Niners Nation
If the San Francisco 49ers have taught you anything over the years, it’s never to say never. We wondered whether defensive coordinator Robert Saleh could muck the game up enough to keep the offense in it.
Jalen Hurts was only pressured on 16.2 percent of his dropbacks, yet he only completed 57.1 percent of his passes with a paltry 4.8 yards per attempt. Saquon Barkley had a 29-yard run, but only averaged 3.08 yards per carry on his other 25 attempts. Saleh and the defense did their job.
Holding any offense under 20 points when you’re at full strength is a challenge. To do it with the motley crew bunch the 49ers put on the field makes 19 seem like a miracle.
You could see the offense begin to figure things out as the game went along, despite George Kittle’s absence. As has been the case for the vast majority of the season, they came through when it mattered. We are probably talking about a loss today if Brock Purdy didn’t lead a game-winning touchdown drive at the end. That was Purdy’s fourth game-winning drive in the playoffs, good for the sixth-best of all time.
Let’s get into the Winners and Losers from Wild Card weekend.
Kendricks had 10 tackles, and six of those were stops. He was targeted twice and allowed seven yards. Fittingly enough, Kendricks sealed the game by nearly intercepting a pass.
There were multiple plays where Kendricks lined up on the line of scrimmage and stood his ground against an offensive lineman. He also drew a critical holding call on the one designed run to Hurts. The Eagles tried to run a “slide” route with Dallas Goedert, where he runs behind the line of scrimmage and comes across the formation. Kendricks sniffed it out for a tackle for loss.
Kendricks did not miss a tackle for the second straight game. That is the first time this season that one of the 49ers linebackers has not missed a tackle in successive games—that includes Fred Warner. Kendricks’ six stops were one shy of Warner’s season high of seven.
Kendricks was incredible.
There wasn’t a day that went by in training camp that you didn’t read about Robinson. We saw flashes here and there from Robinson this season, especially after the bye, but those were one-play sample sizes. Robinson didn’t surpass 44 receiving yards in a game this season. He had that many on his first reception.
For Robinson to beat Quinyon Mitchell, one of the three best cornerbacks in the game, was something nobody outside of the 49ers building expected. Robinson got Mitchell once more for a first down. He had Adoree Jackson in a blender, catching all four of his targets for 48 yards and three first downs.
Robinson made an impressive adjustment on a 16-yard catch in the fourth quarter on a pass that initially looked errant. Robinson finished with 111 receiving yards and a touchdown. He looked...
