The Sixers (21-16) were trending in the right direction after winning two straight and five of their last six games heading into this matchup. And with Tyrese Maxey scoring a game-high 38 points, they appeared capable of overcoming the huge absences of Joel Embiid (left knee injury management/left groin soreness) and Paul George (left knee soreness).
But an inability to close out the game reared its ugly head.
Maxey hit a what appeared to be a 29-foot dagger three-pointer to give the Sixers a 107-103 cushion with 20.1 seconds left.
However, they failed to inbound the ball. The Raptors (24-16) won two challenges and made two baskets to force overtime.
The Sixers built a 112-108 lead with 2 minutes, 23 seconds remaining in overtime. But the Raptors responded with a 7-0 run to take a 115-112 lead after the Sixers missed two shots and committed a costly turnover.
Toronto Raptors forward Scottie Barnes (left) led the team in points with 31 against the Sixers.
VJ Edgecombe made a 30-foot three-pointer to knot the score at 115. However, Scottie Barnes got away with initiating contact with Oubre, who was called for a foul, on a drive with 0.8 seconds left.
Barnes, who finished with 31 points, eight assists, and seven rebounds, made the first foul shot and intentionally missed the second to win the game.
The Sixers committed 22 turnovers and made just 8 of 31 three-pointers. But they were ultimately doomed by poor late-game execution. Something they need to correct.
“We just got to be better, be more disciplined and stay together in those moments where we’re facing a little bit of adversity, because we both made runs,” Oubre said to reporters. “But you know, theirs was the final shot.”
Barnes will get the credit for winning Sunday’s game. However, the Raptors backcourt of Immanuel Quickley and Jamal Shead had their way with the Sixers guards. Quickley finished with 20 points and seven assists, while Shead had 22 and six assists.
The duo had several downhill drives in the lane. If they couldn’t score, they kicked the ball out to teammates. Late in the game, Shead and Quickley drove the lane. Once the Sixers provided help defense, the guard would dump the ball off to a big man for a dunk.
“We just got out of position on some of that,” coach Nick Nurse said to reporters. “I felt we went to help a little too early, and obviously left too big a passing lane for those dumboffs late.”
But it started with the Sixers guards needing to do a better job of keeping opposing perimeter players in front of them.
Before missing 22 games with a sprained left knee ligament, Oubre was the quiet assassin for the Sixers. The 6-foot-8 small forward averaged 16.8 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 1.1 steals in his first 12 games. In addition to excelling when the ball was moving, Oubre did a solid job of guarding the opposing team’s best perimeter player.
He returned on Wednesday and provided solid defense that night against the Washington Wizards and again on Friday vs. the Orlando Magic. However, he averaged one point on a combined 1-for-9 shooting in those two games.
Toronto Raptors guard Alijah Martin, left, strips the ball from Sixers’ Kelly Oubre Jr. during overtime.
He had the complete package against the Raptors.
Oubre finished with 13 points on 5-for-10 shooting to go with five rebounds and season highs of four steals and three blocks in his third game back. Nine of his points came in the third quarter.
“He hasn’t really scored much since being back, so that’s obviously nice to see,” Nurse said. “He even hit a three, but had some really nice drives. He had a couple of good blocks and steals as well, which is why we ended up playing him as much as we did down the stretch.”
He’ll go back to being an X-factor if he can keep this up.
“It definitely felt good,” Oubre said. “It’s just, I think I could be better. I got blocked because I’m not trusting myself and the work that I put in.
“So you know, just watching film, continue to just show up every day and get better. That’s all I can do. But it definitely felt good to get some run.”
In the days leading up to the Eagles’ Dec. 28 road game at the Buffalo Bills, defensive assistant Jeremiah Washburn, who coaches the Eagles edge rushers, handed out a new accessory to the entire defensive line.
The green bracelet has “Isaiah 6:8″ and the phrase “send me” written in white. In the Bible verse, the prophet Isaiah hears the voice of God ask: “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” Isaiah responds: “Here I am. Send me.”
That, defensive tackle Moro Ojomo said, was the mindset of the entire defensive line. And the entire Eagles’ defense.
“Send us,” Ojomo said as he fiddled with the bracelet on his left wrist. “We want to be the ones to get the job done.”
For most of the 2025 season, especially after the Eagles’ Week 9 bye, the defense answered the call. Vic Fangio’s unit propped up an inconsistent offense. It stifled good offenses and carried the team to victories that maybe it didn’t deserve. The Eagles beat Green Bay 10-7. They beat Detroit 16-9. They won that Bills game, 13-12. They entered the postseason, in what was a wide-open NFL playoffs, with a puncher’s chance to repeat as Super Bowl champions in large part because they had the talent on defense and Fangio, the mastermind, calling the shots.
The season ended in abrupt fashion Sunday for myriad reasons, but the San Francisco 49ers advanced to the NFC’s divisional round in part because the Eagles didn’t have enough answers defensively down the stretch. The 49ers scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns. They had a 10-play, 66-yard touchdown drive that lasted more than five minutes and ended with less than three minutes on the clock.
