49ers don’t beat Eagles without these 4 Week 2 MVPs
By Peter Panacy
The 49ers pulled off a hard-fought Week 2 bout on the road against the Eagles, and this game was decided by these four players.
As the dust finally starts settling on the San Francisco 49ers‘ 17-11 Week 2 win over the Philadelphia Eagles, it’ll be easy to focus much of the attention on quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, who despite a slow start, still managed to engineer two touchdowns in the victory.
One to wide receiver Jauan Jennings through the air, and the other a 1-yard sneak.
Garoppolo’s quarterback sneaks might be the Niners’ collective MVP from the game, as those were certainly X-factors on a day when the offense took a while to get anything going.
Yet there were plenty of other X-factors, too, including some high-quality play from other players not named Garoppolo.
While there are no game MVPs, officially, here are four San Francisco players who provided the most positive impact in Week 2.
49ers MVP No. 4: Linebacker Fred Warner
It’s usually pretty easy to label linebacker Fred Warner as a defensive MVP for most games, and Week 2’s performance in Philadelphia certainly wasn’t any different.
To no one’s surprise, Warner finished the game with a team-high seven tackles, including one for a loss. And while the Eagles managed 151 rush yards, 82 of those came from the scrambling abilities by quarterback Jalen Hurts, and the 49ers generally made the other Philly rushers fight for each yard and showed improvement in this department after being gouged by the Detroit Lions for 116 rush yards last week.
Warner was a big reason why.
Yet while Warner didn’t get credit for any stat on the Niners’ 4th-and-goal stand at their 3-yard line on the Philly Special attempt, he did break off from the scrum in between the tackles to guard the gap in front of wide receiver Greg Ward, who had a slight rush lane in front of defensive tackle Arik Armstead. But Warner was also in the way, forcing the incomplete pass and the turnover on downs.
A key play by Warner, one of many on Sunday.