Jonathan Gannon Offers Insight on the 49ers
PHILADELPHIA - The Eagles are going to learn how the other half lives this Sunday when the two best teams in the NFC meet for conference supremacy at Lincoln Financial Field.
It's almost picking your poison for opposing defenses trying to stop the Philadelphia offense. Play umbrella coverage to limit A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, and Dallas Goedert, and you might get gashed for 268 yards on the ground like the New York Giants were in the divisional round.
Load up the box and the receivers go wild with Brown setting a new franchise record for receiving yards (1,496) and Smith close behind, also cracking 1K on the yardage scale while setting a new single-season franchise bar for receptions by a wideout (95). And then you have Dallas Goedert, perhaps the best two-way tight end in football not named George Kittle.
Kittle, of course, happens to play for the 49ers and is part of a skill-position group that could give even the Eagles a run for their money.
Midseason trade pickup Christian McCaffrey is the most well-rounded running back in football, a player who runs routes better than most receivers.
Deebo Samuel is the hybrid from hell for defenses, a player who can gash you from the backfield, as a traditional receiver or as a manufactured touch player, while Brandon Aiyuk is another receiver the Eagles should have considered in the 2021 draft instead of Jalen Reagor.
"Big-time challenge," Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon said when discussing the San Francisco offense, which ranked No. 5 overall in the NFL despite being down to its third quarterback in rookie Brock Purdy. "They're in the Final Four for a reason. They're very well-coached and they have a lot of really good players.
"They do a good job. They put them in good situations, and they're multiple. They do some unique things with their guys because of their skill sets. Just like any game, we have to have a plan for that."
Kyle Shanahan, the Niners coach, has the best reputation in the league when it comes to scheme.
"Schematically they get the ball to guys in space, and then they have the guys that are touching the ball, those are part of their unique skill sets where they can break tackles, they can run away from people, they can make people miss in space, and I'm not just talking about one or two guys. It's really everybody that's touching the ball," said Gannon.
Tackling and eye discipline will be keys.
"You have to play what your eyes see, and you have to have a plan for when they do those type of things," Gannon said. "We'll have adjustments that we need necessary for some different things, but ultimately, it's us just communicating, getting lined up, alignment, assignment, key technique, and then playing with violence.
"That's what we'll harp on this week. ... definitely a key to victory for us is tackling."
Holding on this together though is a rookie seventh-round pick only playing because Trey Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo were injured.
Brock Purdy has somehow won seven consecutive games and the Niners as a whole haven't lost in three months.
"He's a good player. He's a really good player," Gannon said of Purdy. "He plays extremely fast. He knows where to put his eyes. He gets out of trouble at a pretty good clip.
"... He doesn't take a lot of sacks, but he makes quick decisions, he's accurate, he gets the ball out of his hand."
Shanahan, though, is obviously protecting Purdy and the SF coach can do that because the talent level around the QB is world-class.
"I think they've got guys at their position that they're probably the best in the world at their position, Gannon said. "... And it's going to be fun because we're good, too, and we have some of the best players in the world at our positions, too."
-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's Eagles Today and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Football 24/7 and a daily contributor to ESPN South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
