Philadelphia Eagles news and links for 1/30/23.

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2023 NFL Playoffs: The Philadelphia Eagles are headed to the Super Bowl - Blogging The Boys
If we are being honest, the Eagles have been the best team in the conference all season and are deserving of playing for a world championship. That is the objective truth. While we are being truthful, the Eagles have become the class of the division over the course of the 21st century. Since Dallas last even appeared in a title game (1995 as we all know), the Eagles have been to seven conference championships themselves, won three of them, and will now battle it out for their second world championship since 2017. The Cowboys spent most of this past season chasing the Eagles within the division. Things got a little spicy near the end of the regular season when it looked like a rubber match would ultimately be what decided it. Unfortunately, the Cowboys were not able to hold up their end of the bargain last week in getting to a title game against their bitter rivals.

Super Bowl-bound Eagles are the gold standard and more in Roob’s 10 obs - NBCSP
Two Super Bowls in six years. Jeff Lurie was about 20 years too early when he said it, but this franchise really is the gold standard right now. They’re that good. And after sending the 49ers back to San Francisco, they’ll play for another Super Bowl championship on Feb. 12. The Eagles faced a team Sunday that hadn’t lost since mid-October, and they demolished them. Obviously, a lot changed when Brock Purdy got hurt, but the Eagles were not going to lose this game. Period. Heck, this happened to the Eagles three years ago and they ended up with Josh McCown in a wild-card game against the Seahawks and nobody felt sorry for them.

Jonathan Gannon says he’s staying with the Eagles - BGN
Various head coaching positions have started filling, with some candidates having first and second interviews. Eagles’ defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon was a top candidate for the Houston Texans job, and was being discussed for the Arizona Cardinals position, as well. With the Eagles now on their way to the Super Bowl, Gannon spoke to a reporter post-game and made a comment that may have been hyperbole, or might actually be what his future holds. When it was mentioned that the NFC Championship Game might be his last one in Philly, Gannon scoffed it off, and said, “Philly is keeping me.”

BGN Instant Reaction Show: Eagles are heading to the Super Bowl! - BGN Radio
Shane Haff, Jessi Taylor and Jonny Page express their excitement following the Eagles’ blow out victory against the 49ers in the NFC Championship game.

Super Bowl 2023: Chiefs vs. Eagles how to watch, game time, TV schedule, streaming and more - SB Nation
Super Bowl LVII is now set. The Philadelphia Eagles punched their ticket to Super Bowl LVII with a 31-7 victory over the San Francisco 49ers. It is the fourth time in franchise history that the Eagles have advanced to the Super Bowl, with their most recent trip coming at the end of the 2017 NFL season. In Super Bowl LII, the Eagles defeated the New England Patriots to earn their first Super Bowl title. The Eagles will meet their former coach Andy Reid and the Kansas City Chiefs. For the fourth time in four meetings, a game between the Chiefs and the Cincinnati Bengals came down to a matter of just three points. This time, it was Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs who emerged victorious, by a final score of 23-20. Defensive lineman Chris Jones was massive for Kansas City, recording his first two postseason sacks in the win.

Early pick against the spread for Chiefs vs. Eagles in Super Bowl 57 - DraftKings Nation
This line is expected to move all over the place as we go through the next two weeks. This gives both teams time to heal up, so expect some sort of movement between now and Super Bowl Sunday. For now, I am going with the Eagles to cover the pick ‘em spread. Philadelphia showed a lot in Sunday’s NFC Championship Game win over the San Francisco 49ers. The offense showed how versatile it could be, and the defense stepped up in a big way. Yes, the 49ers dealt with injuries, but the Eagles got a chance to show how well-rounded they are against another fairly well-rounded team.

Conference Championships: Eagles rout Niners, Chiefs outlast Bengals to set Super Bowl LVII stage - FMIA
So now the Eagles move on. They have many strengths, as winning 16 of 17 with the starting quarterback in the lineup would illustrate. But now, fortunately for them, the Eagles will face one of the game’s best passers—maybe THE best in Arizona with a scary pass-rush. Philadelphia had but 29 sacks last year, and Reddick’s addition blasted that up to 69 this year. Reddick, with 19.5 sacks in 19 games, can win with speed on the outside, and he has enough strength in inside rushes to power through inside gaps. Amazing to think this, after the Eagles won their first Super Bowl five years ago with an explosive performance against the best team of the era, New England. But this Philadelphia team has fewer weaknesses than the one that beat Brady and Belichick. Thanks to Roseman filling so many holes with high-quality players—and one smart coach—the Eagles won’t be satisfied with anything short of a second Lombardi.

