Philadelphia fans were laughing last year, laughing and joking about San Francisco quarterback Brock Purdy being knocked from the game and mocking him about his “Mr. Irrelevancy.”
They went on to lose the Super Bowl to Kansas City, but the laughing continued this season, as the trash talk between the defending NFC champions and their fans and 49ers receivers Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk escalated.
Samuel and Aiyuk were strangely quiet this week.
But now Eagles fans aren’t laughing.
The 49ers were likely the ones laughing, at least privately, when they left Lincoln Financial on Sunday after beating the Iggles, 42-19, in the rematch of last year’s NFC title game (San Francisco’s Brock Purdy throws 4 TD passes as 49ers thump injured Hurts, Eagles 42-19), dealing Philadelphia setback, but not a crippling one: the main thing was, it keeps Philly within striking distance of both SF and the Dallas Cowboys and (believe it or not) the Detroit Lions for the NFC home field advantage.
All four teams have realistic shots at that now, and the Cowboys are still in the hunt for that NFC East Division championship, only a game back – really a game and a half back, since Philadelphia owns a win over Dallas (in Philadelphia) earlier this season. Those two teams meet again this coming Sunday.
Samuel blew off all the talk as fun and games afterward.
“Talking trash, it’s part of the game,” Samuel said. “Hopefully, no one took it to heart. It’s all fun and games at the end of the day.”
Samuel scored three touchdowns in the game, his best outing of the year, and Purdy, knocked from the NFC title game last year with an injury, was back in a big way in this one, going 26-of-45 for 298 yards and a 46-yard touchdown pass to Samuel, and touchdown passes to Aiyuk and Juan Jennings, as well, four TDs in all for Purdy.
Christian McCaffrey had 17 carries for 93 yards and a touchdown, and in spite of having lost linebacker Dre Greenlaw to ejection after he got into a sideline argument with head of security Dom DiSandro. Both were ejected, but Greenlaw was called for a personal foul for unnecessary roughness on the play (near the sidelines on DeVonta Smith), and the Eagles turned that into a touchdown, keeping the game close, at least at the time (21-13).
Shortly thereafter, though, Samuel scored, making it 28-13, and the Eagles got no closer.
The win, coupled with a Dallas win over Seattle on Thursday, gave the 49ers a three-game lead over both Seattle and the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC West. The Niners (9-3) host Seattle on Sunday. Philadelphia drops to 10-2 with the loss and visits Dallas (9-3).
