Halftime Report: 49ers at Eagles

Embed from Getty Images

By Paul Bowman, Sports Talk Philly Editor

The Eagles and 49ers came into this game coming off the high of a win and while the Eagles managed over 200 yards of offense, poor play calls in the red zone left them with a turnover on downs and a blocked field goal allowed them to score only one field goal.

The defense allowed one long drive to end the half and now the Eagles go into halftime down 7-3.

Here’s what we saw in the first half:

Quez Watkins

Watkins has two catches for 117 yards and should be featured more. Smith is great, but the Eagles offense needs to work more options for Watkins into their plays beyond just a straight deep route.

Javon Hargrave

Hargrave has made a few really solid plays to make stops behind or just beyond the line of scrimmage. The Eagles will need him and the rest of the defensive line to keep that up if they want to keep the 49ers offense in check.

Eagles Secondary

If Jimmy G was a great quarterback or wasn’t facing a lot of pressure from the defensive line, the 49ers would likely have 100+ more air yards easily. The 49ers offense has had so many open receivers targeted that would be big catches if the pass wasn’t off-target. They are doing a decent job of throwing off routes, but too many guys have found a spot with no defender within five yards of them.

Screens/Dumps

These screens and dumps off to Kittle and the running backs are something that the 49ers can continue to lean on to try and get Garoppolo into rhythm. At the same time, the Eagles have not had anyone effectively covering these players and have had some sloppy containment on these plays. If they don’t get that under control, the 49ers could just lean hard into this.