship I’ve been lucky to have with Arthur and his family,” Ryan said. “I also recognize this side of football is not where I’ve come up. I’ve played, I’ve commented, but I haven’t directly operated. I think I’m humble enough to recognize there will be some baptism by fire, but I’m ready for that.
“I know I’ve got great resources and partners throughout this organization and I’m fortunate to have mentors across the league. That said, I do understand the weight of a role like this — I’ve lived it. I have confidence in the perspective my years as a player and a team leader give me. This is not a new table; it’s just a new seat.”
Eagles cornerbacks Cooper DeJean and Quinyon Mitchell entered the league together, and they’ve earned their first Associated Press first-team All-Pro nods together.
DeJean, the Eagles’ 2024 second-round pick out of Iowa, and Mitchell, the No. 22 overall pick in the same draft out of Toledo, were the only Eagles players to garner All-Pro designations on Saturday morning. Both players were named to their first Pro Bowl in December.
DeJean was named to this year’s team in the “slot cornerback” position introduced to All-Pro voting in 2023. Since the AP began to separate cornerbacks from the broader “defensive backs” category in 1962, this is the first time two corners from one team have been named first-team All-Pros. The Houston Texans’ Derek Stingley Jr. was the third cornerback named to the first team.
According to the Eagles’ communications department, this is the seventh time an NFL club has had its top two draft picks from the same class earn first-team All-Pro honors in their first two seasons. The Eagles had already been among those teams. In 1989, Eagles tight end Keith Jackson and cornerback Eric Allen, both members of the 1988 draft class, were voted first-team All-Pro.
The last Eagles cornerback to earn first-team All-Pro honors was Lito Sheppard in 2004.
DeJean, 22, has made an impact at multiple positions this season, playing 63.3% of his snaps at slot corner and 21.8% at outside cornerback. Last season, only eight of DeJean’s 881 defensive snaps came on the outside.
Still, his most impressive play has come in the slot. From that alignment this season, DeJean has allowed a 57.4% completion percentage and 5.9 yards per target, ranking below the league averages of 69.5% and 6.8, respectively, according to Next Gen Stats.
DeJean has allowed just one touchdown in coverage in his career, per Next Gen Stats, which occurred against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 12, when he was lined up on the outside in base defense.
The Odebolt, Iowa, native earned NFC defensive player of the week honors for his Week 16 performance in the Eagles’ win over the Washington Commanders. He notched a career-high four pass breakups and an interception.
DeJean is tied for 10th in the NFL with 16 pass breakups and is second on the Eagles behind Mitchell (17), who is tied for sixth.
Mitchell began the season moving around the formation and often shadowing opposing teams’ top receivers. But since the Week 9 bye, according to Next Gen Stats, Mitchell has aligned as the boundary cornerback on 74.1% of his snaps.
In that span, he has registered more passes defended (nine) than receptions allowed (six) on 26 targets and 233 coverage snaps from the boundary. He has a 20.7% completion rate allowed, which is three times lower than the season-long NFL average from the boundary (65.5%).
Mitchell, a Williston, Fla., native, earned NFC defensive player of the week honors in the Eagles’ Week 4 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In that performance, he had a career-best five pass breakups, making him one of two NFL players to record five pass breakups in a single game.
Since they were drafted in 2024, DeJean and Mitchell have helped drastically improve the Eagles defense. In the Eagles’ Super Bowl-winning season last year, Vic Fangio’s defense conceded the fewest passing yards in the NFL and the sixth-fewest touchdowns. This year, the Eagles’ secondary has allowed the fewest passing touchdowns and the eighth-fewest yards.
POTTSVILLE, Pa. — Because I love Pennsylvania and football (and not always in that order), I drove 90 miles recently to this coal-region city of 13,300 to take a peek at a bronzed football shoe, a trophy carved from coal, and a battered football, its laces askew.
On Dec. 12, 1925, 100 years ago last month, a 23-year-old kid named Charlie Berry — who also played baseball for the Philadelphia Athletics and later became an American League umpire — used that high-top shoe to kick that ball to lift the Pottsville Maroons to a huge victory.
The Maroons got that trophy, emblazoned with the words “TRUE WORLD CHAMPIONS,” after beating a squad of former Notre Dame players, 9-7, in an exhibition game at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. But the Maroons were true world champions only in sentiment. They did not even win their own league.
That would be the National Football League — the same NFL that now includes the Eagles and opens its annual playoffs this weekend, ending with Super Bowl LX. The NFL would deny the Maroons the league championship despite clearly having the best team, having disposed of the Chicago Cardinals a week earlier in icy Chicago, 21-7.
The shoe that Pottsville Maroons kicker Charlie Berry used to kick the winning field goal in the 9-7 victory over the Notre Dame All-Stars on Dec. 12, 1925. The shoe was bronzed in 1961.
The exhibition game turned out to be a big problem. Long story short: Although the Maroons had requested (and, they said, been granted) permission to play the Notre Dame team, they were treading on the turf of the city’s NFL team, the Frankford Yellow Jackets. The Maroons were thrown out of the league.
You have probably heard of the Yellow Jackets, who folded in 1931 and whose remnants were purchased in 1933 by Bert Bell and Lud Wray for $2,500 and relaunched as the Eagles. The Maroons have faded, like a photograph in an album. That is a shame. The Maroons were a town team that climbed through a primitive organizational ladder to reign supreme over a sport.
Payne, who had not heard of the Maroons while growing up in Erie, acknowledged that the NFL is unlikely to declare the Maroons as 1925 champions, saying, “It would take a higher force for this to happen.” And it is old news: The last Maroons player died in 2003, at age 101.
The ball used in the Maroons’ win over the Notre Dame All-Stars.
Rendell wrote that he did not intend “to have any more communications with the cowardly barons that run the National Football League, including their extremely well paid leader, until they relent and grant the gallant Pottsville Maroons what is rightfully theirs.”
(He added that the vast majority of NFL owners lack “cojones.”)
But Rendell only had two NFL teams behind him: those from Pennsylvania, the Eagles and the Pittsburgh Steelers. So that Tush Push, of sorts, failed to reach the line to gain. The NFL still places the Cardinals atop its official 1925 standings, with the Maroons second.
Plus, the Cardinals padded their final winning percentage — used then to determine the champion — by beating teams with some high school kids. They refused to accept the trophy (the one not made of coal) until years later, after the team had been sold to Charley Bidwill.
The last name may ring a bell. The Cardinals, now in Arizona, are still owned by the Bidwill family. How interesting it is that the team has won only one NFL championship since — way back in 1946. They have played in just one Super Bowl, losing in 2009 to the Steelers.
Some “Skooks,” those from Pottsville and surrounding Schuylkill County, still enjoy claiming the Cardinals have been afflicted by the Curse of the Maroons. “And that 1925 championship was stolen. Never forget,” says a Skook friend of mine, still seeking retribution.
