Wild Card weekend offers no soft landings, and for the San Francisco 49ers, the road could not be more demanding.
A cross-country flight. Lincoln Financial Field. The reigning Super Bowl champions, the Philadelphia Eagles, waiting.
Philadelphia enters as NFC East champions with a familiar playoff blueprint, one built around tempo, physicality, and an offense that wants to impose its will early.
For the Eagles, everything still begins with Saquon Barkley despite a down year. But come this time of year, Philadelphia wants to lean on him as both hammer and eraser, forcing defenses to condense and react.
When that happens, the offense opens up. Jalen Hurts becomes decisive. The ball comes out quickly. The rhythm builds, and the game tilts quickly.
For head coach Kyle Shanahan, it's the exact scenario San Francisco must avoid.
Missing Fred Warner and Nick Bosa, two of the league’s true tone-setters, removes margin in the middle of the field and on the edge. Without them, San Francisco can't afford to let Philadelphia stay on schedule.
If the 49ers are able to create even modest pressure from a group that has lacked in doing such all year long, forcing 3rd-and-long, the game changes.
Resultantly, the attention shifts outside, and specifically to Deommodore Lenoir.
Deommodore Lenoir has vital role when 49ers face Eagles in Wild Card round
A mid-Day 3 pick all the way back in 2021 out of Oregon, Lenoir has grown into far more than the rotational piece they thought he'd be. He's a team captain, a trusted presence, and a foundational player on the perimeter. His numbers don't scream dominance (41 catches for 497 yards allowed in coverage), but they tell a story of reliability. Two interceptions. Three pass breakups. More importantly, consistent competitive snaps against top receivers where he hasn't allowed a single pass-catcher to amass more than 77 yards against in a single outing.
But this week, his task is unforgiving.
A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith present two entirely different problems. Brown wins with power, mass, and violence after the catch. Smith wins with pace, body control, and precision. Philadelphia wants the ball out quickly, often within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage, letting Brown turn hitches into explosives and Smith turning space into separation.
For Lenoir, his value lies in his ability to disrupt that plan by living inside the 5-yard contact window. Forcing receivers to work through him, rather than around him. Making timing uncomfortable. Every reroute, every contested release, every fraction of a second matters.
If Lenoir can force Hurts to hold the ball, to reset, to throw into tight windows, the 49ers give themselves a real shot to limit the overall impact of Philadelphia's attack. And while Hurts has shown flashes over his career to make throw after throw, consistency when forced beyond first reads has never been a strength.
For the Niners, they must test that truth repeatedly.
The Wild Card round is a ballgame that may come down to whether Lenoir, and others, can make every catch, every yard, and every target earned.