The San Francisco 49ers hammered the Philadelphia Eagles by a score of 42-19 last weekend, and afterward, legendary 49ers quarterback Steve Young ripped the defending NFC champions.
“Toward the end of the third quarter, I thought, ‘What pretenders these guys were,’ ” Young said of the Eagles on KNBR (via NBC Sports Bay Area). “Last year, that defense was smothering. It’s not. They’ve lost people at linebacker. You could just see they didn’t have the pursuit, they didn’t have — they don’t have it. I don’t know if they can get it back. I know they were tired, too.”
San Francisco took a 14-6 lead into halftime and put together six straight touchdown drives overall, overwhelming a Philadelphia defense that ranks just 21st in the NFL.
“[The 49ers are] really good. I get that, too. But it just felt like a pretender situation,” added Young.
In spite of the blowout loss, the Eagles are 10-2 and still own the best record in the league, so it seems hard to label them “pretenders,” especially when they represented their conference in the Super Bowl last year. That being said, it’s difficult to ignore the problems that clearly exist in Philly.
Not only do the Birds rank 21st in total defense, but they are just 29th in defending the pass, allowing a hefty 260.3 passing yards per game while permitting a 98.4 passer rating to opposing quarterbacks. In addition, the Eagles are surrendering 24 points per game, which ranks just 24th.
Contrast that with last season, when Philadelphia finished second in the league in yards allowed and eighth in scoring defense.
The Eagles are still clearly one of the best teams in the NFL and have numerous impressive wins on their resume this year, including a win over the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium in a rematch of last winter’s Super Bowl.
However, Young is right in saying that Philadelphia does have issues that can absolutely be exposed come playoff time.
The Eagles will battle the Dallas Cowboys this Sunday.
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