Regrading the Eagles: Did the defense lack physicality in tackling the 49ers?

Regrading the Eagles’ 42-19 loss to the 49ers upon reviewing the coaches’ film (original instant grades here):

It’s time to stop piling on the Eagles’ linebackers. Nicholas Morrow (No. 41) didn’t play well and Christian Elliss wasn’t much better. But some credit has to be given to 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan and his offense, and some blame assigned to Eagles coaches — specifically defensive coordinator Sean Desai.

Morrow didn’t make some necessary plays, but he was also placed in untenable situations. Blown assignments and missed tackles — those are player mistakes. And Morrow had both. But Desai’s game plan and play calls placed additional stress upon his middle and perimeter defenders. He agreed on Tuesday.

“They did a good job of scheming up some space plays, and I’ve got to do a better job of putting our guys in position to get tighter in corralling those areas,” Desai said. “It starts with me.”

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Cornerback James Bradberry alluded to how the game plan was a difficult one to execute against a 49ers offense that employs a lot of pre-snap and at-the-snap motion. The Eagles’ secondary needed to communicate and pass off assignments based on how plays unfolded and, in the end, it caused more confusion than cohesion.

Bradberry was quick to point out that it was the players’ responsibility to make the scheme work. But I’m not sure there’s a linebacker in the world — and that certainly includes the recently-signed Shaquille Leonard – who can stay with Christian McCaffrey (No. 23) out of the backfield when he has a two-way go route.

The Eagles have been, overall, a solid tackling team this season. They rank sixth in the NFL, according to Pro Football Focus’ metrics. But they’ve struggled in that regard in recent weeks. In their first nine games they had, in terms of missed tackles to tackles made, a 14.6 percent ratio. In their last three games, the ratio was 21.2 percent.

They missed eight tackles on Sunday, but their 20.5 ratio wasn’t egregious. The bigger issue, after watching the film, was that Eagles defenders weren’t swarming to the ball to help minimize the misses. Again, some of that had to do with Shanahan creating space, and some had to do with Desai not clogging those areas.

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But I saw another problem: The Eagles couldn’t match the 49ers’ physicality in the back seven. That’s a personnel issue, but it also appeared to be, at times, an effort one.

“I think the effort at all levels, I’ve got to improve,” Desai said when asked if he was happy with his players’ effort. “I think every player knows we’ve all got to improve from an execution standpoint, everything, too. I’ve got to be able to help them also.”

The Eagles’ defensive front has been one of the more physical units in the NFL this season. It didn’t have its best outing vs. the run and McCaffrey got into the second level far too often. But 67 of his 93 yards rushing came after contact. On this carry, he gained 5 yards after Morrow met him in the hole.

McCaffrey is about as tough to bring down as anyone and Morrow appeared a touch off-balance after having to fend a block. But there were multiple examples of the 49ers finishing off plays after contact. Tight end George Kittle (No. 85) is another physical ballcarrier.

While Eagles safety Kevin Byard (No. 31) could have likely done a better job of getting Kittle down, the tight end was able to shift into second gear after getting behind Ellis (No. 53), who had bit on a play fake.

In terms of effort, there weren’t any obvious examples of players dogging it. But Desai’s non-answer to the above question suggests that he wanted more pursuit. There’s a narrative out there that the Eagles cornerbacks played scared, one that Darius Slay (No. 2) disputed.

I find the claim dubious as well, but there were seemingly moments when defensive backs didn’t rally to the ball or waited for others to make stops.

Having “physical” cornerbacks in today’s NFL isn’t a priority. Coordinators need fast, agile, sticky defenders who can keep pace with lightning quick receivers. Asking Slay and Bradberry (No. 24) to meet Deebo Samuel (No. 19) with a full steam is probably ask too much. But the 49ers clearly challenged the Eagles’ physicality — or lack thereof — on the perimeter.

The 49ers defense, meanwhile, offered a contrast. Its linebackers and safeties played aggressively against the Eagles and were able to close on running backs and keep yards down after first contact.

Despite Dallas Goedert’s absence vs. the Chiefs and Bills, Jalen Hurts and the Eagles offense found ways to pull out victories without the quarterback’s middle-of-the-field best friend. But not having the tight end against San Francisco caught up with the Eagles, especially in the early going.

Coach Nick Sirianni seemed to have drawn up shot plays for Goedert’s replacements that Hurts, for various reasons, didn’t attempt. On the very first play from scrimmage, Jack Stoll (No. 89) got behind an aggressive 49ers safety. Does Hurts throw that pass if No. 88 is out there instead? Did he think the post safety could get over in time to break the pass up? Was another receiver the first read?

It’s hard to say. But he held the ball, dumped to his running back, and the pass was incomplete.

Surely, Hurts regretted not throwing to tight end Albert Okwuegbunam (No. 85) on the below play. Jason Kelce’s snap was wide and the quarterback’s timing was off when he had to scoop it up. But that was a route concept the Eagles have run many times and with great success, and all Hurts had to do was heave the ball out there and it was likely to be an explosive completion.

Hurts had a season-high 3.52 seconds to throw in the pocket vs. the 49ers, per PFF.

“I would assess that the offensive line did a fantastic job in pass protection all evening,” Eagles offensive coordinator Brian Johnson said when asked if Hurts was holding the ball too long.

Asked later why the excessive time didn’t lead to completions, Johnson focused primarily on activating “scramble rules.”

Hurts took two early sacks. He slipped on the first in the red zone. And he should have gotten outside the pocket and thrown the ball away on the second. But the Eagles sent just two receivers — DeVonta Smith (No. 6, up top) and A.J. Brown (No. 11) — into routes as the 49ers dropped seven into coverage. Hurts also didn’t have a check down with maximum protection.

“That was a play we’ve run quite a bit in terms of just throwing that deep stop route to DeVonta,” Johnson said.

“For us, part of it is just understanding, OK, when can I extend and make a play or when to just say play the next play? Obviously, any time you take a sack or a negative play when you don’t have to ... we don’t want to get put behind the chains. You’d obviously rather be second-and-10 than second-and-19 situation.”

The Eagles’ inability to establish the run affected the offense as the game progressed. They’ve had intermittent success on the ground this season, but Hurts has, for whatever the reason, not been as utilized as a plus-one factor.

His midseason knee injury has been one component, but defenses have seemingly done a better job of taking away the quarterback read game — both in zone runs and in the run-pass option game. The 49ers were among the best to stop it.

The Eagles, partly as a result, haven’t run as many read-option plays this season. They even mixed in more of Hurts under center against San Francisco, and tried a run play that mirrored some of what Shanahan has mastered with his motions at the snap.

The 49ers weren’t fooled.