Philadelphia vs San Francisco final score: Eagles offense absent vs 49ers, lose 26-21
Final. 26. 42. 21. 54
The San Francisco 49ers defense dominated the Philadelphia Eagles offense on Sunday as they overcame special teams woes to improve to 2-2 on the season and hand the Eagles their first loss of the year in the 26-21 win from Levi’s Stadium.
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Philadelphia started the scoring after the 49ers first possession went backwards 15 yards and resulted in a blocked punt that was recovered by Brad Smith in the end zone for a 7-0 lead with 12:19 remaining in the first quarter.
The 49ers responded on the ensuing possession that took 8:47 off the clock as Colin Kaepernick and the offense ran 14 plays that covered 69 yards, but the team could not punch it in the end zone and had to settle for a 29-yard field goal from Phil Dawson.
San Francisco took their first lead of the game on their next drive when Kaepernick dropped off a short pass to Frank Gore as the running back rumbled 55 yards for the go-ahead touchdown to give the 49ers a 10-7 lead.
Then the defense and special teams of the Eagles made two big plays in less than four minutes that could have sunk the 49ers chances today.
Malcolm Jenkins returned a Kaepernick interception 53 yards for a touchdown to reclaim the lead in Levi’s Stadium and 3:13 later the Eagles scored again with Andy Lee punting the ball to Darren Sproles who continues his hot start to the year in his first season in an Eagles uniform and returned the punt back 46 yards for the score to give Philadelphia a 21-10 lead.
The lead held until the final minute of the first half when Dawson booted his second field goal of the first half from 51 yards out to cut the lead to 21-13 and give the home team some life heading into the break.
San Francisco controlled the third quarter as they shutout the normally high-powered offense of Chip Kelly and the Eagles as the 49ers got a touchdown reception from Stevie Johnson from 12 yards out and on their next possession got a third field goal from Dawson from 46 yards out.
Dawson, arguably the team’s MVP on the day, booted his fourth field goal of the day when he connected from 31 yards out to extend their lead to 26-21 after a 10-play drive took 6:05 off the clock.
The Eagles still had a chance to win the game despite next to nothing from Nick Foles, LeSean McCoy and the Eagles trio of talented receivers. Philadelphia drove the length of the field, picking up a ridiculous one-handed catch from Jeremy Maclin in the process, to get in position for the go-ahead touchdown.
With the Eagles facing a fourth-and-goal from just outside the one-yard line, Foles rolled out to his right on a play-action fake and the 49er defense held firm and forced the turnover on downs after Foles’ attempt was high and his intended receiver was out of bounds and unable to come down with the catch.
The Eagles still had life after they used all their timeouts and forced a 49ers punt to get the ball back with 1:23 remaining from the 31.
Four plays later Parrish Cox intercepted a pass from Foles on fourth down as the 49ers defense make a huge statement in the big NFC showdown between two playoff teams from a year ago as they handed the Eagles their first loss of the season while improving to 2-2 on the year.
McCoy finished with 17 yards on 10 carries as the Eagles were only able to rush for 22 yards and Foles was 21-of-42 passing for 195 yards and two interceptions as the offense was shutout against a defense led Antoine Bethea, Justin Smith and rookie Aaron Lynch.
Kaepernick finished with two touchdowns and a pick on 17-of-30 passing with 218 yards. Anquan Boldin was the team’s leading receiver with five catches for 62 yards as they saw Vernon Davis leave with injury and Michael Crabtree leave for a period with an injury.
Gore had a stellar performance with 119 yards on the ground on 24 carries and the 55-yard touchdown reception.
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