The strength of the Eagles defense was its ability to limit explosive plays and clamp down in the red zone.
The 49ers threw the first haymaker. Lincoln Financial Field roared after Will Shipley crunched Brian Robinson on the opening kickoff and then the Eagles stuffed Christian McCaffrey’s first rushing attempt on San Francisco’s first play for a loss of one yard. But then Quinyon Mitchell allowed a 61-yard catch-and-run from Brock Purdy to Demarcus Robinson that set the 49ers up in the red zone at the Eagles’ 16-yard line. Four plays later, Purdy hit Robinson, who beat Mitchell for a 2-yard touchdown and the game’s first points.
“I got to start the game off faster,” Mitchell said. “Maybe that could’ve changed the game in a way.”
Mitchell would eventually atone. The Eagles forced punts on the next two San Francisco drives before allowing a field goal and then later stopping the 49ers as the second quarter ended. Mitchell then picked Purdy off on the 49ers’ first drive of the second half. He had another interception in the fourth quarter, too, but after the 49ers added another score.
San Francisco, which was already banged up and lost star tight end George Kittle to an Achilles injury in the second quarter, dipped into the bag of tricks to open the fourth quarter. Out of the timeout, Kyle Shanahan dialed up a trick play, a reverse that found the ball in the hands of Jauan Jennings, who threw on the move to a streaking and wide-open McCaffrey for a 29-yard score.
“We knew they liked to do some sort of trickery down in the red zone,” safety Reed Blankenship said. “We were just in a different call that allowed him to sneak through.”
The Eagles took the lead back on a Jake Elliott field goal with eight minutes to play. The defense needed to deliver one final stop. Instead, the 49ers moved the ball with ease. The Eagles, who sacked Purdy once on the day, applied pressure at times, but not enough. Purdy felt the pressure and was excellent in escaping it. The 49ers didn’t face a third down on that 10-play, game-winning drive until the play they scored on, a 4-yard pass from Purdy to McCaffrey on third-and-goal. The 49ers converted six of their 11 third-down attempts.
“They just made more plays than we did,” Blankenship said.
Shanahan, Ojomo said, “is a hell of an offensive play-caller.”
“At the end of the day, he kind of had a better plan and we should have executed at a higher level,” Ojomo said. “You got to play complementary football. After our scores, we needed to stop them. When we get turnovers, we need scores. We didn’t do that at a high enough level to win. That’s kind of the result when you’re in the playoffs. You’re playing good teams every week. You can’t have any hiccups.”
Jordan Davis (90) and Moro Ojomo (97) were encouraging pieces of a fine Eagles defense in 2025.
Especially not with an offense that rarely allowed for wiggle room. It was a lot to ask if the Eagles were going to try to repeat. The offense did not permit much in the way of a margin for error. It is a taxing way to play football, and it’s taxing on a defense that got better as the year went on. Ojomo, though, wanted to look only internally.
“You could always get one more stop, one more turnover,” he said. “At the end of the day, we fell short as a defense. They don’t score, they don’t win. We didn’t get the job done.”
The defense will look different next season. Blankenship is one of a few key free agents. The loss, he said, was tough.
“This is one of the toughest things about football and about life,” he said. “You go through the challenges throughout the year, training camp, whatever. You create this relationship and these bonds and it ends so fast. You’re not really prepared for it and it’s tough.”
How will the 2025 defense be remembered? It was the year of Jordan Davis’ breakout. Mitchell and Cooper DeJean, both second-year players, were named first-team All-Pros. Brandon Graham came out of retirement. Ojomo stepped in for a key free agent, Milton Williams, and shined.
“I think everybody will just remember this game,” Blankenship said. “That’s the last game we played in and it wasn’t us.”
You’re only as good as your last, they say.
“You lose in the first round of the playoffs, I don’t think you’re remembered much,” Ojomo said. “That’s effed up. This defense played our tail off all year, young and hungry and filled with a bunch of guys who are selfless.”
Washburn, Ojomo said, handed those bracelets out to provide some perspective. The message, he said, was received. The defense wanted to be the unit that carried the Eagles.
“It’s sad,” Ojomo said. “I loved being on this defense.”
The play that encapsulated everything the Eagles offense wasn’t this season was a play that they themselves didn’t even run. First snap of the fourth quarter Sunday night for the San Francisco 49ers, first-and-10 from the Eagles’ 29-yard line, and there was Kyle Shanahan, calling a double-wing reverse pass that made one of the NFL’s best defenses look like a bunch of suckers. Brock Purdy handed the football to Skyy Moore, who pitched it to Jauan Jennings, who rainbowed a pass toward the end zone to Christian McCaffrey, who didn’t have an Eagles player within 5 yards of him.
A six-point Eagles lead suddenly was a one-point deficit. And though that touchdown technically wasn’t the winning score in the 49ers’ 23-19 wild-card victory, it was the perfect symbol for the difference between a team that played like it had nothing to lose and a team that played like it was fearful of taking the slightest of chances.
