49ers vs Eagles Prediction, Odds and Picks

San Francisco is on the road playing Philadelphia at the Lincoln Financial Field stadium on Sunday, 1/29/2023 @ 3:00pm EST. Philadelphia -2.5 was the opening favorite and line hasn't moved.

Why the San Francisco 49er's Will Win 

For everyone waiting for Brock Purdy to show signs of a rookie NFL QB, but that hasn't happened yet and I don't believe it will happen. Albeit the Cowboys defense did make him look rookie 'ish' at times. Purdy has looked like an experienced professional in all of his starts, but it’s also a result of because San Francisco's style of play.

1) Don’t turn the ball over 2) Safe, short-to-midrange passes to 3) elite playmakers like Deebo Samuel, Christian McCaffrey, and George Kittle who can get the YACs (yards after the catch). 4) Rely on a solid running game to take the pressure off, and 5) when in doubt, eat it, live to fight another day, and count on the No. 1 defense in the NFL to take care of the rest.

It takes a quarterback without the ego needed to be fed a slew of downfield shots. That's where Purdy's "Mr. Irrelevant" element comes in handy. Furthermore, Purdy doesn't require a lot of time in this style of offense. The Dallas pass rush certainly got to him enough to matter, but that wasn't always the worst thing. Since he never had to force anything, he was able to avoid making mistakes.

Playing the long game is fine with San Francisco. With just 16 carries between Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard, Dallas helped feed right into the San Francisco style. If San Francisco’s methodical offense is able to control the tempo, the Eagles will have to show the patience to keep running, even if it doesn’t work. It took almost 33 minutes for San Francisco to convert on third down. Yes, San Francisco could not put the game away and settled for too many field goals, but Dallas had to panic a bit even though it was down just one score throughout the second half.

In the last six games, the Eagles have beaten the Giants three times, but their last win over a playoff team came in Week 6.

Why the Philadelphia Eagles Will Win 

The Eagles have been superior all season and have the potential to win this game by double digits.

Even when the Raiders got down in overtime, he was okay, the running game took over - Christian McCaffrey was awesome - and the downfield shots were relatively safe. Getting down to this Eagle team isn't the same as getting behind against Las Vegas. Philadelphia has the ability to put their foot on the gas and out the 49ers in this situation. Philadelphia has speedsters at wide receivers, a strong tight end in Dallas Goedert, and enough depth at running back to be able to do a variety of things. Purdy does a great job getting the ball in the hands of his playmakers. No, the Eagles don’t have a running weapon like Christian McCaffrey, and the 49ers don’t have a running weapon like Jalen Hurts.

Each of these things contributes to what the Eagles enjoy doing. The Eagles lead the NFL in yards allowed per pass attempt. Brock Purdy, you like to dink and dunk on quick timing plays? Great. You want to run and keep running, Niners? Fine, but Philadelphia has the ability to do it just as well or better. The Niners are 2-4 when they allow at least 99 rushing yards. Over the past five games, Philadelphia has been held under 100 yards just once ,and when they do, they are 12-0. Also a big reason why the Eagles can win this game is San Francisco will be without one of their top players in DE Charles Omenihu who was arrested on domestic chargers this week.

San Francisco Betting

With a power ranking of 1, San Francisco 49er's is ranked #5 in offense (scoring an average of 27.28 per game), #1 in defense (allowing an average of 16.67 points to be scored against them per game) and are 15-4 (13-6 ATS) this season.

Philadelphia Betting

Philadelphia Eagles has a power ranking of 8 and are #3 for offense (scoring an average of 28.61 per game), #5 for defense (giving up an average of 16.67 points per game) and 15-3 (9-9 ATS) overall. San Francisco 49er's went 2-1 (2-1 ATS) in their last 3 matchups against the Philadelphia Eagles.

Curated Picks & Predictions

• Based on the current lines, Oddsmakers predict the score to be SF 25.75, PHI 20.75.
• 60% of SportsJaw players predict Philadelphia Eagles to cover.
• OddsShark's prediction is Philadelphia will win, cover the spread, and the total will go under.
• 62% picked Philadelphia Eagles on Covers.com
• SportsJaw's ScoreCaster prediction: 49ers 22 to Eagles 25.

49ers vs Eagles Staff Prediction

Even with two top ranked defenses, I expect to see to see some points in this game. The weather in Philadelphia is expected to be perfect for late January, and maybe even a little bit warm. And both offenses have the potential for explosive plays. 

It’s not going to be a high-octane firefight, but both offenses should be able to work well enough to make this a back-and-forth battle. Sort of like the San Francisco win over Dallas, field goals will matter, but there’s going to be one big difference.

The difference is that the Eagles won’t buckle in the red zone like the Cowboys. Also as we saw against a stiff Dallas defense, Purdy looked like a rookie at time and I predict the same thing happens Sunday. 

For all of the great things San Francisco does, it’s not all that great on either side of the ball inside the 20. It’s going to have to take a few more chances when there’s a scoring opportunity, and that’s just not its style of play.

The defenses will have their moments, but Jalen Hurts and his receiving corp will make a few more plays There's also a good chance DE Charles Omenihu doesn't play for the 49er's here following his arrest on Monday. It’ll be tight throughout, but I predict Eagles pull away late.

Score prediction: 49ers 17 to Eagles 27

Written by SportsJaw Staff
Categorized as NFL Predictions