Eagles Lookback: San Francisco Knew Eagles Playbook
By Bret Stuter
Sep 28, 2014; Santa Clara, CA, USA; Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Nick Foles (9) looks down field for a receiver during the fourth quarter against the San Francisco 49er
Eagles Lookback: San Francisco Knew Eagles Playbook
In a strange twist of fate, independant stories are surfacing describing the 49ers uncanny ability to anticipate the Eagles offensive plays. Fans saw the inept efforts of the offense, and we’ve all walked away from our one loss with a different take. Some point to the Eagles offensive line, which has had more versions than Baskin Robbins has flavors of ice cream. Some fans point to quarterback Nick Foles, whose accuracy has some fans already clamoring for the appearance of back-up quarterback Mark Sanchez. Some fans point to the inability of the Eagles to get running back LeSean McCoy into the game, and have drawn the conclusion that something happened in the game versus the Washington Redskins to McCoy that has brought the running game to a screeching halt.
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But few point the finger to the coaches. And perhaps that’s where the team needs to start looking. An Eagles Lookback, if you would. At the coaching staff, and the watered down playbook instituted for the makeshift offensive line.
In a post game interview, Eric Reid was quoted with some pretty good insights, and very damning information, about the game.
Everybody practices what they expect their opposition to throw at them in the week leading up to the game. But the 49ers knew EXACTLY what the Eagles would do. They practiced the specific plays and formations that they saw. And the goal line stance? They knew what would be run, as they practiced those plays EXACTLY.
"“Throughout the week, we kind of knew when they get into certain formations, what type of plays they will run. They have some plays that they like. So, some plays that we prepared for, they ended up running, which worked out great for us. Antoine made a huge play on that stretch that they ran. I know for a fact one of (the plays) was. They like to do this little inline goal-line play. They work a receiver along the back line. That worked for them against a couple teams last year, so we were ready for that one.” – Eric Reid."
It’s not simply enough to practice which plays will be run against you. No. To have the kind of suffocating defense displayed on Sunday, the 49ers needed to have a spy, someone who knew the play call. That task was handled by Niners safety Antoine Bethea.
As a result of his performance, he was named NFC Defensive Player of the Week following a seven tackles, a forced fumble and an interception in the Forty-Niners 26-21 win over the Eagles.
There’s more. The Eagles had two plays at the end of the game within two yards of the goal line. The 49ers played perfect defense. And yet, those were the two plays the Niners practiced that week.
“I don’t know if you ever plan for two plays from inside the two with the game on the line, but I will tell you this: the two calls that we made on third down and fourth down, we practiced during the week in those situations,” 49er defensive coordinator Vic Fangio explained.
“I will tell you this: the two calls that we made on third down and fourth down, we practiced during the week in those situations,” 49er defensive coordinator Vic Fangio
49er cornerback Parrish Cox shared even more: “The two calls we had, I think they were actually the only two calls we went over at practice Friday. It worked out perfect.” Almost too perfect.
In the game, Bethea was mike’d up and was caught on numerous occasions literally announcing the Eagles play to his teammates BEFORE the ball was snapped. To catch the mic’d up 49ers footage, check it out here at the 2:10 to 2:30 mark. Bethea steals the sign and begins to call the run plays as Foles calls the play at the line:
In a game of inches, and with so much on the line, it’s disheartening to discover that the Eagles beat themselves. No runner can defeat a defense when that defense has practiced against that very play, and then knows when it’s coming.
Tim McManus of Birds 24/2 went to the source, and in the interview with Chip Kelly, learned this:
"“You self-scout yourself in terms of what you’re doing from a formation standpoint. But there are also sometimes when you are a little bit more limited in your game plan just because of who you have available to run what you want to run,” he said. “To say, ‘Hey, this would be great to run this because they won’t think it’s coming,’ well if your guy doesn’t think it’s coming either it’s going to be real difficult for you. You’ve got to know what you’ve got in the lineup and obviously you had some younger guys that were playing so we weren’t probably as wide open, as expansive as we could have been if we had guys out there with a little more experience.”- chip Kelly"
So the stalwart Niners defense had crib notes. The ineptness of the Eagles offense was simply the 49ers knowing the offense coming before the snap.
Unless the Eagles tell the Rams the same “here’s what we are planning to do after we snap the ball” signals, the Eagles should do much better. But that does not change the simple fact. The Eagles were facing 4 turnovers, 3 reserve offensive line, and giving away practically every play they ran on offense to the defensive players before the snap and still nearly won the game.
I hope the Birds learn how to disguise their offense this week.