From Nick Sirianni to Kevin Patullo to Jalen Hurts, the Eagles spent too much of this season acting as if being daring was taboo for them. Sirianni preached the importance of minimizing turnovers, citing the Eagles’ marvelous record during his tenure as head coach when they protected the football better than their opponents. But it turned out that a Super Bowl champion cannot defend its title on caution alone. The 49ers committed two turnovers. The Eagles didn’t commit any. And the final score was the final score.
In the locker room afterward, player after player used the same word as the cause of the Eagles’ struggles during the regular season and their quick exit from the postseason: execution. “If there are multiple players saying that,” tackle Jordan Mailata asked, “why don’t you believe us?” Good question. Here’s why: It’s a familiar, sometimes default way of thinking among elite athletes: It doesn’t matter what the coach calls. It doesn’t matter if my opponent knows what’s coming. If I do exactly what I’m supposed to do exactly when I’m supposed to do it, nothing can stop me, and nothing can stop us.
“I don’t think we were playing conservatively,” running back Saquon Barkley said. “I think it comes down to execution. A lot of the same calls we have — I know it was a new offensive coordinator and new guys, but we kind of stuck with the same script, to be honest, of what we did last year. It’s easy to say that when you’re not making the plays. … If we’re making the plays, no one is going to say we’re being conservative.”
The Eagles could get away with following that mantra last season. Their offensive line was the best in the league, and they shifted midseason from having Jalen Hurts throw 30-plus passes a game to giving the ball to Barkley and counting on him for consistent yardage and big plays. But, as Barkley acknowledged, they returned this season with pretty much the same offense — after the other 31 teams had an offseason to study what the Eagles had done and come up with ways to neutralize it.
“If they call inside zone and we call inside zone and they run it better than us, they just ran it better than us,” Barkley said. “They executed better than us. That’s just my mindset. Maybe I’m wrong.”
He is. There rarely was any surprise to the Eagles’ attack this season, rarely any moments when A.J. Brown or DeVonta Smith was running free and alone down the field, when Barkley wasn’t dodging defenders in the backfield, when anything looked easy for them. When everyone in the stadium knows you’re likely to call a particular play in a particular situation, yes, you had better be perfect in every aspect of that sequence. But when you catch a defense off guard — as Shanahan did on Jennings’ pass — your execution can be less than ideal, and the play will still work.
Look at Sunday: Barkley had 15 carries in the first half and 11 in the second. He had 71 yards in the first half and 35 in the second; after halftime, the 49ers started sending more players toward the line of scrimmage just before Hurts took the snap. The proper countermove would have been to throw the ball downfield more often, but the Eagles were reluctant to court such risk. It doesn’t much matter whether Patullo couldn’t scheme up such plays or whether, even if Patullo had opened up the offense, Hurts would have held the ball anyway. The result was the same. They settled for what was safe.
“I think that’s always the go-to. … People think you take your foot off the gas,” Sirianni said. “We didn’t create enough explosives. They did.”
To the end, the head coach struggled to see the connection between his conservatism and the problems that plagued his offense. No Super Bowl appearance, no title defense, not even a spot in the playoffs’ second round. Over 18 games, this team wrote its own epitaph.
The 2025 Eagles: They played not to lose. Which is why they did.
WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powellsaid Sunday the Department of Justice has served the central bank with subpoenas and threatened it with a criminal indictment over his testimony this summer about the Fed’s building renovations.
The move represents an unprecedented escalation in President Donald Trump’s battle with the Fed, an independent agency he has repeatedly attacked for not cutting its key interest rate as sharply as he prefers. The renewed fight will likely rattle financial markets Monday and could over time escalate borrowing costs for mortgages and other loans.
The subpoenas relate to Powell’s testimony before the Senate Banking Committee in June, the Fed chair said, regarding the Fed’s $2.5 billion renovation of two office buildings, a project that Trump has criticized as excessive.
Powell on Sunday cast off what has up to this point been a restrained approach to Trump’s criticisms and personal insults, which he has mostly ignored. Instead, Powell issued a video statement in which he bluntly characterized the threat of criminal charges as simple “pretexts” to undermine the Fed’s independence when it comes to setting interest rates.
“The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the President,” Powell said. “This is about whether the Fed will be able to continue to set interest rates based on evidence and economic conditions — or whether instead monetary policy will be directed by political pressure or intimidation.”
It’s a sharp departure from the Fed’s understated response to Trump this year. The central bank has attempted to placate the administration by dialing back some policies, such as efforts to consider the impact of climate change on the banking system, that the administration clearly opposed.
The renewed attacks on the Fed’s independence, and Powell’s full-throated defense, reignite what had appeared to be a dormant battle between Trump and the chair he appointed in 2017. The subpoenas will renew fears that the Fed’s independence from day-to-day politics will be compromised, which could undermine global investors’ confidence in U.S. Treasury securities.