“It’s just so tragic and cruel. What should have been a watershed moment by winning such a big game ruined Pottsville and their football team,” David Fleming, who wrote an astonishing book in 2007 about the controversy, Breaker Boys: The NFL’s Greatest Team and the Stolen 1925 Championship, told me recently. “Pottsville put the NFL on the map.”
The NFL of 1925 was prehistoric compared with the NFL of 2025. Salaries were meager, from $100 to $300 a game, and players had to hold down second jobs to pay the bills. Moreover, college football was far more popular and considered to be a far better product.
Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne (left) and team captain Clem Crowe watch the team practice in 1925 — the same year a group of former Fighting Irish players fell to the Maroons, 9-7.
Pottsville sort of ignored the Pennsylvania “Blue Laws,” so the Maroons often played at home on Sundays against opponents that played in Philadelphia the day before. The Maroons set trends that last to this day: For example, the coach insisted his players live in town.
Pottsville was among the smallest cities with an NFL team, but the city more than made up for it by adoring the Maroons — even during a contentious miners’ strike that nearly broke the town. For the exhibition at Shibe Park, as Fleming wrote, several Maroons fans playfully wore coal-miner garb to distinguish themselves from the overwhelming majority of Notre Dame fans.
Even after both teams had arrived at Shibe Park, the exhibition game was nearly canceled because only about 8,000 had paid to see the game, some 10,000 fewer than expected, leading Notre Dame star Harry Stuhldreher, one of the legendary “Four Horsemen,” to push for $25,000 upfront — which is worth about $450,000 today — for his team to play in the game.
(The gate was surely smaller than expected because the Yellow Jackets suddenly scheduled a game at the same time in Frankford, beating Cleveland, 3-0, before 7,000.)
In this 1924 file photo, Notre Dame’s infamous backfield known as “The Four Horsemen,” from left, Don Miller, Elmer Layden, Jim Crowley, and Harry Stuhldreher, pose on the practice field in South Bend, Ind. Stuhldreher asked for $25,000 up front for his team to play against the Maroons.
At the same time, the Maroons were holding out for $10,000 upfront, or about $181,000 today (the pay disparity underscores the difference in perception then between the college and pro games), so the kickoff was delayed. Then Notre Dame took a 7-0 lead on an Elmer Layden touchdown. But the Maroons rallied — gallantly.
“YES, THE POTTSVILLE MAROONS WERE HORSE(MEN) OF A DIFFERENT COLOR,” The Inquirer gasped the next morning. Gordon Mackay, the reporter, labeled it “perhaps the greatest football battle that this Quaker City has known in years and years.”
The Maroons had put in 28-year-old Tony Latone, the “Human Howitzer,” after halftime. Latone’s story was mythic: He began working in nearby coal mines to support his family when he was 11, after his father died.
At first, he was a “breaker boy,” working 70-hour weeks picking slate and debris from the valuable anthracite coal. (After a week or two, the skin on the tops of a breaker boy’s fingers would peel off.) Later, he strengthened his legs by pushing loaded coal carts from the mines.
The Pottsville Maroons of 1925, a squad that was comprised of miners from Schuylkill and Luzerne Counties.
Berry, already a catcher for the A’s, hit the crossbar on an extra-point attempt after Latone scored a touchdown late in the third quarter, so Notre Dame still led, 7-6. But Latone, playing on a sore right heel, gained five first downs on another brutal, physical drive.
“He just ripped the Notre Dame team to shreds,” Payne told me of Latone, who ran for more yardage in the NFL in the 1920s than the legendary Harold “Red” Grange.
The drive stalled at the Notre Dame 18-yard line, so Berry tried a 30-yard field goal, which was hardly automatic back in those days. He’d made only three of nine attempts in the season to that point, none past 29 yards.
But, as Mackay so colorfully wrote in The Inquirer the next morning: “He swung that agile hoof. There was a crash of ball and foot, and the crowd, awed into silence, held their breaths as the sphere soared and soared and skipped straight through the crossbar.”
As Fleming wrote in 2007: “Most of the fans at Shibe Park, even the ones from Pottsville, had come out for a fun day of football and a glimpse at the famous Four Horsemen. Instead, they were witness to a watershed moment in the history of American sports: the very moment that professional football surpassed college ball.”
A replica of the trophy — which, like the original, is carved from coal — that the Maroons received for winning the “true” championship resides at the Schuylkill County Historical Society in Pottsville, Pa. The original is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Books about the Maroons, including Fleming’s and the recent release by Payne and Hayes, are on sale at the museum’s gift shop (and online, as well), as are $18 maroon T-shirts with “The Real Champions.” A 100th anniversary celebration was held in August. Students at nearby Nativity BVM High School premiered a documentary, MaRooned.
Fleming, whose book, A Big Mess in Texas, about the antics of the ill-fated 1952 Dallas Texans, was published in October, had Breaker Boys reissued before the 100th anniversary, with a new cover: a photo of the trophy made of silver, not anthracite coal.
“I just wanted to give them the title that they were denied,” he said.
Well, more like, robbed of. Payne and Hayes make a six-premise thesis in their book for the NFL to award the 1925 NFL title to the Pottsville Maroons. They write, “Until the NFL corrects the situation, the Pottsville championship status remains, very simply, marooned.”
Until that day comes, and as a native Pennsylvanian and football fan, the matter should at least be considered; there is only memorabilia from a bygone age in a second-floor alcove at the Schuylkill County Historical Society, a cozy museum in a former school on Centre Street.
Joe Zacko, the late sporting goods store owner and die-hard fan who ordered the jerseys that gave the Maroons their name, had Berry’s shoe bronzed after a 1961 reunion. The goal was to present it to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, then under construction.
The shoe is still in Pottsville. I am not a Skook, but, as I said, I love Pennsylvania and football, and I say a real NFL trophy belongs right next to that shoe, coal trophy, and old ball.
Dave Caldwell, an Inquirer sports writer from 1986 to 1995, grew up in Lancaster County and lives in Manayunk.
The Eagles host the San Francisco 49ers in a wild-card playoff matchup at 4:30 p.m. Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field. Here’s what you need to know about the game:
When the Eagles have the ball
The 49ers don’t have a good defense. Season-ending injuries to their two best players — linebacker Fred Warner and defensive end Nick Bosa — were a prominent reason why coordinator Robert Saleh’s unit struggled most of the season. But there also isn’t much talent elsewhere on that side of the ball. The 49ers ranked 25th in expected points added per play and 29th in success rate. Saleh has been forced to play a bend-but-try-not-to-break defense, which has meant more two-high safety shells than he’s accustomed to employing and hoping that opposing offenses eventually will make mistakes on grind-it-out drives. The 49ers have done a good job of limiting explosive plays as a result and rank ninth in allowing 20-plus-yard plays in EPA. They’ve also buckled down in the red zone, where they rank 12th overall and fourth in goal-to-go situations.
