Eagles 33, 49ers 10: Five quick observations
The Eagles, led by their defense, beat the 49ers, 33-7, on a wet and ugly Sunday. Carson Wentz struggled but helped move the team to 7-1, best in the NFL.
From Wentz it came: The Wentz Wagon had a rough ride Sunday, but quarterbacks are paid to win, first, last, and always. The Eagles won, 33-10, and remained atop the NFL at 7-1 halfway through the season. Carson Wentz was baffled and battered, mainly by blitzes, for the first three quarters. He finished 18-for-32 for 211 yards, his second lowest total of the season, with two touchdowns and an alarmingly bad interception. His 84.2 passer rating was his worst since the Game 2 loss at Kansas City. But it was wet, and the starting offensive line was different from the previous week's for the sixth time in six games, and the Niners were playing with nothing to lose, except another game, which dropped them to 0-8. Nick Foles replaced Wentz with 5 minutes, 20 seconds to play.
Be like Mych: Linebacker Mychal Kendricks, who had 17 tackles at Carolina but missed missed last week's game against Washington with a hamstring injury, picked up where he left off. He disrupted the Niners on three of his first four snaps, delivered a vicious hit on quarterback C.J. Beathard in the second quarter, knocked a pass away from running back Matt Breida in the fourth and finished with seven tackles to lead the team.
De-Fense: The D allowed a season-low 238 total yards and sacked third-round rookie C.J. Beathard four times in his second start. Jalen Mills returned an interception 37 yards for a touchdown. The run defense, best in the NFL, gave up 94 rushing yards, but Beathard gained 40 of those yards running for his life. To be fair, right tackle Trent Brown suffered a concussion last week and missed the game, and left tackle Joe Staley missed the second half with an eye injury.
Hold the line: The Eagles saw an offensive tackle struggle early, but it wasn't Halapoulivaati Vaitai, Jason Peters' replacement at left tackle. On consecutive plays in the first quarter Lane Johnson committed a false start then was beaten, then cost LeGarrette Blount a decent gain late in the quarter. His performance underscored a generally poor showing by the line, which was overpowered in the run game and consistently outmanned against incessant blitzing.
Not so special: Rookie kicker Jake Elliott missed two extra points. He also hit field goals of 40 and 51 yards. Rookie defensive end Derek Barnett blocked a 27-yard field goal try by Robbie Gould, which ended Gould's 91-for-91 run over his 13-year career.
Get insights on the Eagles delivered straight to your inbox with Early Birds, beat writer Zach Berman's newsletter for Eagles fans. Click here to sign up.
Get insights on the Eagles delivered straight to your inbox with Early Birds, beat writer Zach Berman's newsletter for Eagles fans. Click here to sign up.
