Eagles Inactives, Pick and Matchup to Watch vs 49ers
The Eagles defeated Washington, 37-34, at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday. For the second straight week, rookie Cody Parkey's kick was the difference, hitting a 51-yarder to help the Eagles improve to 3-0.
The Niners won the last meeting with the Eagles, 24-23, at Lincoln Financial Field in 2011, snapping their five-game losing streak to Philadelphia with that victory. The 49ers haven't beaten the Eagles out west since 2001, when Jeff Garcia and Donovan McNabb were under center for their respective teams.
In the 2012 draft, the Eagles took Foles in the third round, 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick went to San Francisco in the second round of the 2011 draft.
(Listen on 97.3 ESPN, coverage starts at 3:30, kickoff at 4:25pm).
San Francisco leads the all-time series 17-12-1.
(ESPN.com NFL insider KC Joyner looks at the match-up)
KC Joyner Part I:
KC Joyner Part II:
The Eagles will be missing four starters, linebacker Mychal Kendricks is out again for the second straight week with a calf injury, he will be replaced by the combination of Emmanuel Acho and Casey Matthews – a huge drop off. Dennis Kelly will fill in at right guard, bumping Todd Herremans out to right tackle. Matt Tobin will be active for the first time all season and start in place of Evan Mathis at left guard. Finally, David Molk will start at center in place of Jason Kelce who is out 6-8 weeks following sports hernia surgery.
Wide receiver/Return man Josh Huff was listed as questionable.
On the 49ers injury front, according to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, Vernon Davis who has both knee and ankle injuries is "good to go" for Week 4 against the Eagles. Of course two huge losses are Aldon Smith, who is suspended and Navarro Bowman is out with a knee injury. Also, Glenn Dorsey iis out til about week 10 and Tramaine Brock has a toe injury.
(Listen to this week’s The Outside View with Guy Haberman and Damon Bruce)
Bruce on the Warm-up:
Match-Up to watch:
(ESPN’s Sal Paolantonio talks about the match-up to watch)
49ers wide receiver Michael Crabtree vs Eagles secondary: Obviously the Eagles banged up offensive line is an issue, but the 49ers defense is missing some key pieces as well. So I think Crabtree, who is a big physical wide out could give the Eagles secondary some trouble. This is one area the 49ers might have a decided advantage against the Eagles, with Anquan Boldin, Stevie Johnson and Davis going against Cary Williams, Bradley Fletcher and Brandon Boykin. The Niners have three different players each with at least 13 catches in 2014 (Crabtree, Boldin and Williams).
Eagles’ inactives: Mychal Kendricks, Matt Barkley, Josh Huff, Jaylen Watkins, Jason Kelce, Kevin Graf and Taylor Hart.
49ers’ inactives: WR Quinton Patton, CB Trumaine Brock, QB Josh Johnson, C Marcus Martin, OL Dillon Farrell, DL Tank Carradine and Vance McDonald
Reaction: The Eagles have some issues up front, but so do the 49ers, they are not nearly as good on defensive side of the ball as they have been in the past under Harbaugh. While Kaepernick and the 49ers offense can be explosive, the running game has been quite the past few weeks - look for Frank Gore to be more a part of the offense this week.
The 49ers are averaging just 112.0 rush yards per game in 2014 and thats part of the reason why they are scoring just 20.7 points per game so far this season.
With Molk and Kelly already getting extended playing time, both are in the starting lineup, the Eagles added more depth getting Tobin back from an ankle injury and moving Herremans out to tackle for this week - Lane Johnson will be back next week.
This should be a great test for the Eagles, Washington is 1-2 but can ill-afford to fall to 1-3, especially playing in the NFC west – this is a big game to see if the 49ers are a real player in the NFC playoff race.
The Eagles were 6-2 on the road last season, and are hoping to get off to a 4-0 start this season with this game. Being able to win road games is essential if you want to make a deep playoff run.
Overall, I think San Francisco is a little overrated this season. I predicted at the start of the season that they would not be a playoff team, I could envision their season having a lot of issues both on-and-off-the-field. That being said, they are still a dangerous team and I think they will give the Eagles all sorts of troubles in this game. Injuries aren't a big issue for the Eagles, but the ones they have are crucial – but much like last week, not crucial enough to lose the game, but crucial enough to keep the 49ers in the game.
The Pick: Eagles 31, 49ers 28