PHILADELPHIA — Jauan Jennings hid his eyes behind sunglasses, but he couldn’t hide his emotions with the San Francisco 49ers set for a rubber match with one of their NFC West rivals.
It will take place in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs and just two weeks after San Francisco’s high-stakes home loss to the same team to close the regular season.
The receiver-turned-backup quarterback slammed his fists on the table and essentially told the top-seeded Seattle Seahawks (14-3) to bring it on. He leaned into the microphone and yelled, “Can’t wait!” before he walked off with a knowing smile that perhaps the best in San Francisco was yet to come.
The 49ers are in for a playoff treat, thanks in large part to a pretty neat trick pulled off by Jennings.
Brock Purdy threw a go-ahead 4-yard touchdown pass to running back Christian McCaffrey late in the fourth quarter, San Francisco used a crafty play to produce a touchdown toss from Jennings to McCaffrey, and the sixth-seeded 49ers eliminated the third-seeded Philadelphia Eagles from the playoffs with a 23-19 victory Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field.
“We went to the Super Bowl,” Jennings said. “So we’ve got to top that.”
Maybe if the Eagles watched that 49ers’ loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl to cap the 2023 season, they wouldn’t have been so caught by surprise by the play — and their bid to repeat as NFL champs (after beating the Chiefs in last February’s big game) wouldn’t have ended in the first round.
Before the NFL, before college stardom with the Tennessee Volunteers from 2015-19, Jennings was a quarterback at Murfreesboro’s Blackman High School, and he apparently still has the touch when needed. Jennings threw a touchdown pass on a similar play in Super Bowl LVIII — an overtime loss to Kansas City that allowed the Chiefs to repeat — and this one to McCaffrey put him on a list with Purdy, Joe Montana and Steve Young as 49ers who have multiple career touchdown passes in the postseason.
How’s that for heady company?
The play was called “Skyy Bang reverse pass” — in honor of San Francisco receiver Skyy Moore — and the double reverse was suggested by offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak.
“It was a hell of suggestion,” San Francisco coach Kyle Shanahan said.
The not-so Philly special was quite a way to put a dagger in the Eagles’ season.
The 49ers (13-5) get another shot at the Seahawks, who were 13-3 winners at San Francisco on Jan. 3 in a winner-take-all showdown for the NFC’s No. 1 seed and home-field advantage throughout the conference portion of the playoffs — and in San Francisco’s case, the entire postseason, because next month’s Super Bowl will be held at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, where the 49ers play their games.
They were 17-13 winners at Seattle’s loud and lively Lumen Field this season, but that was way back in the opener for both teams on Sept. 7. BetMGM put the Seahawks as early 6 1/2-point favorites for the playoff pairing.
Purdy threw for 262 yards and got the road win in Philadelphia he failed to pick up three seasons ago, when he was injured in a dismal outing in San Francisco’s loss to the Eagles in the NFC title game.
Purdy had two passes intercepted in this one by All-Pro cornerback Quinyon Mitchell, but NFC East champion Philadelphia (11-7) scored just three points off the turnovers.
The 49ers could head to Seattle without star tight end George Kittle, who was carted off the field with a right Achilles tendon injury late in the first half.
“I think everyone’s just hurting for Kittle,” Shanahan said.
The Eagles — who won a Super Bowl on a trick play — were foiled by one when Jennings was pitched the ball and rolled right and hit McCaffrey for an over-the-shoulder catch and a 29-yard touchdown. The score on the first play of the fourth quarter gave the 49ers a 17-16 lead.
“I looked up, the ball’s in the air, and Christian tracked it,” Purdy said. “It was wobbling in the wind. The fact that Christian caught it over his shoulder, dude, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh.'”
Jennings had 66 yards receiving and 48 rushing in addition to his touchdown pass.
“JJ thinks he can make every play known to man,” Shanahan said.
The Eagles would get only Jake Elliott’s 33-yard field goal in the quarter for a brief 19-17 lead.
Philadelphia was again doomed by a lethargic offensive performance under embattled coordinator Kevin Patullo. Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, last year’s Super Bowl MVP, threw for only 168 yards and a touchdown, and the hosts failed to build on a 13-10 halftime lead, totaling only 36 total yards in the third quarter on 16 plays.
Hurts was incomplete on a last-gasp fourth-and-11 attempt with 43 seconds left that ended the Eagles’ final drive.
“I just didn’t make the play,’ Hurts said. “I own it. I own it all.”
Eagles running back Saquon Barkley rushed for 106 yards, but he was slow to get up after a run in the fourth quarter and used the stationary bike on the sideline to stay loose after that.
The game never reached its offensive slugfest potential after the teams traded touchdowns on their opening drives.
Purdy, rendered ineffective by a torn ligament in his right elbow on the opening drive against the Eagles in the disastrous loss three years ago, completed all three passes for 74 yards and capped the drive with a 2-yard touchdown to Demarcus Robinson.
The Eagles tied it on a 1-yard sweep by Dallas Goedert, their red zone go-to ace with 11 touchdown receptions who became the first tight end to rush for a score in NFL postseason history.
They turned again to Goedert on fourth down when Hurts hit him for a 9-yard touchdown that made it 13-7.
Eddy Pineiro kicked a 36-yarder for the 49ers that cut it to 13-10 at halftime.
Purdy and Co. took it from there, and now they hope to pull off another win in Seattle.
“It’s just cool for everybody across the board to be able to have this kind of win and celebrate all the stuff that we’ve been through,” Purdy said.
The emotions were obviously different for the home team at the Linc.
Eagles receiver A.J. Brown had to be separated from coach Nick Sirianni by chief security officer Dom DiSandro during a sideline blowup late in the first half. Brown ripped off his helmet in frustration and yelled more in Sirianni’s direction after the Eagles punted to end a drive.
Philadelphia had four dropped passes on third downs, including two by Brown on seven targets.
“It’s been a common theme for us this year,” Barkley said. “We haven’t done a good enough job of playing complete football. Putting two halves together. Sometimes you expect you’ll get to this moment, and you’ll figure it out.”
Sirianni, who led the Eagles to the Super Bowl in two of the previous three seasons, said he rushed after Brown to get him off the field so they could punt.
Everything is cool between the two, Sirianni said. Honest.
“I love A.J. I think he knows how I feel about him. I have a special relationship with him,” Sirianni said. “We probably went through every emotion you can possibly have together. We’ve laughed together, we’ve cried together, we’ve yelled at each other. We’re both emotional. I was trying to get him off the field, and that happens in this game.
“It happens in this game, but I love him.”
The Eagles rode their defense to an NFC East repeat — well, that, and playing in an especially weak division — that masked so many deficiencies in the play calling for the offense. The Eagles finished the regular season just 24th overall in the NFL in offense; 23rd in passing and 19th in scoring.
For better or worse, it was a team effort, just as it was Sunday.
“It’s not on any individual,” Hurts said. “It’s on us as a unit.”