The Eagles’ offense, conversely, has been at its best inside the 20 and ranked first in the league. Getting there on a consistent basis has been a season-long problem. The chess match here could center on which unit is willing to get out of its comfort zone. Will the 49ers play more aggressively and stack the box — only the Eagles and New England Patriots had a higher rate of light boxes — knowing the Eagles have struggled in the run game when numbers haven’t been in their favor? Or will the Eagles come out firing, looking for explosives through the air, knowing that Saleh likely will make Jalen Hurts and the pass game beat his defense?
Nick Sirianni and Kevin Patullo have several directions they can go that should favor the Eagles, even if the 49ers match heavy personnel with their base front. It would be foolish not to test San Fran’s run defense, especially an off-ball linebacker unit that could be down to its fourth and fifth options on the depth chart. Warner’s replacement, Tatum Bethune, went down for the season last week, which means the aging Eric Kendricks, the younger brother of former Eagle Mychal Kendricks, will be at middle linebacker. Outside linebackers Dee Winters and Luke Gifford also are questionable. The Eagles offensive line, with right tackle Lane Johnson expected to return, likely will need to adapt to a slanting front if they want to carry out their combo zone blocking schemes. But if even all doesn’t go according to plan, Saquon Barkley should have opportunities to do it on his own against a run defense that missed 11 tackles against the Seattle Seahawks in Week 18.
I think more of Hurts on designed runs, and a sprinkling in of the more north-to-south Tank Bigsby, could further buoy a run offense that has shown marginal improvement over the last month. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Patullo open with a fair amount of empty sets. Hurts has operated well out of that formation. It forces defenses to have to account for his legs on draws or scrambles if they’re going to match in man coverage.
Saleh still favors Cover 3 more than any zone, but he’s going to have to pick his poison with Eagles receivers A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith having skill and size edges over cornerbacks Deommodore Lenoir, Renardo Green, and Upton Stout. Logic would suggest that tight end Dallas Goedert should get a healthy dose of pass plays as the first read with the 49ers’ linebacker corps battered. The same could be said for getting Barkley more involved in the pass game. Hurts should have time in the pocket. San Fran’s pass rush has been deficient without Bosa. Former Eagle Bryce Huff may be the 49ers’ best edge rusher. I watched enough of Johnson and Jordan Mailata dominating him in training camp a year ago to think they’ll keep him under wraps on Sunday. The Eagles’ offensive line must be prepared, though, for a high rate of stunts that Saleh calls to offset his rushers’ inability to win one-on-one.
San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey (23) runs against Indianapolis Colts outside linebacker and Philly native Zaire Franklin (44) on Dec. 22.
When the 49ers have the ball
This is where the more intriguing matchup lies with 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan and Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, two of the best play-callers in the business. While Fangio’s defense has jelled into a unit comparable to last year’s, Shanahan’s offense hasn’t been as explosive as it was in previous seasons when the 49ers reached the playoffs. He still has one of the more sophisticated run schemes in the NFL, but the production just hasn’t been there for various reasons. Like the Eagles, San Fran has faced a high rate of stacked boxes. That often is by design. No team utilizes two-back personnel more than the 49ers, who have fullback Kyle Juszczyk. At 34, he isn’t as dynamic, but Shanahan lines him up all over, increasingly in an unorthodox offset position in which he can be a blocker in a variety of ways.
Christian McCaffrey remains the workhorse running back, often from under center. He finished second in the league in carries (311), but had the lowest rushing yards over expected per attempt (-0.5) of his career. The 49ers’ scheme has long majored in wide zone runs, but McCaffrey has had more success running in between the tackles this season. Shanahan’s offense often needs to establish its ground game to utilize play action. His two-back personnel will force Fangio to decide between using his base five-man front to stop the run or his preferred nickel four-man front to protect the back. It will likely be based on the situation, but Fangio doesn’t want to leave his secondary susceptible to throws off play-action. The 49ers’ run game had two strong showings vs. the Indianapolis Colts and Chicago Bears, but it regressed last week against an athletic Seahawks defense.
The possible return of Hall of Fame-bound left tackle Trent Williams (listed as questionable) would help San Fran, but if the Eagles contain McCaffrey, it could be a long day for Shanahan’s unit. He’ll scheme up pre-snap motions to manipulate a defense, and he’ll dial up naked bootlegs and screens to compensate for struggles on the ground. But his offense has been lacking in the dropback game without a top receiver who can consistently get separation downfield for quarterback Brock Purdy. Ricky Pearsall would be the best candidate, but he’s questionable after not practicing all week. That has left most of the heavy lifting to tight end George Kittle and McCaffrey, who led the team with 102 catches. Kittle can do it all. Shanahan will use him like a chess piece. He can win vs. linebackers, safeties, and cornerbacks. The Eagles’ Zack Baun, Reed Blankenship, and Cooper DeJean will be most responsible for keeping him in check.
Purdy isn’t just some byproduct of Shanahan’s genius. He’s quick through his progressions, has good pocket movements, and can extend plays as well as most quarterbacks. He’s not necessarily a scrambler, but he can run to the sticks. If you can collapse the pocket, the throws get harder for him because he’s only 6-foot-1. Purdy’s excellent when “hot,” so it makes little sense to blitz him much — not that Fangio would be inclined to send extra rushers a lot. Shanahan likely will go after cornerback Adoree’ Jackson with Quinyon Mitchell on the opposite side. Fangio has found ways to cover for Jackson with split-field zones. I also could see Purdy targeting safety Marcus Epps or returning linebacker Nakobe Dean on middle-field throws.
Extra point
The 49ers have a lot of success throwing over the middle. But there’s a risk. Eight of Purdy’s 10 interceptions have come between the numbers. That’s part of the reason Hurts doesn’t throw over the middle as often as other quarterbacks. Sirianni has hammered winning the turnover battle into his team. The Eagles finished the season plus-6 in turnover differential, while the 49ers finished minus-6. I also give Sirianni the nod in game management and fourth-down decision-making. He has been more conservative this season, partly because the Tush Push is no longer close to automatic.
Shanahan has lacked the gumption in key spots over his career. He’s a master game-planner and play-caller. But if his teams get behind, they often struggle to rally because his offense isn’t as strong in the dropback world. The same could be said for Sirianni’s system, as well. I think the first team to 20 points wins this game. The Eagles of old could salt away a second-half lead, but Sirianni and Patullo have been unable to find a formula when ahead. It’s been ugly at times and that should be worrisome. But this is how I see the matchup: There’s a push when it comes to the Eagles’ underperforming offense vs. the 49ers’ subpar defense; but I give the edge to a great Eagles defense over a very good, but not great 49ers offense.
It’s become fashionable to pile on first-year offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo. He’s the target of local and national self-styled experts, none of whom, you might note, works for an NFL or college team.
Certainly, no matter how close his friendship with Nick Sirianni, Patullo won’t survive next week if the offense again struggles and the Eagles don’t beat the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday. The offense averaged 22.3 points, down 4.9 points from the Super Bowl team of 2024, and 311.2 yards, down 56 yards from last year.
If you know anything about the Eagles front office, without a deep postseason run, that sort of performance simply will not stand.