“We expect the dollar, bonds and stocks to all fall in Monday trading in a sell-America trade similar to that in April last year at the peak of the tariff shock and earlier threat to Powell’s position as Fed chair,” Krishna Guha, an analyst at Evercore ISI, an investment bank, wrote in a note to clients.
“We are stunned by this deeply disturbing development which came out of the blue after a period in which tensions between Trump and the Fed seemed to be contained,” Guha added.
In a brief interview with NBC News Sunday, Trump insisted he didn’t know about the investigation into Powell. When asked if the investigation is intended to pressure Powell on rates, Trump said, “No. I wouldn’t even think of doing it that way.”
Powell’s term as chair ends in May, and Trump administration officials have signaled that he could name a potential replacement this month. Trump has also sought to fire Fed governor Lisa Cook, an unprecedented step, though she has sued to keep her job and courts have ruled she can remain in her seat while the case plays out. The Supreme Court will hear arguments in that case Jan. 21.
At the Senate Banking Committee hearing in June, Chairman Tim Scott, a Republican from South Carolina, said the Fed’s building renovation included “rooftop terraces, custom elevators that open into VIP dining rooms, white marble finishes, and even a private art collection.”
Powell disputed those details in his testimony, saying “there’s no new marble. … there are no special elevators” and added that some of the controversial items are “not in the current plan.” In July, Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, said in a letter to Powell that his testimony about changes to the building plans “raises serious questions about the project’s compliance” with previous plans approved by a planning commission.
Still, later that month, Trump visited the building site and, while standing next to Powell, overstated the cost of the renovation. Later that day, Trump, speaking to reporters, downplayed any concerns with the renovation. He said, “they have to get it done” and added, “Look, there’s always Monday morning quarterbacks. I don’t want to be that. I want to help them get it finished.”
When asked if it was a firing offense, Trump said, “I don’t want to put that in this category.”
The Justice Department in a statement Sunday said it can’t comment on any particular case, but added that Attorney General Pam Bondi “has instructed her US Attorneys to prioritize investigating any abuse of tax payer dollars.”
Timothy Lauer, a spokesperson for U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office, said they don’t comment on ongoing investigations.
With the subpoenas, Powell becomes the latest perceived adversary of the president to face a criminal investigation by the Trump administration’s Justice Department. Trump himself has urged prosecutions of his political opponents, obliterating institutional guardrails for a Justice Department that for generations has taken care to make investigative and prosecutorial decisions independent of the White House.
The potential indictment has already drawn concern from one Republican senator, who said he’ll oppose any future nominee to the central bank, including any replacement for Powell, until “this legal matter is fully resolved.”
“If there were any remaining doubt whether advisers within the Trump administration are actively pushing to end the independence of the Federal Reserve, there should now be none,” said North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, who sits on the Banking Committee, which oversees Fed nominations. “It is now the independence and credibility of the Department of Justice that are in question.”
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — President Donald Trump said Sunday that Iran proposed negotiations after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown targeting demonstrators there, a move coming as activists said the death toll in protests rose to at least 544.
Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”
Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.
“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”
He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”
There was no immediate acknowledgment from Iran of the offering for a meeting. The massive ongoing U.S. military deployment to the Caribbean is a factor that the Pentagon and Trump’s national security planners must consider. Tehran also warned that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators. Trump meanwhile said the Islamic Republic reached out and proposed negotiations.
More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran cross-checking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.
With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.
Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.
Defiance in parliament
The threat to strike the U.S. military and Israel came during a parliamentary speech by Mohammad Baagher Qalibaf, the hard-liner speaker of the body who has run for the presidency in the past.
He directly threatened Israel, calling it “the occupied territory.”
“In the event of an attack on Iran, both the occupied territory and all American military centers, bases and ships in the region will be our legitimate targets,” Qalibaf said. “We do not consider ourselves limited to reacting after the action and will act based on any objective signs of a threat.”
Lawmakers rushed the dais in parliament, shouting: “Death to America!”
It remains unclear how serious Iran is about launching a strike, particularly after its air defenses were destroyed during the 12-day war in June with Israel. Any decision to go to war would rest with Iran’s 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Israel, meanwhile, is “watching closely” the situation between the U.S. and Iran, said an Israeli official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to not being authorized to speak to journalists. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio overnight on topics including Iran, the official added.
“The people of Israel, the entire world, are in awe of the tremendous heroism of the citizens of Iran,” said Netanyahu, a longtime Iran hawk.
At the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV mentioned Iran as a place “where ongoing tensions continue to claim many lives,” adding that “I hope and pray that dialogue and peace may be patiently nurtured in pursuit of the common good of the whole of society.”
Demonstrations were held in some international capitals in support of the protesters. A spokesperson said United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres was “shocked” by reports of violence against protesters resulting in “scores of deaths” and called on Iranian authorities to use maximum restraint and restore communications.
Protests in Tehran and Mashhad
Online videos sent out of Iran, likely using Starlink satellite transmitters, purportedly showed demonstrators gathering in northern Tehran’s Punak neighborhood. There, it appeared authorities shut off streets, with protesters waving their lit mobile phones. Others banged metal while fireworks went off.