Handing out 10 awards from the Eagles-49ers NFC Championship Game - PhillyVoice
Slow motion replays showed that it was questionable whether Smith’s catch was aided by the ground. Catch or no catch, Smith displayed his insane body control on the play, as he has done all season. Niners head coach Kyle Shanahan didn’t challenge, and the Eagles scored two plays later. It was essentially a seven-point catch. Hanging onto challenges isn’t as important as it used to be, since clearly wrong calls are fixed on the field without coaches needing to use their challenges. Hindsight is 20-20 and whatnot, but because Smith’s catch was such a game-altering play, Shanahan probably should’ve challenged it. He didn’t, and the Eagles were off and rolling.

Eagles-Chiefs in the Super Bowl - Iggles Blitz
The Niners defense really challenged the Eagles offense. We’ll have to see what the tape shows, but it seemed like Hurts inability to connect on deep balls was key. He had AJ wide open for a huge gain and just overthrew him. There were some other plays where deep throws just didn’t work. The coaches could see the passing game was struggling so they decided to run the ball. Simple idea, but not so easy when going against the best run defense in the league. The Eagles OL started to win battles upfront and the backs ran hard. No hesitation. No dancing. They attacked the right gaps and started to move the chains. The Eagles ran 44 times for 148 yards. Only Atlanta ran for more on SF and that was a game without Nick Bosa or Arik Armstead. The Eagles piled up their yards against a healthy defense. You really have to give a lot of credit to the Eagles OL. They weren’t able to overwhelm the defense like they did the Giants last week, but they did enough so the running game could be effective. That made all the difference in the world.

The Eagles Beat the 49ers by Staying True to Themselves - The Ringer
“I don’t know how Sirianni walks around with the set of cojones that he has, bro,” left tackle Jordan Mailata said after the game. “That’s crazy. How’s the man walk around like that? Fourth down in a big playoff game? Dude, kudos to him. But big cojones, that guy.”

NFL Week Conference Championship Game Recap: Philadelphia Eagles 31, San Francisco 49ers 7 - PFF
Defensive spotlight: The efficiency with which the Eagles’ pass rushers created pressure was simply remarkable. Interior defender Javon Hargrave won 50% of his 12 pass-rushing snaps en route to four pressures, and edge defender Haason Reddick turned 14 pass-rushing snaps into three pressures — including two sacks — and two other reps where he beat his blocker without generating pressure.

The First Read, Super Bowl LVII: Six factors that could determine NFL’s biggest game - NFL.com
2) Jalen Hurts needs to make history. The one thing we’ve never seen happen in the NFL is a team winning a championship with a dual-threat quarterback. Hurts has an opportunity to change all that, and he’s easily the best prepared to do so. The Eagles arguably have the league’s best offensive line, a bevy of talented running backs and dangerous receivers in A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith and Dallas Goedert. However, most of those players were in Philadelphia last season. The difference with this team is Hurts and his ability to impact games with his legs and his improved passing. Hurts didn’t have to do a ton in Philadelphia’s 31-7 win over San Francisco in the NFC championship — he only threw for 121 yards and ran for 39 yards — but there’s no denying what his presence means to this team. The Eagles lost both games that Hurts missed with a sprained right shoulder toward the end of the regular season. They’re 16-1 when he’s on the field.

Making sense of Bengals-Chiefs, 49ers-Eagles in NFL playoffs - ESPN+
Brett Kern’s punt (maybe) hits the skycam cable. Oh, and Bosa’s injury wasn’t even the weirdest thing that happened on that very play. With the Eagles punting from their own 26-yard line, it was a surprise when Kern’s punt traveled just 34 yards before going out of bounds. There appeared to be a quick explanation, given that many of the Eagles’ players immediately started gesturing toward the cable used to run the skycam up and down the field. Philadelphia’s players clearly believed Kern’s punt had smacked against the taut wiring and been deflected elsewhere. It’s certainly possible the punt might have been hit the skycam, and I have no reason to believe multiple Eagles players suddenly decided to pretend that Kern’s punt had been deflected by a foreign object. I’m also not sure there was much recourse, as the officials took a minute or two to converse with the league office about the issue before announcing they could not confirm whether the ball had hit the wire and moving on. As Kevin Seifert noted in his officiating column, the Eagles could have challenged and replayed the down if the punt had struck a foreign object, like the skycam or a scoreboard, as has happened in Cowboys games. The league also could have called down to note the incident and rule for a replayed down.