Jeffrey Lurie and Howie Roseman have standards that are not being met.
Howie Roseman spent $128 million of Jeffrey Lurie’s money on that side of the ball, more than twice what they spent on defense. No matter how badly the players have executed, a quick playoff exit will spell the end for at least Patullo, and probably quarterbacks coach Scot Loeffler as well. No player on the team has regressed as much as Jalen Hurts.
But if the day after the wild-card game turns out to be Black Monday for Patullo, his defenders, if they exist, should have some ammunition. Because regardless of the plays called, the real problem lies with the players running them. These are not failures of scheme or sequence. These are failures of execution, focus, and maybe even heart.
Is it age? Right tackle Lane Johnson is 35, but A.J. Brown and Saquon Barkley are just 28. Then again, in the NFL, high-usage receivers and backs age in dog years.
Is it fatigue? Maybe. The Eagles enter Sunday having played 38 games in the past two seasons, more than any other team. Including playoffs, Barkley had 482 total touches last season, second-most in NFL history.
Is it injury? Maybe. Offensive linemen Cam Jurgens, Landon Dickerson, and Johnson, who have 11 Pro Bowls among them, have been limited or absent all season. Brown battled a hamstring issue in training camp and through at least the first eight games, and he managed the lowest yardage total of his four-year tenure in Philly — but just 76 yards lower than last year.
In fact, as much as folks want to criticize the Eagles’ passing game, it actually averaged 6.4 more yards per game this season (194.3) than it did in 2024 (187.9).
Jason Kelce isn’t walking through that door, and it’s fair to ask how much the Eagles have really overcome his absence.
The brutal truth is the passing offense hasn’t been the same since center Jason Kelce retired after 2023, despite Jurgens making the last two Pro Bowls.
Are there other factors at work?
Was last year’s passing offense a casualty of Barkley’s 2,504 rushing yards, which is an NFL record, playoffs-inclusive? Or was it because the passing game wasn’t sharp in 2024, either? After all, Hurts threw for seven more touchdowns and 321 more yards in 2025.
Second, opposing defenses more steadfastly forced Hurts — and, of course, Patullo — to beat them through the air.
You can’t blame Patullo for the stagnation of Hurts’ game. His processing remains slow, his footwork remains clunky, his arm strength no better than average.
But what Patullo will be blamed for, fairly or not, is that he did not make more of Lurie’s $255 million man. It won’t matter that Patullo’s predecessor didn’t, either.
Kellen Moore was hired to maximize Hurts’ abilities the way he’d allegedly done with Dak Prescott as the Dallas Cowboys’ quarterbacks coach or offensive coordinator from 2018 to 2022 — emphasis on allegedly.
History has been kind to Kellen Moore … perhaps too kind.
Prescott’s passer rating during Moore’s five seasons was 98.8. His quarterback rating was 55.2. Since Moore left, it’s 99.4 and 73.4. Justin Herbert’s passer rating of 93.2 in 2023, Moore’s single season as the Chargers’ OC, matched Herbert’s career-low.
Just saying: Maybe Moore wasn’t the reason the Eagles shined as brightly as they did. After all, four healthy potential Hall of Famers on any offensive line can cover up lots of shortcomings.
Nobody likes watching Patullo call passing plays that give Hurts limited options and require too long to throw. Nobody likes watching running plays that, given the defensive alignment, appear doomed on conception. Those are on Patullo — but those also are infrequent. Besides, no OC nails every call.
Nobody likes watching Hurts deal with pressure in his face from up the middle on every third dropback because his center and guards get blown off the ball. Nobody likes seeing tight end Dallas Goedert rounding off his routes.
We’ve also seen Brown give up on routes and short-arm passes, seen Barkley hit holes soft, misread blocks, and run out of bounds when he didn’t have to, and we’ve seen Hurts miss wide-open receivers, sometimes two on the same play. He clearly has no interest in running the football much anymore; he ran 105 times this season, one-third less than his average over the last four seasons.
Sure, some of that is Patullo.
But a lot of it is a worn-down Hurts and his quickly aging cast.
The playoffs are finally here. The Eagles officially kick off their quest to repeat as Super Bowl champions on Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field against the San Francisco 49ers.
Here’s everything you need to know ahead of their wild-card matchup.
How to watch Eagles vs. Niners
Eagles vs. Niners will kick off on Fox at 4:30 p.m. ET. Kevin Burkhardt and Tom Brady will call the game from the booth, and Erin Andrews and Tom Rinaldi will be on the sidelines.
If you’d rather listen to Merrill Reese and Mike Quick call the game, the radio broadcast can be found on 94.1 WIP, and if you’re not heading to the Linc, but want to watch the game with your fellow Birds fans, here are a few spots to check out.
There will be six games played over the next three days. Here’s the full playoff schedule for the wild-card round …
NFC
(4) Rams vs. (5) Panthers | Saturday, 4:30 p.m., Fox
(7) Packers vs. (2) Bears | Saturday, 8 p.m., Prime Video
(6) Niners vs. (3) Eagles | Sunday, 4:30 p.m., Fox
Bye: (1) Seahawks
AFC
(6) Bills vs. (3) Jaguars | Sunday, 1 p.m., CBS
(7) Chargers vs. (2) Patriots | Sunday, 8:15 p.m., NBC
(5) Texans vs. (4) Steelers | Monday, 8:15 p.m., ESPN
Bye: (1) Broncos
Who could the Eagles face in the divisional round?
First, the Birds need to take care of business on Sunday, but if they do, they could face one of three potential remaining NFC teams: the Los Angeles Rams, the Carolina Panthers, or the Chicago Bears. They could not, however, face the Seattle Seahawks or Green Bay Packers.
The lowest advancing seed will play the top-seeded Seahawks in Seattle. And because the Panthers and Rams — the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds, respectively — play one another, a team with a lower seed than the Eagles is guaranteed to advance. The Packers (or Niners, if they beat the Eagles) could also be in that spot.
If the Packers beat the Bears, Green Bay would be the lowest remaining seed and would face Seattle. The Eagles would then play the winner of the Panthers-Ram game, and would get to host that team in the divisional round. However, if the Bears win, the Eagles would travel to Chicago for the divisional round, with the Panthers-Rams winner heading to Seattle.
Because the Eagles-Niners game is the final NFC wild-card matchup, the winner won’t have to wait to find out its opponent.
The Eagles could get offensive tackle Lane Johnson, left, back for Sunday’s wild-card game.
Final injury report
It sounds like the Eagles won’t know until Sunday whether or not right tackle Lane Johnson, who has been out since Week 11 with a Lisfranc (foot) injury, will make his return to the offensive line. Johnson, interior lineman Brett Toth (concussion), and outside linebacker Azeez Ojulari (hamstring) are all listed as questionable for the Birds’ wild-card game. Ojulari was the only of the three who practiced fully on Friday. Johnson and Toth were limited all week.