In Mashhad, Iran’s second-largest city some 450 miles northeast of Tehran, footage purported to show protesters confronting security forces. Protests also appeared to happen in Kerman, 500 miles southeast of Tehran.
Iranian state television on Sunday morning had correspondents appear on the streets in several cities to show calm areas, with a date stamp shown on screen. Tehran and Mashhad were not included.
The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.
Up until the final failed fourth-down attempt, the Eagles still believed they were winning Sunday’s NFC wild-card game against the San Francisco 49ers.
But after Jalen Hurts’ pass fell incomplete, it all hit linebacker Nakobe Dean. It may have been his final game in an Eagles uniform.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen the next couple months, next couple weeks,” Dean, a pending unrestricted free agent said. “I don’t know if I’m going to play with the guys that I’ve been playing with for four years or had a good relationship with, or the guys that I went school with. I’m going through all the emotions.”
The Birds had much higher expectations for themselves this season than a 23-19 loss in the wild-card round. Eagles players looked shell-shocked in the locker room, knowing they will never all be together again.
Jordan Davis choked up in the locker room talking about how much Dean, his teammate since their days back at Georgia, meant to him.
“We love to have his face and his leadership and his poise, his effort and just everything about him, the way he plays the game,” Davis said. “But it’s just the NFL. I’m not here to make decisions. I’m more here to play and move forward, but it’s unfortunate that it’s just the nature of the beast. It’s the league, be here today and gone tomorrow. But I love that man like a brother. Like a brother.”
Dean said he took one last photo of his locker, unsure if he’d ever return to it. The Birds drafted linebacker Jihaad Campbell in the first round last spring to potentially serve as Dean’s replacement.
But Dean wasn’t the only player who may have worn midnight green for the final time.
Jordan Mailata said postgame that he couldn’t even look at Dallas Goedert, his teammate of eight years, without wanting to cry. Goedert signed a one-year contract extension to return to Philadelphia last offseason, but after catching a career-high 60 passes and 11 touchdowns, he might be out of the Eagles’ price range.
“I had a moment with Dallas, and I wasn’t crying until I saw him,” Mailata said. “We’ve been together for eight years, and we just played a lot of ball together, a lot of time in the locker room, and so that one was hard for me. I don’t know what’s going to happen next year, I hope we bring him back, but he was one face that immediately after the game, I had to stay away from him, because I’d just cry.”
Goedert caught four passes for 33 yards and one touchdown, and added another touchdown on the ground in the loss. He downplayed whether this game was more emotional than past losses as he approaches what might be the end of his tenure with the team that drafted him.
“Saying goodbye to this team, it’ll never be the same team again, it’s always tough,” Goedert said. “You just grow as a family, and I got a lot of love for the brothers on this team, you know, and it’s just a somber state.”
The sudden finish to the Eagles’ season cannot be narrowed down to one play, but perhaps Sunday’s 23-19 loss to the San Francisco 49ers would have at least reached overtime had Jake Elliott converted an extra point in the first quarter.
The Eagles’ final drive as reigning Super Bowl champions ended with a fourth-down incompletion at the 49ers’ 21-yard line — a play that instead would have been a field-goal try to force overtime had the Eagles been down three points instead of four.
Elliott, who missed four of his final 13 field-goal attempts in the regular season, battled the wind and lost when his extra point smacked the upright after the Eagles scored on their first drive of the game.
“It’s a lot of guessing out there. You saw his, too,” Elliott said as 49ers kicker Eddy Piñeiro missed an extra point in the fourth quarter. “We both tried to play it left to right, and there’s a 40-mile-per-hour wind blowing left to right. For both of those balls, the wind just didn’t quite hit them the way we thought it would. It’s a tough night to kick, but you obviously want to make them all.”
The first weekend of the postseason featured games in which missed kicks played a key role as Green Bay’s Brandon McManus (North Penn, Temple) missed two field goals and an extra point in a loss to Chicago, and Jacksonville’s Cam Little — who made an NFL-record 68-yarder earlier this year — missed a 54-yarder in a loss to Buffalo.
Like Eagles-49ers, those games were not exclusively decided by a leg, but it was hard to see the outcome and wonder what could have been had the ball went through the uprights.
“I’m just thinking about the next kick,” Elliott said when asked if he was thinking about his missed PAT while the Eagles had to try for a touchdown in the final minute. “You saw he missed one, too. It’s a tough night to kick. That’s not really what I’m thinking about during that moment in time. I’m thinking about that next kick.”
Elliott, one of three players remaining from the Super Bowl LII champions, is under contract for next season but the team could look for an upgrade this offseason.
He made just 74.1% of his field goals this season, below the league average of 85.6%. His 77.8% rate last season also fell below the league average. Since last season, Elliott is 5-for-15 on field goals from 50-plus yards, while NFL kickers are converting long-range kicks at record rates.