Eagles vs. Chiefs: The Andy Reid Super Bowl - Football Outsiders
What it Means for the Eagles: The NFC Championship Game ultimately came down to one team having a healthy non-rookie quarterback while the other did not. And yes, DeVonta Smith’s non-catch catch in the first quarter and a roughing the punter penalty that probably should not have been called in the second quarter helped tilt the game in the Eagles’ favor. But give Nick Sirianni and Shane Steichen credit for switching to a zone-read heavy ground game when Jalen Hurts was a little wild early, and to the Eagles defense for swarm-tackling after getting embarrassed on McCaffrey’s run and avoiding mental errors while playing with a lead against what deteriorated into a high school offense. Oh, and miss Walkthrough forever with those Eagles had an easy road to the Super Bowl takes. Two weeks ago Daniel Jones was supposed to be Eli Manning, and the 49ers didn’t look like an easy out anytime in the last two months. (Yeah, Purdy got hurt—because the Eagles pass rush actually got to him, folks.) The Eagles just won two playoff games by a combined 69-14 score. It was an easy road because they made it look easy. The Eagles know how to win the games they are supposed to, and they are built to turn every game into one they are supposed to win.

NFL Championship Sunday Takeaways: 49ers Considered Wildcat, Aaron Rodgers’s Contract Complicates Trades - SI
Because there’s always disrespect spliced into these things, it turns out there were some Eagles defensive players who took offense to what George Kittle said during the week. When asked Thursday if the Eagles could match the 49ers’ physicality, Kittle answered, “We’ll see, won’t we? I know we’re going to come out and be violent and physical. I’m expecting them to be the same thing. But we’ll see.” And the Niners did see.

Spadaro: THE EAGLES ARE NFC CHAMPIONS! - PE.com
That’s how the season has gone, right? The Eagles have been great from the start of the year and they continued it all the way through the NFC Championship Game. One win remains, two weeks hence. On Sunday, the party was epic, deserved, and pure joy. And everything the Eagles have done all season – they’ve been the most physical team, they’ve been the most talented team, they’ve been the best-coached team – came true once again and the result was a blowout in the final NFC game of the season. The score in the two NFC playoff wins – 69-14 in victories over the Giants and the 49ers. Here we go again … one more step remains. The Eagles are in the Super Bowl and they are poised to play as they have all season – dominating in every way.

Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes discuss managing the high-ankle sprain - Arrowhead Pride
Even so, there was no denying that the injury affected his play. “A couple of times in the game,” Mahomes confirmed, “when I was trying to get through spots that I usually get through — you could see that I didn’t have that burst that I usually have. I got the ball out of my hands quickly — I think you saw that. I threw quite a few more check downs than I usually would throw and relied on my teammates to make the plays happen. That’s what they did.” The only blemish on Mahomes’ day was a third-quarter fumble. After crossing into Cincinnati territory — with a chance to take a two-score lead — the passer bobbled a snap and was unable to recover it. He explained after the game that the play marked his most difficult moment managing the ankle pain. “I said the stopping was going to be the hardest part,” Mahomes observed, “and obviously throwing across your body because you have to plant that right leg and twist across to throw. That definitely didn’t feel good.”

The Washington Commanders requested to interview Chiefs OC Eric Bieniemy - Hogs Haven
Washington is interested in bringing him in for an interview to potentially take their open OC position. Rivera wants Washington’s offense to flow through the running game, and that fits Bieniemy’s background as a former RB and RBs coach.

Dolphins hire Vic Fangio as defensive coordinator - The Phinsider
Fangio served as a defensive consultant with the Philadelphia Eagles during the 2022 season. Prior to that, he spent three seasons with the Broncos, leading them to a 19-30 record from 2019 through 2021. Prior to taking the Broncos top spot, he worked as a defensive coordinator with the Chicago Bears (2015-2018), San Francisco 49ers (2011-2014), Stanford (2010), Houston Texans (2002-2005), Indianapolis Colts (1999-2001), and Carolina Panthers (1995-198). He has also worked as a defensive assistant coach with the Baltimore Ravens (special assistant to the head coach/defensive assistant and linebackers coach 2006-2009) and New Orleans Saints (linebacker coach 1986-1994). He also has coaching experience with the Philadelphia/Baltimore Stars of the USFL (1984-185).

Fred Warner believes DeMeco Ryans coached his “last one” with the 49ers - Niners Nation
ESPN’s Adam Schefter wasted little to no time after the conclusion of the NFC Championship to state the Houston Texans plan to pursue 49ers defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans and make them their next head coach. All-Pro linebacker Fred Warner said it “hit hard” to see Ryans after the game, as he knew it was Ryans’ “last one” coaching the 49ers: “I hadn’t thought about it up to this point because you think you’ll win it all. Seeing him emotional, the first time it hit me that this was the last one with him. I owe everything to him. He’s the reason I’m here today. He’s fully deserving to be a head coach.”

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