On the flip side, the Eagles will be getting several banged-up players back in time for the playoffs. Defensive tackle Jalen Carter (hip), linebacker Nakobe Dean (hamstring), edge rusher Jaelan Phillips (ankle), tight end Dallas Goedert (knee), and safety Marcus Epps (concussion) were all full participants in Friday’s practice and are expected to play.
Meanwhile the 49ers have quite a few injuries, including to several starters. Veteran tackle Trent Williams, linebackers Dee Winters and Luke Gifford — after the team put LB Tatum Bethune on IR earlier this week — and cornerback Renardo Green are among those listed on the injury report for Sunday’s game. The following players are all questionable:
WR Jacob Cowing (hamstring)
LB Luke Gifford (quadricep)
CB Renardo Green (ankle)
WR Ricky Pearsall (knee, ankle)
DL Keion White (groin, hamstring)
T Trent Williams (hamstring)
LB Dee Winters (ankle)
Eagles-Niners odds
The Birds are a 5.5-point favorite at DraftKings and a 4.5-point favorite at FanDuel as of Friday afternoon. The over/under on both sites is set at 44.5.
As for the Super Bowl, the Seahawks are the betting favorite to win it all. At FanDuel, the Eagles have the fourth-best odds, at +800, behind Seattle, the Rams, and the Broncos. At DraftKings, the Eagles have the fifth-best odds, at +950, also behind the Patriots.
Kevin Patullo is in his first year as the Eagles offensive coordinator.
Storylines to watch
What is the state of the Eagles’ offense? With Johnson potentially set to make his first start since Nov. 16 against the Detroit Lions, the banged-up offensive line could get a big boost.
In the starting offense’s final game of the year in Buffalo, they played one of their best first halves and worst second halves of the year. Which version will show up at the Linc on Sunday? And what will that mean for the future of offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo?
More storylines to watch:
Saquon Barkley is extra excited for this weekend’s showdown with Niners running back Christian McCaffrey, whom he calls “one of the best to ever do it.”
Jeff McLane: “There’s a push when it comes to the Eagles’ underperforming offense vs. the 49ers’ subpar defense; but I give the edge to a great Eagles defense over a very good, but not great 49ers offense.” | Eagles 23, Niners 17.
Jeff Neiburg: “It hasn’t been an encouraging season from the Eagles’ offense, to put it mildly, but the 49ers are down multiple linebackers and don’t have an abundance of talent in the secondary. If the Eagles don’t beat themselves, which you can’t rule out, they should be able to establish a running game that gets the offense back on track.” | Eagles 24, Niners 20.
Olivia Reiner: “Maybe the Eagles can finish what the Seahawks started last week and continue to punish the 49ers on the ground. Maybe Jalen Hurts and the passing attack can exploit the 49ers’ thin inside linebacker corps with passes over the middle of the field. Neither have been characteristic of the offense this season, though. Or, maybe, the defense will stifle Shanahan’s offense while Nick Sirianni, Kevin Patullo, and the Eagles offense do just enough to get by. It wouldn’t be the first time.” | Eagles 24, Niners 20.
Matt Breen: “The Niners had a great finish to the season before their dud against the Seahawks, but they just seem too banged up to hang with the Eagles.” | Eagles 24, Niners 13.
The national media is divided over this one, but there’s a definitely lean toward the home team. Here’s a look at how they are predicting Sunday’s game …
Nick Sirianni opted to rest his starters in Week 18 despite a chance to get the No. 2 seed in the NFC.
What we’re saying about the Eagles
Our columnists had plenty to say about the Eagles this week, including Mike Sielski, who believes their toughest opponent is not any team in the bracket, but themselves.
“From Eagles fans to the players themselves, there has seemed to be an ever-present blanket of expectations weighing on them. It’s as if the only thing that would make anyone happy and relieved at any moment this season would be another Super Bowl victory — a benchmark so lofty that it virtually guarantees people will be worried at best and miserable at worst unless the Eagles win every game 49-0.”
Here’s more from our columnists …
David Murphy: “The pertinent question for Kevin Patullo and the Eagles now is what the offense will look like moving forward. This is a weird time of year. Sunday’s wild-card game against the 49ers could be the start of a month of football that leaves us memory-holing our four months of angst. Or, it could be the start of the offseason, and a litany of questions that sound way closer to January 2024 than January 2025.”
Marcus Hayes: “It was Zack Baun. The best linebacker in football over the last two seasons. The man tasked Sunday with covering and tackling Christian McCaffrey, the best offensive player in football, and George Kittle, the league’s best tight end. In a city that still worships linebackers like Chuck Bednarik, Seth Joyner, and Bill Bergey, Baun somehow remains largely anonymous.”
Mike Sielski: “There’s more than one way to be an excellent head coach, even if one of those ways gets a little more attention, a little more scrutiny, a little more credit these days. The film can tell you how good a coach Kyle Shanahan is. What Nick Sirianni does well sometimes isn’t so easy to see. Come Sunday, may the best savant win.”
San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan is a big Vic Fangio fan.
What the Niners are saying
Kyle Shanahan is one of Vic Fangio’s biggest fans. Shanahan is such a big fan, that he’s tried to hire Fangio in San Francisco “all the times that there’s been an opportunity.”
“I mean, Vic schematically, he has always been the best to me,” Shanahan said. “As good as anyone there is. Has a very sound scheme that he doesn’t need to change up very much. It just naturally changes with how he does his coverages, how he does his fronts, the personnel groupings he does. He’s very good at getting a bead on what you’re trying to do and making you adjust.”
Sunday should be an extremely hostile environment for the Niners. Tight end George Kittle recalled a few of his craziest stories on Thursday.
“I just thoroughly enjoy it because it’s so unique every single time,” Kittle said. “I’ll never forget my rookie season, the year they won the Super Bowl, it was my first time playing in the Linc. There were like four 10-year-old kids holding a seven-foot tall papier-mâché middle finger that had a rotating thing on it that made the middle finger come up. That was the coolest thing, I’ll never forget it. That was my rookie year and I was like this is excellent.”
Kittle isn’t the only member of the 49ers offense looking forward to playing in the Linc. Kyle Juszczyk is also ready to take on Eagles fans.
“It’s more difficult [going into a hostile environment] but the payoff is better,” Juszczyk told reporters. “There’s nothing like that feeling of going into a hostile territory and getting a win. Yeah, it’s a little bit more difficult, but it’ll be worth it in the end.”
Saquon Barkley has a favorite element of playoff football. Winning the Super Bowl in his first season with the Eagles last year and celebrating with a parade was a lot of fun. The Eagles got there and did that in large part because the NFL’s 2024 offensive player of the year rushed for 499 yards and five touchdowns in four games.
The trophy and the stats were cool, but Barkley — who is, it’s worth mentioning here, not having a statistical season worth remembering — would seemingly hand those numbers to someone else if the postseason result can remain the same. If the Eagles, like they are more prone to do this season, plod their way to another title.
