The 49ers’ 23-19 wild-card win over the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday wasn’t mistake-free, but San Francisco’s PFF grades reflect a performance good enough to advance to the divisional round. 

Eagles running back Saquon Barkley managed to gain over 100 yards on the ground, but when it came time to make stops, linebacker Eric Kendricks and the 49ers’ defense did their jobs. The group forced four punts and two turnovers-on-downs by a star-powered Eagles offense that was unable to put together a successful drive in the second half. 

Part of the reason the 49ers had more success on Sunday is they had better tackling. After missing 18 tackles in their Week 18 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, the group missed only eight in Philadelphia, which is a substantial improvement. 

Safety Malik Mustapha and linebacker Garrett Wallow missed two apiece, while nickel back Upton Stout and defensive linemen Jordan Elliott, Bryce Huff and Clelin Ferrell all missed one. 

The defensive line had limited success in getting pressure on Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, but it did enough to limit his production to 20 completions on 35 attempts for only 168 yards and one touchdown. The Eagles wideouts did not help their quarterback by dropping three passes, according to PFF. 

The 49ers pressured Hurts on only six of his 37 drop backs, or 16.2 percent, which was their second-lowest rate of the season since they logged 15.2 percent in their Week 4 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. 

Pressures: 

Keion White — one sack, three hurries 

Yetur Gross-Matos — three hurries 

CJ West — one hurry 

Sam Okuayinonu — one hurry 

Bryce Huff — one hurry 

The 49ers’ offense had a challenging first half but got the ball moving in the second as the defense kept the Eagles out of the end zone. 

Vic Fangio’s defense put Brock Purdy under pressure during much of the game. The Eagles pressured the 49ers quarterback on 16 of his 35 drop backs, or 45.7 percent, which caused Purdy to complete only one of his nine attempts for a touchdown, two interceptions and a 37.0 passer rating when blitzed. 

Purdy saw much more success when he was not blitzed, completing 17 of his 22 attempts for 260 yards with a touchdown and 130.9 passer rating. 

The offensive line did what it could to give Purdy time to throw, but the Eagles’ defensive line was able to get pressure on the quarterback 18 times. Left tackle Trent Williams, who returned from a hamstring injury Sunday, did not give up a sack but was charged with the most pressures. 

LT Trent Williams — one hit, five hurries

LG Spencer Burford— four hurries 

C Jake Brendel — one hurry 

RG Dominick Puni – one hurry 

RT Colton McKivitz — one hurry 

Christian McCaffrey had a tough time gaining yards on the ground with 41 of his 48 yards coming after contact. The All-Pro running back saw more success in the passing game, catching six of his eight targets for 66 yards and two touchdowns. 

Jauan Jennings caught only one of his three targets from Purdy, but the wideout is the only NFL player with a pass of 25 of more air yards in the NFL playoffs thus far on his touchdown to McCaffrey at the start of the fourth quarter. 

The offense also got help from Demarcus Robinson’s best game since joining the organization. He caught six of his seven targets for 111 yards and a touchdown. Five of the receiver’s catches resulted in a first down or touchdown. 

Odds and ends: 

Personnel packages:

11 (one running back, one tight end) – 45.8 percent 

21 (two running backs/fullback, one tight end) – 27.1 percent 

22 (two running backs/fullback, two tight ends) 20.3 percent 

12 (one running back, two tight ends) – 6.8 percent 

49ers blitzed on 12 of 37 drop backs (32.4 percent)

On early downs – 6 of 24 drop backs (25.0 percent)

Third/fourth downs – 6 of 13 drop backs (46.2 percent)

The defense blitzed on three of the Eagles’ four fourth-down drop backs — all except their final fourth down, when Kendricks sealed the win with a pass breakup.

Hurts did not complete any of his four throws of 20 or more yards downfield and connected on just three of his 11 intermediate attempts of 10-19 yards downfield. 

Download and follow the 49ers Talk Podcast