Are the 49ers Better than the Eagles?

The 49ers certainly look better than the Eagles on paper.

Grant Cohn | Oct 10, 2023

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San Francisco 49ers

The 49ers and the Eagles are the two best teams in the NFL, not just the NFC.

Which team is better?

Both are undefeated, but the 49ers have outscored opponents by 99 points while the Eagles have outscored teams by just 37 points. The Eagles are squeaking by while the 49ers are blowing out teams. Advantage: 49ers.

The 49ers currently have the No. 1 defense in terms of points allowed. They've given up just 68 points this year. And in terms of points scored, their offense ranks No. 2 with 167 points. Meanwhile, the Eagles currently have the fifth ranked offense and 13th ranked defense in terms of points. Advantage: 49ers.

The 49ers certainly look better than the Eagles on paper. But this is an interesting matchup, because of the way the Eagles are built. They have a very big team. The Niners want to be the bullies, and are able to push around Dallas -- we've seen it so many times. Philly is hard to bully. They have a bigger offensive line than the Niners. They have a bigger defensive line than the Niners. The Eagles simply don't lose in the trenches. So the last time that these teams faced each other, the Niners couldn't even get through one drive without getting their quarterback injured. They actually got two quarterbacks hurt. And it was the same offensive line essentially as the one they have now. So this is a tough matchup for the 49ers.

I still think the 49ers will end up with the No. 1 seed. And when these teams inevitably face each other, the key will be Kyle Shanahan dialing up plays that make sense against the Eagles. Last season, he asked a backup tight end to block Hassan Reddick and got Brock Purdy injured. Last week, Shanahan triple teamed Micah Parsons and shut him down. As long as Shanahan gives Reddick the respect he deserves, the 49ers should win.

Published Oct 10, 2023

GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.