“Most importantly it’s winning, winning football, however it looks,” Barkley said this week. “That’s the best thing about the playoffs. If we win every game the way we won against Buffalo, no one’s going to care. No one is going to feel like we didn’t do enough on offense. Even you guys can’t really write nothing about it because we got to move on to the next week.
“That’s my favorite part about the playoffs. Stats don’t matter. The only thing that matters is winning the game, and I’m excited for that.”
It is a constant message around the NovaCare Complex, straight from the mouths of the organization’s leaders, Nick Sirianni and Jalen Hurts, who, to be fair, have done a lot of winning.
But it’s also the easiest message to lean on right now as the Eagles and their maligned offense start on a playoff run — in a wide-open tournament — that could conceivably end Sunday or a month from now in California. Because the stats, which Barkley says don’t matter, aren’t good.
In case you need to be reminded how Kevin Patullo’s first regular season as offensive coordinator went: The Eagles ranked 24th in yards per game. They had a higher three-and-out percentage than the New York Jets. Barkley’s rushing yards were nearly cut in half this season as the Eagles faced a higher frequency of stacked boxes and he ran behind a banged-up offensive line that struggled to create space. They have struggled with their operation from one play to the next and snap the ball later in the clock than any other team. Hurts is running less than he ever has.
Offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo (with wide receiver A.J. Brown and quarterback Jalen Hurts) has been subject to constant criticism this season.
The Eagles went 11-6, won the woeful NFC East for the second consecutive season, and earned the NFC’s third seed, which awarded them a home game Sunday, in large part because Vic Fangio’s defense allows the Eagles to squeak out 13-12 victories like the one Barkley mentioned against Buffalo.
But will the offense turn it on in the playoffs and help the Eagles make another run? Playing defense at a high level and taking care of the football is the Eagles’ formula. It can be a winning one. Which raises the question: Does the offense need to turn it on?
The answer to that question can be both yes and no. The Eagles can’t win a Super Bowl by just playing defense and not turning the ball over. They will obviously need to score points. But they have shown that winning football games does not require 30-point outbursts despite their high-priced offensive firepower.
There is not, however, a lot of recent precedent for a team with this type of offense reaching the Super Bowl. Only two teams — as pointed out recently by PHLY Sports — had lower success rates and expected points added per drive than this year’s Eagles team and reached the final weekend of the NFL season: the 2015 Denver Broncos and the 2023 Kansas City Chiefs.
The Eagles are 22nd in offensive success rate, according to SumerSports. Only one playoff team, the Houston Texans, ranks lower.
But multiple key members of the organization this week expressed confidence that the Eagles are moving in the right direction offensively and have what it takes to make a playoff run with the offense being a big part of it all.
Saquon Barkley’s production took a major step back from his award-winning campaign of 2024.
Jordan Mailata pointed to the last month for evidence. He said the Eagles have gotten more creative with their formations, sending Hurts under center and using play action. The running game has shown signs of life, even if a weak Bills defense stopped the Eagles in the second half of their Dec. 28 game in New York, the last time the first-team offense was on the field.
“I’ve seen us do it at a high level,” Barkley said. “Now we just got to lock in.”
That would be made a little easier with the return of Lane Johnson, who missed the last seven games of the season with a foot injury. The Eagles’ offense goes as its running game goes, and while Barkley was hit behind the line of scrimmage on 47.1% of his carries this season, according to Next Gen Stats — it got even worse when Johnson was out.
Designed rushes outside the right tackle earned 2.3 yards before contact per carry when Johnson was on the field compared to 0.1 with him out of the game, according to Next Gen.
The Eagles can lean on that and some of their recent success in scheming runs against the Los Angeles Chargers, Las Vegas Raiders, and Washington Commanders, and in the first half of the Bills game. They can lean on under-center looks to both run out of and utilize the play-action game. They can, so long as they move the ball, lean on their NFL-best 70.45% rate of converting red zone opportunities into touchdowns. They can let Hurts loose in the running game, which could in turn help open up everything else.
“You have to have an identity of what you want to do,” Sirianni said this week.
He thinks the Eagles have found theirs. Better late than never.
Sunday’s playoff-opening matchup with the 49ers should present opportunities for the offense. The 49ers have the 20th-ranked defense in the NFL by yards allowed per game. They are missing multiple linebackers, which should weaken a unit that already allows 4.3 yards per carry, also 20th in the NFL. The passing defense has been even more beatable. Only seven teams allow more passing yards than the 49ers.
It is an opportunity for Patullo to dip into the playbook and game plan a balanced offensive attack that exploits San Francisco’s weaknesses and utilizes the abundance of talent the Eagles have on offense.
Can Kevin Patullo exploit a diminished 49ers defense?
“I think game-by-game, you’re just doing whatever you need to do to win the game,” said Patullo, whose job could be in jeopardy with an early playoff exit. “So, we will do anything and everything we have to, to put our players in a position and give them a chance to execute and win the game.
“Really up to this point, our whole goal has just been to win games, and that’s what we’re trying to do is win as many games as we can. And obviously now it counts even more. So as far as game planning going forward, it is whatever we need to do is what we’re going to do to win the game.
“I think we’ve spread it out to do totally different things from game-to-game, week-to-week. And so that’s where we’re at. We’ll just do whatever we have to do and keep pushing forward.”
That is the company line. It is one that has worked, but it is one that will be tested this weekend and beyond, should the Eagles advance.
Do the Eagles, with all the ups and downs the offense has been faced with this season, have enough answers?
“I think it depends on what perspective you look at, half-empty or half-full,” Hurts said. “I think being able to evolve and change as much as we have and still find ways to win, in ways gives you … maybe gives off this perspective of, ‘Well, what are they going to do? Who are they?’ I do definitely think that is a way that you can look at it.
“Also, at the end of the day, we’re not going to be judged off how it got done. We’re going to be judged off of if we did it or not. So my focus is on doing it.”
Robert Williams III never knows which Yacht Rock tune or ’90s hip-hop jam he’ll parody when his beloved Birds take the field.
But by the top of the fourth quarter, the Philadelphia Eagles fan and social media content creator not only has the song picked (more times than not, it’s a Billy Joel classic), but he has also written most of the lyrics, practiced the hook, the chorus, and the bridge.
The result looks something like “Allen Down” — a hilarious remix of Joel’s 1982 hit “Allentown.”
Williams, a retired Army veteran who served in the Afghanistan war, wrote that one as he watched the Birds beat the Buffalo Bills the Sunday after Christmas, clinching their spot in this Sunday’s first round of the NFL playoffs.
In the video he’s dressed like a giant Eagle while clowning on Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen. The clip has 19,000 likes on Instagram and tens of thousands of likes on TikTok and Facebook.
“Philadelphia took Allen down
Every time you looked he was on the ground.
Vic Fangio did a heck of a job.
I’m guessing the Bills drank too much eggnog,” the song goes.
Williams’ cheeky videos, filmed in his Severn, Md., Kelly green man cave, have earned the Hamilton, N.J., native a combined 2 million followers on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. And a lot of those followers are from Philly.
