{"id":670734,"date":"2026-01-12T06:26:34","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T06:26:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/670734\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T06:26:34","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T06:26:34","slug":"inside-the-49ers-bang-play-that-shook-the-eagles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/670734\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside the 49ers\u2019 \u2018Bang\u2019 play that shook the Eagles"},"content":{"rendered":"

Want more ways to catch up on the latest in Bay Area sports? Sign up for the Section 415 email newsletter here<\/a> and subscribe to the Section 415 podcast wherever you listen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

PHILADELPHIA \u2014 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.<\/p>\n

Oh, by the way, it basically broke the defending Super Bowl champion Eagles, too.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

It was the most astounding play of the 49ers\u2019 astounding 23-19 victory over the Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field in Sunday\u2019s wild-card round, which sent the 49ers to a mega matchup against the Seattle Seahawks.<\/p>\n

It was \u201cSkyy Bang Reverse Pass\u201d \u2014 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cAw, man, Jauan ripped it,\u201d McCaffrey said with a broad smile. \u201cThat was up in the air \u2014 felt like 15 seconds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Did Jennings think he might\u2019ve overthrown it? \u201cI did! I did! I really did! I was scared there for a bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

And the 49ers\u2019 charging momentum was everywhere.<\/p>\n

Eventually, Purdy led the 49ers on a last drive for a last TD pass to McCaffrey then the 49ers\u2019 defense stopped the Eagles one last time.<\/p>\n

This was absolutely not the way this game was supposed to go \u2014 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. <\/p>\n

Then add two Purdy interceptions in the second half \u2026 and how did the 49ers win this, exactly? How are they doing any of this?<\/p>\n

But the 49ers\u2019 defense \u2014 with help from the wavering Eagles\u2019 offense \u2014 kept this game close through three quarters as the wind howled and everybody braced for fourth-quarter mega-drama.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a helluva suggestion,\u201d Shanahan said. \u201cAnd Jauan threw a perfect ball. He had me a little scared \u2014 thought he should\u2019ve just thrown a bad ball (and let McCaffrey slow down to get it). I thought it was a helluva catch by Christian.\u201d<\/p>\n

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 \u2014 from the left side of the field to the right flat \u2014 with McCaffrey doing most of the work after the catch.<\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s TD was a sequel of the play Shanahan called in the epic regular-season victory in New Orleans during the 2019 season, called \u201cDeebo Bang Reverse Pass\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re more hoping that if it doesn\u2019t work, please remind JJ to throw it away,\u201d Shanahan said. \u201cBecause JJ thinks he can make every play known to man.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was what Shanahan told Purdy during the long quarter timeout. And Purdy dutifully relayed the message to Jennings.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it\u2019s there, sweet, let\u2019s capitalize,\u201d Purdy said, recounting his words in the huddle. \u201cBut also telling JJ, \u2018Hey dude, if it\u2019s not there, you can throw it away, let\u2019s be smart, it\u2019s first-and-10. We have two more downs after this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

But Purdy\u2019s wry smile retelling this story let everyone know he wasn\u2019t too worried about Jennings when the time came.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s got that chill demeanor,\u201d Purdy said.<\/p>\n

\"AChristian McCaffrey\u2019s reception on the throw from Jennings marked the first of his two fourth-quarter touchdowns. | Source: Mitchell Leff\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

What was Jennings thinking over the long minutes between hearing the play and the actual snap?<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just thinking get the ball, execute, tuck the ball away, make the defense think I\u2019m running it,\u201d Jennings said. \u201cAnd I saw Christian get open.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Would it have been hard to play it safe and throw it away if McCaffrey wasn\u2019t open, Jauan?<\/p>\n

\u201cNot hard at all, man,\u201d Jennings said. \u201cI love my job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jennings didn\u2019t get to watch McCaffrey make the catch, though \u2014 he got blasted by defensive tackle Jalen Carter as he released the ball.<\/p>\n

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\u2019t want his QB anywhere near Carter, but afterwards, Purdy was wondering.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was on the edge, sorta blocking, sorta not playing, and then I look back and see JJ get hit,\u201d Purdy said. \u201cI was, like, dang, dude, should I have done something about that?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd-one!\u201d Jennings said, repeating the NBA lexicon for a basket plus a foul. \u201cYou understand? And-one!\u201d<\/p>\n

Certainly, the 49ers might hit the wall in Seattle \u2014 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.<\/p>\n

But if you count them out, they might have another surprise Bang And-One for everybody. <\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Want more ways to catch up on the latest in Bay Area sports? Sign up for the Section…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":670735,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2080],"tags":[220,2644,7,2812,6,1161,252,2624,2623,9],"class_list":{"0":"post-670734","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco-49ers","8":"tag-49ers","9":"tag-brock-purdy","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-kyle-shanahan","12":"tag-nfl","13":"tag-san-francisco","14":"tag-san-francisco-49ers","15":"tag-sanfrancisco","16":"tag-sanfrancisco49ers","17":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115880708457336950","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670734","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=670734"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670734\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/670735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=670734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=670734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=670734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}