49ers' Mr. Irrelevant Will Challenge Eagles' Defense

PHILADELPHIA - The NFL’s Mr. Irrelevant certainly was exactly that the last time the Eagles hosted the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC playoffs. On the sixth play of the NFC Championship in the 2022 season, Haason Reddick ruined Brock Purdy’s elbow, knocking him from the game briefly.

He returned after Reddick eliminated his backup, Josh Johnson, from the game with a hit that sent him out after 23 snaps. Purdy’s damaged elbow limited what he could do, and the offense was ineffective, helping the Eagles win a blowout, 31-7, to advance to the Super Bowl.

That was Purdy’s rookie season. He entered the league as the final pick, No. 262 overall, in 2022, earning him the nickname give to every player taken with the last pick over the three-day draft. It’s not easy for Mr. Irrelvant’s such as Purdy to find success in the league, but he has.

“He’s a winner,” said Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni on Wednesday, as his team ramps up preparations for hosting the 49ers in Sunday’s wildcard playoff game. “He’s won everywhere he’s went and a really good football player. Does a really good job with the system that they run, has ability to extend plays, an ability to find guys that are open and find the right receiver.

“He’s tough, so there’s a reason they’ve been all the really good players they have and coaching they have is a reason they have had sustained success, but they’ve had a really steady quarterback through that time as well.”

Purdy will make his seventh postseason start and he is 4-2 in the playoffs, making for an intriguing matchup against the Eagles and their quarterback, Jalen Hurts, who will start his 10th postseason game and is 6-3.

Vic Fangio Faces San Fran's QB Challenge

The 49ers quarterback has started 45 regular-season games and is 30-15. One of those wins came on Dec. 3, 2023, just months after losing in the conference championship to Philly.

He played brilliantly in that one, throwing four touchdown passes – two to Deebo Samuel, one to Brandon Aiyuk, and another to Jujuan Jennings. Only Jennings remains on the team, with Aiyuk out injured and he and the team engaged in contract disputes.

The 49ers won in a blowout, 42-19, sending an Eagles team that was 10-1 entering that game into a downward spiral that saw them lose six of their final seven games.

Purdy has battled injury this year, and the 49ers are better equipped to handle a potential in-game injury than they were three years ago, with Mac Jones a far better backup QB than Johnson.

In nine games, however, Purdy has been up and down. He has 20 touchdown passes in those games. That’s good. What’s bad is that he has thrown 10 picks in those nine games and, with his propensity to hold the ball as long as he can while he scans the field, makes him susceptible to being sacked, something that has happened 11 times in those nine games.

“They have a really good scheme,” said defensive coordinator Vic Fangio. “It's all packaged together very nicely. They give you a lot of good motions. Everything they do is with a purpose, and they do a really good job of it. Obviously, Purdy operates it very well…

“He's a scrambler, and when he's scrambling, he's looking down the field. His eyes go down the field. He wants to throw out of the scramble before he decides to run it, and he's very good at it. They have a lot of maximum play-action-type protections, where he's going to have some time anyway. Then if he doesn't like what he sees, he can buy even more time. I think that's why his average is up there so high as far as holding the ball.”

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