“You show up every week and try to hit the ball well,” Elliott said. “I think for the most part, I did that. Sometimes it doesn’t work out, especially playing in the Northeast like this. We’ve had some pretty tough weather games. But, obviously, you want to make them all. It’s part of the job. You expect perfection and if it’s not that, it’s tough.”
Brandon Graham, Elliott, and Lane Johnson — the three remaining players from the Super Bowl that capped the 2017 season — could be gone before next season. Johnson missed Sunday’s loss with the foot injury that has sidelined him since November and has openly pondered his retirement. Graham already retired after last season and his plans for next season are uncertain. Elliott, the author of so many important kicks in franchise history, could be kicking elsewhere in 2026.
“We’ll deal with that when we get there,” he said. “This is all pretty raw right now. I’m under contract here, so that’s the expectation, but you never know in this business. I’m just trying to get over this game.”
TORONTO — Scottie Barnes hit a tiebreaking free throw with 0.8 seconds remaining in overtime and the Toronto Raptors beat the 76ers 116-115 on Sunday night in the first of back-to-back meetings between short-handed teams.
Barnes made the first of two from the line and intentionally missed the second as Toronto won its third straight home meeting with the Sixers. He finished 10 for 12 at the line.
Barnes scored 31 points, Jamal Shead added a career-high 22, and Immanuel Quickley had 20 as Toronto won its third straight at home. Collin Murray-Boyles had 17 points and matched his career-high with 15 rebounds.
Tyrese Maxey scored 38 points for the Sixers and VJ Edgecombe had 17. Kelly Oubre Jr., Dominick Barlow and Quentin Grimes each scored 13 points but Philadelphia lost for the second time in seven games.
Sixers guard Tyrese Maxey (right) scored a game-high 38 points.
Joel Embiid (left knee and left groin) and Paul George (left knee) both sat out on the first night of this back-to-back.
Barnes returned after sitting out Friday’s loss at Boston because of a sore right knee but RJ Barrett was inactive because of a sprained left ankle. Brandon Ingram (right thumb) missed his second straight game and Jakob Poeltl (lower back) missed his 10th straight. There is no timetable for Poeltl’s return.
Ja’Kobe Walter started for the Raptors but exited four minutes into the first quarter because of a sore right hip.
The frustration between Nick Sirianni and A.J. Brown finally went from talk to action on the sidelines.
Following a drop from Brown that led to a consequential three-and-out, Sirianni sprinted toward Brown to tell the two-time All-Pro receiver to run off the field to avoid a penalty. Fox cameras showed Sirianni and Brown in a passionate argument soon after, and the pair eventually was broken up by Big Dom DiSandro, the Eagles’ chief of security.
“Now on the sideline,” play-by-play commentator Kevin Burkhardt said. “Nick Sirianni going at him a little bit, Big Dom says ‘Hey, take it easy. We’re good.’”
Sideline reporter Erin Andrews caught up with Sirianni at halftime, and asked the coach about the tense moment with the star wide receiver.
“Emotions run high, especially in the playoffs,” Sirianni said, according to Andrews. ”Of course, after this game, we’ll go back to loving each other. But, look, this is just the way it is. We’re just fine, thanks.”
Added analyst Tom Brady: “I just don’t think you can expect everyone to be super balanced and chill. You’re a warrior; you’re a gladiator down on the field. Emotions are running high every single play.”
Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown’s drop here in the second quarter led to a tense exchange between he and head coach Nick Sirianni.
Fox NFL analyst and Hall of Famer Michael Strahan also weighed in, but he had a different perspective on the exchange.
“I don’t understand why Sirianni is running down there yelling at one of his star players,” Strahan said at halftime. “I don’t think that brings out the best in your player. … In my opinion, as a player, I wouldn’t have taken very well from my coach on the sideline.”
Brown finished with only three catches for 25 yards and failed to record a reception after his confrontation with Sirianni.
Big play Dom
Despite fielding Brown and DeVonta Smith at wide receiver, Big Dom had the biggest highlight catch for the Eagles.
Early in the third quarter, Jalen Hurts was forced to throw the ball away, sailing the rock over the head of Brown straight into the arms of DiSandro.
Brady, in analyst fashion, reviewed Big Dom’s technique.
“Tough catch,” Brady said. “Where’s his hands, Dom, with the grab. Look at him, He can’t believe it’s coming his way. I don’t like the body catch. I want to see hands, thumbs together when the ball is there. The body catch I don’t love.”
Every time the Eagles step into the arena with the 49ers, DiSandro seems to take center stage — the security chief was ejected in 2023, the last matchup between the teams after breaking up a scuffle between Smith and San Francisco linebacker Dre Greenlaw.
Big furs have been popular on the Eagles’ sideline over the years, with Chris Long and Josh Sweat, among others, donning similar coats after securing Super Bowl victories in 2017 and 2025. Andrews will be the only person donning one on the Eagles’ sideline this year.
Andrews’ jacket, theorized by internet sleuths as a faux fur Auter product, will run you around $950 if you want it for yourself. We’ve got more reactions to the coat here.
