49ers @ Eagles: 5 Key Matchups
Analyzing five key matchups between the San Francisco 49ers and the Philadelphia Eagles.
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00:00 Here are five key matchups to watch when the 49ers face the Eagles in Philadelphia
00:04 on Sunday.
00:06 One, you know where I'm going with this, Colton McIvvies versus Hasan Reddick.
00:12 These two didn't match up in January when the 49ers and
00:14 Eagles faced in the NFC Championship because the right tackle was Mike McGlitchy.
00:18 And the 49ers wanted to block Hasan Reddick with a tight end because they think
00:23 that little of him or thought that little of him.
00:24 Remember, he played the first four seasons of his career with the Cardinals,
00:28 where he wasn't much of a playmaker and I guess the Niners sort of made up their
00:31 mind that he wasn't good and wanted to prove that and were proven wrong.
00:35 So now this year they need to actually block Hasan Reddick with an offensive
00:38 tackle.
00:39 They tried with a backup tight end, didn't go so well.
00:42 Now, try with a starting right tackle,
00:45 not that that's even a matchup advantage for the 49ers.
00:48 Colton McIvvies is a, I'm gonna be generous to call him a serviceable right
00:52 tackle.
00:53 And he fits the 49ers run scheme in the sense that they run to the left all
00:56 the time and he's on the right and he's not really at the point of attack and
00:58 he's there.
00:59 So he fits.
01:01 But in pass protection, he really struggles with speed off the edge and
01:05 Hasan Reddick might be the fastest edge rusher in the league.
01:08 He's got a very, very quick first step.
01:10 Think D Ford five years ago, but better.
01:13 So the key for the Niners here is to not let this matchup happen one on one.
01:16 It's gotta be Colton McIvvies plus a tight end and
01:19 a running back against Hasan Reddick.
01:21 Or they can let Reddick do what he did to the Niners last year,
01:23 which was end their season.
01:26 Two, Travarius Ward versus AJ Brown.
01:30 Last week, the Niners made Travarius Ward follow DK Metcalf all over the field,
01:35 wherever he lined up.
01:37 Metcalf could not avoid Travarius Ward.
01:39 The Seahawks could not put him on any other corner.
01:42 The Niners dictated the matchup.
01:43 They didn't let the Seahawks dictate the matchup.
01:45 And Travarius Ward did a great job, broke up three passes, no penalties.
01:50 Really kept DK Metcalf in check.
01:51 Now he's gotta do it again against AJ Brown.
01:55 I asked Steve Wilks this week about AJ Brown, what makes him a handful?
01:58 And he immediately compared him to DK Metcalf, which to me is code for,
02:02 watch us do the same thing to AJ Brown that we did to DK Metcalf.
02:06 In the NFC Championship game in January, Travarius Ward held AJ Brown to 28 yards.
02:11 There was some penalties mixed in.
02:14 And the Niners were out of the game immediately, so
02:17 the Eagles didn't really have to do much through the air or at all.
02:20 But Ward has had some success against AJ Brown in the past.
02:23 And if he can do to Brown what he did to DK Metcalf, the Niners are in business.
02:27 Difference is Jalen Hurts holds the ball a lot longer than Geno Smith.
02:32 So Travarius Ward's gonna have to cover AJ Brown longer,
02:35 three, four seconds, than he did with DK Metcalf.
02:38 Three, Brandon Ayuk versus Darius Slay.
02:42 I have no idea how the Eagles are gonna approach their defensive game plan, but
02:45 the Niners probably should have Travarius Ward shadow AJ Brown, and
02:50 the Eagles probably should have Darius Slay shadow Brandon Ayuk.
02:53 Because Darius Slay is the only good corner the Eagles have.
02:56 He's good, he's 32, but he's still really, really good.
03:00 And if they've done their homework, they've realized that Brandon Ayuk is
03:03 the Niners' go-to guy in the past game.
03:04 Not Debo, not Kittle, not McCaffrey, it's Ayuk.
03:08 He's the guy you have to stop, and if you don't, you're gonna lose.
03:11 So if the Eagles are smart, that's the matchup.
03:16 Slay follows Ayuk all over the field.
03:18 And that doesn't mean Ayuk won't win, but he'll have a real battle there.
03:22 And if Slay can sort of erase Brandon Ayuk, the Niners are in trouble, but
03:26 I don't think anyone can erase Brandon Ayuk.
03:28 That's a real key matchup to watch in the last game.
03:31 Slay got away with a lot of holding penalties, it looked like on television.
03:36 Maybe against Brandon Ayuk, he won't get that respect,
03:39 because frankly, Ayuk's better than him.
03:41 Four, Debo Samuel versus James Bradbury.
03:45 Okay, Bradbury's the number two cornerback for the Eagles.
03:48 And after the Eagles beat the Niners last year, Debo Samuel was so
03:53 upset about it, he went on the record and said James Bradbury is quote, unquote trash.
03:59 Okay, Debo, now you have the chance to prove it.
04:01 The Eagles most likely will deploy their number one cornerback on the Niners'
04:06 number one wide receiver, Brandon Ayuk, cuz that's smart.
04:08 Debo Samuel not nearly the wide receiver, the route runner that Brandon Ayuk is.
04:13 So they're probably gonna put the Eagles, their number two cornerback on him,
04:17 who Debo Samuel says is trash.
04:18 So according to Debo, this is a huge matchup advantage for the 49ers.
04:23 It's gonna be interesting to see if Debo can get open against the quote,
04:26 unquote trash cornerback,
04:27 because Debo hasn't been the best route runner in the last few years.
04:31 He's very good after the catch, but the Eagles are good at tackling and
04:34 not giving up yards after the catch.
04:36 Debo has a great opportunity to prove himself right and
04:39 show that James Bradbury is as trash as he says.
04:42 But Debo's gonna have opportunities because Ayuk has a real tough matchup.
04:47 Debo, according to Debo, doesn't.
04:49 So let's see Debo have a big game.
04:51 Five, George Kittle versus Kevin Bayard.
04:55 Eagles are pretty banged up over the middle there.
04:58 Linebackers are out and they had to trade for Kevin Bayard before the trade deadline.
05:03 Bayard's a veteran safety and he used to be good.
05:08 But on the Eagles this year, he's given up a pass rating of 115 when targeted.
05:11 Now he has to cover George Kittle who's just having a phenomenal season.
05:15 The Niners don't always feed him a lot of targets because he's getting older and
05:18 they wanna pace him and make sure he's healthy for the playoffs.
05:20 But he has such a huge matchup advantage here.
05:23 Brandon Ayuk doesn't.
05:25 Debo Samuel says he does, but we'll see.
05:28 George Kittle absolutely does.
05:30 And I wouldn't be surprised if George Kittle, maybe he's not responsible for
05:35 moving the Niners down the field all day.
05:37 But when they get to the red zone, he's gotta be the target.
05:42 Look for Kittle to have multiple touchdown catches in this game if the Niners
05:46 are gonna win.
05:46 [MUSIC]