That includes Questlove, Jazzy Jeff, Chill Moody, State Rep. Joanna McClinton (D., Philadelphia), and legendary WDAS announcer Patty Jackson.
Robert Williams III posed for a portrait at his home on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026 in Severn, Md. Williams has an Instagram page where he performs parodies of popular songs with lyrics about the Eagles.
Before the 2025 NFL season even started, former NFL player-turned-podcaster Cam Newton ribbed Jalen Hurts, saying he wasn’t one of the league’s elite quarterbacks. Gillie took offense and hazed Newton on social media all season.
After Hurts’ stellar game against the New York Giants in Week 8, Williams dropped a video sampling LL Cool J’s 1997 hit “4,3,2,1.” In it, Williams mocks Newton — complete with long hair, wide-brimmed hat, and round glasses offering a fake apology to Gillie through a series of crisp bars.
Gillie liked and shared it.
“I was like ‘Wow’,” Williams said. “That right there is a big thing for me.”
Williams, who is known across social media as @robertwilliamsfilms, is also recognized as being among the influencers who trade in Gen X nostalgia, creators like Maria Ferrer and the Urban Rewind.
His loyal fans include some of the biggest old-school rappers: Ice Cube, and Wu Tang Clan’s Ghost Face Killah and Inspectah Deck. Common began leaving friendly — albeit slick — comments on Williams’ parodies in Week 13 after the Birds’ devastating loss to the Chicago Bears.
Williams quickly borrowed the arrangement of Common’s “Go,” changing the lyrics to “No.” That post has 74.3K likes on Instagram.
Even famously estranged musicians Daryl Hall and John Oates both agree on Williams’ talent. Williams cover of Hall & Oates’ 1975 hit “Sara Smile” after Week 15’s game against the Las Vegas Raiders as ”Jalen Smile” drew likes and comments from each of the musicians.
Williams’ devotion to the Eagles goes back to the mid-1980s when Buddy Ryan was coach and Randall Cunningham and Reggie White were on the team.
“I fell in love with the passion they brought to the game,” he said
Williams, 49, a fan of soft rock groups Tears for Fears, Toto, Air Supply, and Journey, watched a lot of MTV. He enjoyed Weird Al Yankovic’s parodies of ’80s icons Michael Jackson, Madonna, and later, Coolio.
“I had such an admiration for Weird Al,” Williams said. “Me and my little brothers would walk to school making up our own lyrics … Songs would just pop in my head and I’d rearrange the lyrics.”
He never stopped.
Robert Williams III tries on one of his signature wigs for a portrait at his home on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026 in Severn, Md. Williams has an Instagram page where he performs parodies of popular songs with lyrics about the Eagles.
While still in the Army, Williams, now a husband and father of two, picked up a side hustle as a videographer, shooting weddings and other special events.
“I was a student of YouTube University,” he said.
COVID ended that gig but also marked the beginning of Williams’ social media career.
He posted his first parody — “It’s Almost Thanksgiving” performed to the melody of The Golden Girls theme “Thank you for Being a Friend” — on social media in 2020.
His bridge: “It won’t be a party, we’ll be talking to everyone on Zoom.”
Some of Robert Williams III’s Eagles collection at his home on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026 in Severn, Md. Williams has an Instagram page where he performs parodies of popular songs with lyrics about the Eagles.
He combined his love of sports and parodies during the 2023-24 NFL season. That first post centered on Williams’ disdain for the Dallas Cowboys. In it, his daughter slyly asks, “Daddy, how long has it been since the Cowboys won the Super Bowl?” Williams (also known as Billy Soul) puts on a strawberry blond wig and spoofs a 1984 Billy Joel hit: “For the Longest Time.”
Some of Robert Williams III’s Eagles collection at his home on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026 in Severn, Md. Williams has an Instagram page where he performs parodies of popular songs with lyrics about the Eagles.
That video received 212K likes on Instagram and remains one of his top posts.
“My Billy Joel parodies seem to do the best and I have a lot of fun doing them,” Williams said. “My favorite genres of music are hip-hop and R&B so those parodies are easy to me. When I’m doing Billy Joel, I’m challenging myself.”
He is committed to posting an Eagles recap weekly during the 2025-26 season. This year his costumes are more elaborate — he has two boxes of wigs to choose from. His wife, Katrina, and his children, Rakim and Dayla, make regular appearances. He’s also monetized his page, earning a few hundred dollars a month.
Williams’ videos do well because he’s fast. By the end of the game, not only is the song written but he has also cued up the footage to intersperse between verses. It takes him about a half an hour to record his voice and film the storyline.
The videos are posted within two hours after the game ends.
Robert Williams III posed for a portrait wearing his Hall & Oates wig at his home on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026 in Severn, Md. Williams has an Instagram page where he performs parodies of popular songs with lyrics about the Eagles.
But sometimes, Williams is scrambling.
Last Sunday, after the Birds’ surprising fourth-quarter loss to the Washington Commanders, he had to quickly retool his version to Billy Joel’s “Keeping the Faith.”
In the revamped final verse, he sang: “Some say sitting the starters was a good thing. Now we will play as the No. 3 seed. Now it’s time to be the Broad Street Bullies. ‘Cause the 49ers aren’t all that good and we’ll prove it at the Linc next week …”
As for Sunday’s game, Williams is keeping the faith.
“Some people think we can’t turn on a dime and win this whole thing,” Williams said. “But I believe we will.”
The Eagles will host the San Francisco 49ers to open the first round of the playoffs on Sunday. The last time both teams met was on Dec. 3 of the 2023 regular season, when the 49ers avenged an NFC championship loss to the Eagles a year prior.
Now, the Eagles enter as 4.5-point favorites. Will quarterback Brock Purdy lead the 49ers to a win in the postseason? Or will the Eagles back-to-back hopes stay alive?
Here’s what the 49ers players and coaches are saying about the Eagles …
‘Obviously, we know Philly’
Almost three years ago, the 49ers and the Eagles met in the NFC championship game. The Eagles dominated the 49ers at home in a 31-7 victory to secure their spot in the Super Bowl against the Kansas City Chiefs.
In the loss, Purdy tore his UCL in the first quarter, but returned to the field after the team’s backup quarterback, Josh Johnson, suffered a third-quarter concussion. Entering Sunday’s game, Purdy isn’t focused on his past encounters with the team.
“More than anything, it’s our 2025 season and we’re trying to finish strong and compete against a new team, scheme, kind of feel,” Purdy told reporters. “That’s where my mindset is at with that. Obviously, we know Philly, being there, their environment, their fans, all the things. It’s about getting prepared for that right now, rather than having flashbacks or anything like that.
“I already went in there in 2023 and played after what had happened in 2022. So, I feel like that’s out of the way and we’re ready to move on.”
The following season, the 49ers traveled back to Lincoln Financial Field during Week 13 and avenged the NFC championship loss with a 42-19 win over the Birds.
