A chaotic first quarter noticed three problem selections swing momentum in Sunday’s NFC Championship Sport between the 49ers and Eagles — and helped preserve the sport tied.
The Eagles took a 7-0 lead on their opening drive thanks largely to an enormous 29-yard catch by DeVonta Smith, who made an acrobatic one-handed catch on fourth-and-3.
However on replay critiques, it turned clear that Smith didn’t catch the cross cleanly. The vast receiver even appeared to acknowledge this himself, making a hand sign for his teammates to hurry to the road and get a play off shortly earlier than too many replays may very well be checked out.
Fox’s telecast didn’t present whether or not 49ers coach Shanahan was making an attempt to get the problem flag out in time or not, however the Eagles acquired the first-and-goal play off with no stoppage and scored on the second-and-goal rush from Miles Sanders from six yards out.
The Devonta Smith one-handed catch ought to've truly been incomplete because the ball clearly hit the bottom. Eagles hurried to the road, looks like the 49ers did not get the proper angle in time. Enormous, large miss.pic.twitter.com/efJ9pmb3sC
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) January 29, 2023
When the 49ers acquired the ball for the primary time, a play-action cross try from Brock Purdy was initially dominated incomplete after Eagles cross rusher Hassan Reddick hit Purdy whereas he was making an attempt to throw.
However Reddick satisfied Eagles coach Nick Sirianni to problem the play, saying he hit Purdy earlier than the rookie began his throw. The replay critiques proved Reddick, Sirianni and the Eagles appropriate, flipping the incompletion to a fumble and giving the Eagles the ball on their very own 44-yard line.
Whereas the 49ers protection compelled a three-and-out after the fumble, Purdy harm his elbow on the hit from Reddick, too, and sat out the following San Francisco drive. Fourth-string quarterback Josh Johnson entered and the 49ers went three-and-out once more.
The 49ers’ luck with challenges could have flipped late within the quarter, although. The ball appeared to hit a wire for Fox’s SkyCam on a punt from Eagles punter Brett Kern, going out of bounds on the 49ers’ 40-yard line.
Your complete Eagles sideline appeared to protest that the ball hit the wire, which might have meant a re-kick. However after evaluate, referee John Hussey stated they “couldn't verify if the ball hit the wire” and the play stood, as did a 10-yard penalty on the Eagles that gave the 49ers the ball at midfield.
Whereas the 49ers’ offense didn’t rating on that drive, the sector positioning tilted in San Francisco’s favor and led to Christian McCaffrey’s 23-yard landing run on the following sequence for the 49ers.
The Eagles answered again with a landing drive of their very own, then turned a Johnson fumble into one other rating and led 21-7 at halftime.