After an NFL wild-card round that lived up to its name, the divisional round brought a little more convention.
Getty ImagesI’ve written plenty about how historically dominant these 49ers have been during their 12-game win streak and how they had overtaken the Eagles in the betting market after a strong start to the postseason. Still, I can’t help but feel like we jumped off the Philly bandwagon too soon after Jalen Hurts’ shoulder injury, which doesn’t seem to be hindering him much at all.
The Cowboys defense gave rookie Brock Purdy some issues last week, limiting him to 214 yards and zero touchdowns for the first time in his young career while nearly baiting him into a couple of critical errors. The issue for Dallas was an offense that couldn’t generate enough explosive plays and was plagued by two predictable Dak Prescott interceptions and some questionable offensive play calls.
I don’t have those concerns with this Eagles offense and with Hurts, who has 38 total touchdowns to just six interceptions in 16 starts and played a sharp game on Saturday. Philly’s offense has been the NFL’s most unsolvable puzzle all season long, and while the Giants’ defense was more of a roadblock than a real test, that win still quelled concerns about whether Hurts’ injury would rob us of what we had come to expect in the regular season.
We haven’t seen the Niners face a rushing attack quite like the one they’ll see on Sunday, and we haven’t seen Purdy slice up a defense as good as this one. You can make a compelling case for either side, but my early lean is on the host Eagles to extend their 8-1 home record under Hurts.
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