Perfect no more
Early in the first quarter, Burkhardt and Brady were eager to sing the praises of Sirianni, pointing out his perfect home playoff record.
“Two Super Bowls in five years,” Burkhardt said. “One championship, in the playoffs every year, second-most wins of all time in first five years of any coach.”
“There’s always an expectation with winning,” Brady responded. “That’s when you come to the next season, like they did after winning the Super Bowl this year, ‘Oh, everything’s going to be perfect.’ And the reality is, it’s never perfect. You’re always trying to solve problems in the NFL. Every year is a little bit different. How he kind of inserts himself in different roles is what I appreciate. A head coach’s role is really special in what he’s able to do for this club.”
The compliments aged poorly, as Sirianni suffered the first home playoff loss of his career in a matchup featuring plenty of penalties and drama on the sideline.
Jalen Hurts struggled in the windy conditions, especially when throwing over 20 yards. He also left the pocket too early a bunch even though he often had time. He did have a few nice moments in the drop-back game and again protected the ball. It wasn’t all on Hurts, of course. The offense went into conservative mode for like the 100th time this season.
But some of Hurts’ flaws as a passer were on display, and the Eagles may have to go back to the drawing board in finding him a compatible coach this offseason.
Hurts showed great patience on his touchdown pass to Dallas Goedert in the second quarter. Hurts waited for his tight end to break free and fired a dart for a 9-yard touchdown on fourth down. His fourth-down pass in the first quarter was late and nearly intercepted, although the play wasn’t exactly desirable vs. man coverage. In the third quarter, Hurts seemed to unnecessarily leave the pocket on a drop that resulted in a throwaway.
Running back: B
Saquon Barkley started hot, cooled off, and got cooking again late. He had three carries for 23 yards in the fourth quarter before a run for no gain resulted in him hobbling off. Barkley would return and finished with 106 yards on 26 carries.
He started the game with a 29-yard run off the right edge and went into halftime with 71 yards on 15 carries.
As a receiver, Barkley gained 20 yards on a screen pass in the second quarter. In the third quarter he dropped what could have been a third-down conversion.
Our first glimpse of Tank Bigsby came in the second quarter when he was split outside and motioned into the backfield. The decoy didn’t fool the 49ers, who dropped DeVonta Smith in the flat for no gain.
Bigsby spelled Barkley in the backfield later and rushed three times for 20 yards. The next time he got a handoff, he went lateral and was dropped for a loss, finishing with four carries for 19 yards.
Receiver/Tight end: D+
With the Eagles ground-and-pounding, the drop-back pass offense wasn’t often featured. Wide receiver A.J. Brown was involved early, but not much after that. He appeared to get dinged up on a deep post route that ended up incomplete, but returned almost immediately and couldn’t pull in a third-down fade that bounced off his hands.
The TV broadcast caught Nick Sirianni yelling at Brown to get off the field, and the receiver didn’t seem to like it and went back at his coach. Brown later couldn’t pull in a third-down catch over the middle, which was costly.
DeVonta Smith did a lot of dirty work with catches underneath. He finished with eight grabs for 70 yards. Smith’s 14-yard pickup on a third-and-15 hitch route got the Eagles into fourth-down Tush Push range. Dallas Goedert — the Eagles’ leader in touchdowns on the regular season — scored their first of the postseason on a 1-yard jet sweep. He also had a receiving touchdown. Goedert struggled as a run blocker and had a few moments that led to losses. He made a huge fourth-down catch after Brown’s drop.
Receiver Darius Cooper converted third-and-7 in the first quarter with a 9-yard grab over the middle. Cooper’s holding penalty negated Barkley’s 11-yard catch in the fourth quarter. Tight end Grant Calcaterra had a poor blocking attempt on a Barkley run that was stopped at the line of scrimmage.
Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert celebrates a second-quarter touchdown with tight end Grant Calcaterra on Sunday.
Offensive line: C-
The unit mostly could push around an inferior 49ers front that was missing key players on the line and at the second level. Inside zone runs were particularly effective. The pass protection was sound as Hurts often had time in the pocket. He was sacked once.
With Lane Johnson unable to go, despite practicing in a limited capacity for the first time since a foot injury, Fred Johnson started at right tackle for an eighth straight game. He left on the opening drive, and was replaced by Matt Pryor, but missed just one play. Johnson had a third-down false start.
Center Cam Jurgens had another rough outing. His holding penalty brought back a Hurts 10-yard draw. A drive later, Jurgens was driven back and Barkley was dropped for a loss. He did have the pulling lead block on a Barkley 6-yarder in the second quarter.
The other four O-linemen all had good moments in the run and pass protection: left guard Landon Dickerson, left tackle Jordan Mailata,right guard Tyler Steen and Johnson. The Tush Push made a triumphant return with two successful attempts.
Defensive line: B-
49ers quarterback Brock Purdy didn’t have a lot of time in the pocket, but he did escape containment a few times and make big throws. His 262 yards on 18 of 31 passing seemed to be more on the secondary than the pass rush. He was sacked only once, though.
