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PHILADELPHIA — It was a home-run play, wildest-card throw, gold-medal catch, Hall of Fame moment, and summation of every reckless and remarkable thing about this 49ers season.
Oh, by the way, it basically broke the defending Super Bowl champion Eagles, too.
It was Jauan Jennings getting a double-reverse lateral, pretending he was running it then snapping a high rocket to Christian McCaffrey, who took it in over his shoulder and tumbled into the end zone.
It was the most astounding play of the 49ers’ astounding 23-19 victory over the Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field in Sunday’s wild-card round, which sent the 49ers to a mega matchup against the Seattle Seahawks.
It was “Skyy Bang Reverse Pass” — named after Skyy Moore, who took the first handoff from Brock Purdy moving left then flipped it to Jennings moving quickly to the right before Jennings let it fly.
“Aw, man, Jauan ripped it,” McCaffrey said with a broad smile. “That was up in the air — felt like 15 seconds.”
Did Jennings think he might’ve overthrown it? “I did! I did! I really did! I was scared there for a bit.”
It gave the 49ers a 17-16 lead on the first play of the fourth quarter and immediately put the Eagles and their crowd into pure panic mode. The Eagles nudged ahead on a field goal later in the final period, but the shakiness was inescapable.
And the 49ers’ charging momentum was everywhere.
Eventually, Purdy led the 49ers on a last drive for a last TD pass to McCaffrey then the 49ers’ defense stopped the Eagles one last time.
This was absolutely not the way this game was supposed to go — especially after the 49ers lost George Kittle to an Achilles injury in the first half, which, of course, followed the devastating losses of Fred Warner, Nick Bosa, and several others throughout this season.
Then add two Purdy interceptions in the second half … and how did the 49ers win this, exactly? How are they doing any of this?
But the 49ers’ defense — with help from the wavering Eagles’ offense — kept this game close through three quarters as the wind howled and everybody braced for fourth-quarter mega-drama.
While the teams switched sides of the field after the end of the third quarter (49ers going down wind in the fourth), Kyle Shanahan decided to take the big swing after offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak suggested it.
“It was a helluva suggestion,” Shanahan said. “And Jauan threw a perfect ball. He had me a little scared — thought he should’ve just thrown a bad ball (and let McCaffrey slow down to get it). I thought it was a helluva catch by Christian.”
Jennings, a quarterback in high school, has had previous big-moment throws, including his 21-yard TD pass to McCaffrey in Super Bowl 58 against the Chiefs, which put the 49ers ahead 10-0. But that was more like a lateral — from the left side of the field to the right flat — with McCaffrey doing most of the work after the catch.
Sunday’s TD was a sequel of the play Shanahan called in the epic regular-season victory in New Orleans during the 2019 season, called “Deebo Bang Reverse Pass” back then because it was Deebo Samuel who took the first handoff before lateraling to Emmanuel Sanders, who hit Raheem Mostert for a 35-yard TD.
And Shanahan picked Jennings to throw it because he knew Jennings could make the pass, and also because he knew Jennings has the gumption for it. But Shanahan was a tiny bit worried that Jennings might have slightly too much gumption.
“You’re more hoping that if it doesn’t work, please remind JJ to throw it away,” Shanahan said. “Because JJ thinks he can make every play known to man.”
That was what Shanahan told Purdy during the long quarter timeout. And Purdy dutifully relayed the message to Jennings.
“If it’s there, sweet, let’s capitalize,” Purdy said, recounting his words in the huddle. “But also telling JJ, ‘Hey dude, if it’s not there, you can throw it away, let’s be smart, it’s first-and-10. We have two more downs after this.’”
But Purdy’s wry smile retelling this story let everyone know he wasn’t too worried about Jennings when the time came.
“He’s got that chill demeanor,” Purdy said.
Christian McCaffrey’s reception on the throw from Jennings marked the first of his two fourth-quarter touchdowns. | Source: Mitchell Leff/Getty Images
Shanahan said they actually sort of set it up two plays earlier, when they gave Moore an end around for a 3-yard gain. Then they got the wind and called the Bang play.
What was Jennings thinking over the long minutes between hearing the play and the actual snap?
“I’m just thinking get the ball, execute, tuck the ball away, make the defense think I’m running it,” Jennings said. “And I saw Christian get open.”
McCaffrey slow-rolled past the line of scrimmage, then burst past Eagles safety Reed Blankenship, who was caught in the middle of trying to come up to tackle Jennings and protect against McCaffrey going by. He chose incorrectly.
Would it have been hard to play it safe and throw it away if McCaffrey wasn’t open, Jauan?
“Not hard at all, man,” Jennings said. “I love my job.”
Jennings didn’t get to watch McCaffrey make the catch, though — he got blasted by defensive tackle Jalen Carter as he released the ball.
Hey, wait, who was supposed to keep the passer safe on that play? Was it Purdy, who was the closest potential blocker to Carter? No, Shanahan probably didn’t want his QB anywhere near Carter, but afterwards, Purdy was wondering.
“I was on the edge, sorta blocking, sorta not playing, and then I look back and see JJ get hit,” Purdy said. “I was, like, dang, dude, should I have done something about that?’”
But that turned into a bonus, too, because Carter was flagged for roughing the passer and the 49ers got a shorter extra-point try because of it.
“And-one!” Jennings said, repeating the NBA lexicon for a basket plus a foul. “You understand? And-one!”
Certainly, the 49ers might hit the wall in Seattle — the same way they hit the wall on the final weekend of the regular season, which gave the Seahawks the No. 1 seed and a bye and sent the 49ers to Philadelphia for all this drama.
But if you count them out, they might have another surprise Bang And-One for everybody.