“Two completely different outcomes,” George Kittle told reporters this week. “They whooped up on us the first time. Then we did it the next year. I try not to think too much about that. I try not to hold onto grudges or anything like that because I think that just kind of clouds your judgment and you’re thinking about all this stuff that doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters to us is beating the Eagles who we haven’t played in two years.”
Although both teams have history with one another, 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey is only focused on one thing.
“We have history with the team, but this is about executing, it’s about controlling what you can control, and going out there and playing extremely hard,” McCaffrey said.
Eagles fans can be hostile, but some 49ers players prefer it that way.
‘They hate us all equally’
And when it comes to traveling to the Linc, the 49ers are just as familiar with the Philly fan base. On Thursday, Kittle reflected on his past experiences in the city.
“The one thing that’s really unique about Philly is that they don’t really — I mean, maybe like a division rival is different, but any other road team that comes in there, they hate all of us equally and I just appreciate that,” Kittle said. “It’s incredibly loud, they flip you off, they moon you on your bus ride in.
“But, they do that to everybody. It doesn’t matter if you’re the 49ers, if you’re the Jacksonville Jaguars. It doesn’t matter. They just give you that no matter what and I appreciate that because you can tell how much they love their team.”
The veteran tight end has played four times in Philly, including that 2023 playoff game, but appreciates each one. “I just thoroughly enjoy it because it’s so unique every single time,” Kittle said.
However, there was one moment that really stood out to the seven-time Pro Bowler.
“I’ll never forget my rookie season, the year they won the Super Bowl, it was my first time playing in the Linc,” Kittle recalled. “There were like four 10-year-old kids holding a seven-foot-tall papier-mâché middle finger that had a rotating thing on it that made the middle finger come up. That was the coolest thing, I’ll never forget it. That was my rookie year and I was like this is excellent.”
Playing on the road in the postseason may be a tough challenge for the 49ers, but it’s one that fullback Kyle Juszczyk is ready to take on, especially in Philly.
“It’s more difficult [going into a hostile environment] but the payoff is better,” Juszczyk told reporters. “There’s nothing like that feeling of going into a hostile territory and getting a win. Yeah, it’s a little bit more difficult but it’ll be worth it in the end.”
Vic Fangio’s defense allowed the fifth fewest point in the NFL this season.
‘It’s a big challenge’
Sunday’s game likely hinges on Vic Fangio’s Eagles defense vs. Kyle Shanahan’s 49ers offense. Shanahan spoke earlier this week about how much respect he has for Fangio — and how he’s tried to hire him multiple times — but he’s not the only member of the Niners who appreciate the test they’ll face Sunday.
“I feel like Kyle does a good job at making sure we all understand what kind of game it’s going to be,” Purdy said. “If they’re going to load the box, what our answer is. If they’re not, let’s do our job — whether it’s still throwing the ball or running the ball efficiently.
“I feel like the Eagles do a really good job at switching things up and making it hard to run the ball with the front that they have and dropping guys back in coverage. So, we respect the heck out of what they do. But, we also have to be on top of our job and have success in what we’ve always done.”
The Eagles defense has been dominant this season, especially down the stretch, and 49ers offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak credits much of its success to coaching — and a physical defensive line.
“It always starts with the players,” Kubiak told reporters. “They’re super talented on defense, up front especially. It starts with 98, he’s one of the most talented interior players that we’ve gone against. All three levels, they’re talented. Extremely well coached and coordinated.
“Vic [Fangio] knows how to identify what you’re trying to do and take away those things that your offense is trying to exploit. That’s why they’re a top defense. We’re going on the road. So, the environment is going to make it harder. So, it’s a big challenge.”
On the opposite side of the ball, the Eagles have struggled to find an identity. But 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh is well aware of the threat that Saquon Barkley still possesses.
“I still think he’s elite,” Saleh said. “I know his production isn’t what it was a year ago. But he’s still a damn good football player. He’s still a threat to break it anytime he touches the ball. [Jeff] Stoutland is still one of the best O-line coaches in all of football, creating good angles and creating space for the backs. They can still run the ball as good as anybody.”
The Eagles have listed Lane Johnson, who suffered a Lisfranc foot injury in Week 11, as questionable to play in Sunday’s wild-card game against the San Francisco 49ers.
Johnson, the 35-year-old right tackle, was a limited participant in all three practices this week. He hadn’t practiced since mid-November, as he missed the last seven games of the regular season after his injury against the Detroit Lions.
“Obviously, Lane’s a phenomenal football player, so anytime he’s on the field, you are pumped about that,” Nick Sirianni said of Johnson’s participation in practice. “He’s continuing to grind through and he’s a warrior. He does everything he can possibly do to be out there with us. It’s always good to have him back on the field.”
Johnson’s potential return could provide a boost to an Eagles offense that has been plagued by inconsistency this season. In his seven-game absence, the Eagles went 3-4. The team has a 18-28 record in games in which Johnson does not play during his 13 seasons with the team.
Johnson has missed just one career playoff game, that coming as a result of a high-ankle sprain in the Eagles’ 2019 wild-card loss to the Seattle Seahawks. Otherwise, the two-time All-Pro right tackle has suited up for 15 postseason games.
If Johnson plays, the Eagles could have 21 of their 22 starters active against the 49ers. The lone player missing is rookie safety Drew Mukuba, who injured his ankle in the Week 12 loss to the Dallas Cowboys.
In addition to Johnson, the Eagles listed Brett Toth (concussion) and Azeez Ojulari (hamstring; injured reserve) as questionable to play against the 49ers. Toth was a limited participant in Friday’s practice after sitting out on Wednesday and Thursday.
Everyone else on the Eagles’ active roster is available to play, including Grant Calcaterra (ankle), Jalen Carter (hip), Nakobe Dean (hamstring), Landon Dickerson (rest), Marcus Epps (concussion), Dallas Goedert (knee), and Jaelan Phillips (ankle).
Dean, the 25-year-old inside linebacker, is set to suit up for his first game in three weeks. He was sidelined for the final two games of the season with a hamstring injury he suffered in Week 16 against the Washington Commanders.
Dean revealed his intention to play against the 49ers earlier in the week. Dean last appeared in the postseason last season in the wild-card round win over the Green Bay Packers, when he tore the patellar tendon in his knee.
“I never lost faith in [the fact that] everything would be great,” Dean said of his yearlong journey on Wednesday. “My prayer, everything, I never lost faith. I never lost confidence in myself. I knew I put in the work and just take it a day at a time.”
The 49ers are listing five starters as questionable, including left tackle Trent Williams (hamstring), wide receiver Ricky Pearsall (knee/ankle), inside linebacker Dee Winters (ankle), outside linebacker Luke Gifford (quadricep), and cornerback Renardo Green (foot).
Williams, the three-time All-Pro tackle, was a limited participant in practice all week. Pearsall did not practice, but head coach Kyle Shanahan said Friday that he could still play. Green had not been listed on the injury report going into Friday’s practice.
Depth players defensive lineman Keion White (groin/hamstring) and Jacob Cowing (hamstring; injured reserve)are also questionable to play.