The Eagles held running back Christian McCaffrey to just 1.6 yards on eight carries in the first half. Defensive tackle Jordan Davis was a beast up front, per usual, and led the Eagles with four stops before halftime. He made three straight stops on McCaffrey in the second quarter that forced fourth down.
Outside linebacker Nolan Smith was just as impactful as a run stopper and had three tackles in the first half.
Defensive tackle Jalen Carter cleaned up to sack Purdy after outside linebacker Jaelan Phillips won with an inside move and forced the quarterback to step up. Carter failed to wrap up McCaffrey on a third-quarter 9-yard rush — his longest carry to that point.
Moro Ojomo made sure Purdy didn’t turn the corner on an early third-down scramble. Jalyx Hunt had a relatively quiet day, considering how well he played in the second half of the season. Facing a future Hall of Famer in Trent Williams will make even the best look merely mortal.
The Eagles defense had early success stopping 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey, here being tackled by linebacker Nolan Smith in the first quarter.
Linebacker: C+
The linebackers were exposed at times in pass coverage. Nakobe Dean appeared to miss the shift in coverage when fullback Kyle Juszczyk motioned across the formation and was wide-open for a 27-yard pass in the third quarter. Dean was in coverage on McCaffrey’s go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter, but Purdy had time after stepping up.
Zack Baun finished with six tackles. He made a run stop near the line in the third quarter.
The 49ers, particularly their pass offense, suffered a blow when tight end George Kittle tore his Achilles in the second quarter. But a cast of relative unknowns still gashed the Eagles’ secondary at times.
Quinyon Mitchell had two big second-half interceptions. Mitchell somehow has four postseason picks, but none in the regular season in his two-year career. The recently named first-team All-Pro had a rough opening drive. The 49ers went at him on their first pass with receiver Demarcus Robinson catching a 61-yard pass over Mitchell. Later in the drive, Robinson beat him inside on a 2-yard touchdown catch in the back of the end zone. But he bounced back on the next drive and broke up a pass to Kittle and wasbig time in the second half.
Cooper DeJean was closest in coverage when receiver Jauan Jennings caught a 45-yard pass out of the slot on the seam route in the second quarter. DeJean broke up a pass to Jennings into the end zone late in the game. Adoree’ Jackson played too soft on third down-and-long, and Robinson caught a 15-yard pass to convert. Jackson got beat by Robinson again on a 15-yard out route after the break.
Safety: C+
Marcus Epps tackled Kittle after the tight end’s first and only catch of the game for 6 yards. Kittle never got up on his own and had to be carted off. Epps picked up an illegal use of the hands penalty. He had good coverage on McCaffrey on an errant third-down throw in the third quarter.
Reed Blankenship appeared to be the guilty party when a 49ers trick play freed McCaffrey for a 29-yard touchdown catch made over the shoulder to open the fourth quarter. Michael Carter was used in certain nickel packages on obvious passing downs.
Special teams: C
Jake Elliott rebounded after an extra-point attempt doinked off the left upright after the Eagles’ first touchdown. He made his next PAT, a 41-yard field goal, and a go-ahead 33-yard field goal in the fourth quarter. Braden Mann averaged 44 net yards on four punts. He skyrocketed a 58-yard boomer with no return in the third quarter.
The 49ers kicked away from Will Shipley, but hemade a nice tackle on the opening kickoff. Britain Covey averaged 30.5 yards on two kick returns. He didn’t have a punt return.
We’ve seen this movie before with Nick Sirianni’s team this season. The offense performs solidly to start the game and then goes into overly conservative mode and melts down. It wasn’t all on his game plan and the play-calling; the execution was lacking, too. But Sirianni is responsible for it all, and his team failed, once again, to get out of the first round and won’t repeat as Super Bowl champions.
He gambled early on fourth-and-2 at the San Fran 48. It was aggressive but not reckless. The Eagles failed to convert, but Sirianni was rewarded for his gumption a drive later when a fourth-and-2 attempt resulted in Hurts’ touchdown pass to Goedert.
Offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo’ssuccessful play-calling in the red zone continued in the postseason with the Eagles converting their first two trips inside the 20 into touchdowns. After a solid start, though, the offense struggled and went three-and-out on three straight possessions. The execution wasn’t sound, but a run on second-and-18 in the third quarter was indicative of Patullo’s play-calling over that stretch. His future at his current post clearly is uncertain.
Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio’s unit again folded under the weight of the offense’s inefficiency. That said, his defense was way too leaky in pass coverage. Fangio quickly adjusted after his group allowed a touchdown on the opening drive. He was able to stop McCaffrey on the ground with mostly a four-man front and nickel personnel. The Eagles did allow two explosive pass plays in the first half — one for 61 yards and another that went for 45 yards.
There were more explosives allowed through the air in the second half, including a double-reverse option play with Jennings tossing the touchdown pass to McCaffrey.
We’ve seen this story before from Nick Sirianni’s Eagles teams.
