PHILADELPHIA – After all the concern surrounding Jalen Hurts’ injured right shoulder and the 0-2 record the Eagles had when their MVP quarterback candidate was forced to sit out and get treatment, it turns out they didn’t really need him that much .
Once again, the Eagles chose to run the ball on Sunday, and when the Eagles run the ball, they do so in punishing fashion.
They did it against the New York Giants in the divisional round and did it again in the NFC Championship Game to defeat the San Francisco 49ers, 31-7, to reach Super Bowl LVII in two weeks in Arizona.
The running game went 268 yards to beat the Giants.
On Sunday, they piled up 148 against the 49ers, who, oh by the way, were the second-best team in the league against the run this season.
All week, the Eagles heard how physical the 49ers are. Teams that played them went 0-15 the following week, probably because San Fran gave them a physical beating.
They were nothing special from a physical standpoint on Sunday.
“It was just a regular football game,” Kenny Gainwell said. “They weren’t physical. We were physical. We took our physicality that we’ve played with all year on those guys. They sat down and lost it.
Gainwell was the team’s leading rusher in both playoff victories.
He had a career-high 112 in 12 carries against the Giants and went 48 on 14 carries to go along with two receptions for 26 yards.
He even gave himself a new nickname – “playoff, Kenny”.
Gainwell didn’t have any of the four rushing touchdowns the Eagles put up against that vaunted 49ers defense, but Myles Sanders had two, starting the scoring with a 6-yard run on the opening possession and adding a 13-yard run to give Philly the lead for good at 14 -7 with 1:36 to play in the second quarter.
He was untouched by both.
Physical protection prevents this from happening.
Asked if he thought the 49ers lived up to their hype as a physical team, Sanders didn’t want to talk bad about them, but said, “You saw it, what do you think?”
Boston Scott added 10 yards to make it 21-7 at halftime.
The 49ers were toast from there after the Eagles sent both of their quarterbacks — Brock Purdy and Josh Johnson — to the blue medical tent during the game.
This is physicality.
The 49ers resorted to ugly chippiness, frustrated at being manhandled.
Safety Talanoa Hufanga pushed Hurts well out of bounds to earn an unnecessary roughness penalty that moved the Eagles to first and goal at the 3. Hurts had the last laugh and scored on a 1-yard run that nearly iced the game at 28-7 with 43 seconds left before the end of the third quarter.
Then left tackle Trent Williams hit the body of Eagles K’Vaughn Wallace with 4:13 to play in the game. Both players were ejected after Wallace swung.
Hurts is a big part of the running game, no question. He opens up lanes for the running back, which other quarterbacks just can’t do, but even in the run game the last two weeks, he hasn’t had to dip, shoot and dodge his way to some crazy rushing numbers.
He had 39 yards in that one and 34 against the Giants.
Hearts didn’t need to beat either team handily either.
While he made enough plays to keep the defense honest, like the 40-yarder to DeVonta Smith against New York and the 29-yarder to Smith on fourth-and-3 that put the Eagles at the 6-yard line, he only attempted 49 passes in both victories.
He threw for just 275 yards combined in the two playoff wins after completing 15 of 25 throws for 121 against San Francisco.
Never mind, not the way the Eagles have stepped up their game.
“All I know is, and this is a fact, (Hurts) is about to get PAAAAIIIIIIDDDDD!” LT Jordan Mailata said. “Oh my God, pay the man. Second year as a full year starter and he leads us to the Super Bowl.
“I don’t know how many records he has set. All I know is, man, this guy is probably one of the hardest workers I’ve ever seen in my life.
Ed Kratz is the publisher of Fan Nation Eagles Today on SI.com and is the host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglesmaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.