Do it for Dom! Eagles get punched in the face and a new NFL rivalry is born

A good life rule: If you are going to punch an NFL security chief, don’t punch an NFL security chief named Dom from South Philly. This is doubly true if the NFL security chief in question actually looks like his name is Dom from South Philly.

Of course, another rule of life is that when you see your guy get punched in the face, you hit back harder. This was one of the many lessons the Eagles failed while getting out-coached, out-played, and potentially out-ranked in their 42-19 loss to the 49ers.

» READ MORE: Eagles destroyed by 49ers as popular security chief gets ejected and villain Deebo Samuel shines

Some others: 1) Don’t ask Nicholas Morrow to cover Christian McCaffrey by himself. 2) Don’t ask anyone to do it to Deebo Samuel. 3) When you beat a team in NFC championship game after knocking out both of their quarterbacks, they tend to harbor a grudge.

In terms of moving the plot forward, that last bullet point matters more than the rest. The 49ers and the Eagles are the two best teams in the NFC, and it could be that way for a while. That’s what was promised heading into Sunday. That’s what the proceedings delivered. Samuel, McCaffrey, Kyle Shanahan — they were as good as self-advertised. The Eagles weren’t, but they’ll get their chance to answer.

The birth of a rivalry. That’s what this was. It has all of the ingredients. Two of the best coaches in the sport. Two of the most uniquely-talented rosters. The backstory was already there, courtesy of January’s blowout win that sent the Eagles to the Super Bowl. On Sunday, we learned that the thing has teeth.

“Every time you play the 49ers, it’s going to be physical. They’re going to come in and try to take over,” said Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown, who was the victim of some early physical coverage on an unpenalized end-zone sequence. “That’s what they do. I like how they play. They walk around with that chip on their shoulder like they’re the baddest.”

The 49ers were the baddest team on the field on Sunday afternoon. There’s no doubt about that. We saw it early. We saw it often. We saw it long before the sideline altercation that earned ejections for the 49ers’ star linebacker and the Eagles’ longtime head of security.

Dre Greenlaw vs. Dom DiSandro may have been the climactic event, but, man, had it been building. On the first snap of the game, 49ers cornerback Charvarius Ward separated DeVonta Smith from the football with a textbook blow. Later, quarterback Brock Purdy lowered a shoulder that delivered a similar message, if significantly less damage. The Eagles knew it was coming. After an offseason of listening to the 49ers affix asterisks to last year’s NFC championship, they were aware they would be welcoming an opponent that was eager to mix it up. Left tackle Jordan Mailata said they’d been cautioned all week that the officials would be closely monitoring the extracurriculars.

“When it gets chippy like that, it’s real hard to not your emotions boil over,” Mailata said, “but I feel like we had a good head on our shoulders and understanding of the situation and not trying to hurt ourselves even more.

“We were warned earlier in the week that they weren’t going to take any of the chippiness. We go out there and we know they are going to do their thing and we try not to buy into it because of the situation.”

By the opening bell of Greenlaw v. DiSandro early in the third quarter, the 49ers had built a 21-6 lead. It came on a sequence that was classic Shanahan: a 33-yard catch by McCaffrey on a double-move against Morrow, followed by a 12-yard end-around touchdown by Samuel. No coach in the NFL better understands how to use the talent at his disposal to exploit an opposing defense. After watching last week’s performance by James Cook out of the Buffalo backfield, you might have wondered how the Eagles would cover McCaffrey and Samuel. We got our answer. They wouldn’t.

“They got after us good today,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said. “Again, a lot of credit to them. They’re a really good football team. We didn’t play our best game. They’re really good. You can’t play that way and coach that way against a really good team.”

» READ MORE: The 49ers shredded the Eagles defense. Here are our grades.

They 49ers were the better-coached team. That’s not something you often hear yourself saying about Sirianni. After a couple of ugly first-quarter drives, Shanahan spent the rest of the game mixing and motioning his talent into a variety of open-space matchups. McCaffrey and Samuel combined for 271 of the 49ers’ 456 yards, with 94 of them coming on Samuel’s two receiving touchdowns.

In fairness to Desai, his unit was coming off a marathon performance in that overtime win over the Bills. They’d spent 90 snaps attempting to slow down Josh Allen. And now they had to contend with this.

They need to fix it. That’s clear. You can’t give up four plays of 30+ yards and win a football game against a well-coached team.

But there was also something deeper at play here. You saw it when Ward leveled Smith on the first play of the game. You saw it when Deommodore Lenoir did the same late in the fourth quarter. You saw it when Greenlaw flung Smith to the ground early in the third quarter with a penalized late hit. And you definitely saw it during the ensuing kerfuffle, when Greenlaw took exception to DiSandro’s interjection and took a swing at the staffer’s face. The resulting blow was glancing, and perhaps reconsidered in the moment before impact. The message was unmistakable. This may be your house, but we have equal rights to the field.

» READ MORE: Who is Dom DiSandro? What to know about the Eagles’ security chief who was ejected in loss to 49ers

After the game, NFL head of officiating Walt Anderson said that the video showed DiSandro “contributing to that escalation,” which prompted his ejection alongside Greenlaw.

“I can’t help but say that we felt like the officials, not only on this play but throughout the game, did a very good job of preventing the situation from escalating further,” Anderson said.

Shanahan said afterwards that he was told that DiSandro had taunted Greenlaw.

“From what I was told, Dre did it back to him and I was told that he mashed him in the face a little bit, so he got ejected,” the 49ers coach said. “It was a very frustrating play. I have to watch it to have a true opinion on it. I love how we rallied after.”

They did do that. Now, it’s the Eagles’ turn to answer. While it hurts to lose, there can be something invigorating about the opportunity to answer. The reinforcement of what is left to be done. The crystallization of the challenge. The Eagles may not have needed either one of these things. But that’s what they’ve got. They’ve got to use it. This isn’t the last time they’ll see the 49ers.