Kenyan Drake, a running back, signed with the Packers on Tuesday.
According to the NFL’s daily transaction report, Drake has committed to the Green Bay practice squad. In 2023, Drake will have played for four teams total, the Packers being the fourth.
Before heading to Wisconsin, Drake played two games with the Ravens, spent the summer with the Colts, and was a member of the Browns practice squad. For Baltimore, he had one carry for no gain and two catches for thirty-one yards.
In recent weeks, the Packers have been playing without Aaron Jones and have substituted AJ Dillon for Patrick Taylor and James Robinson. In tandem with Drake’s signing, Robinson was cut from the practice squad.
Did the 49ers expose the Eagles’ Jalen Hurts? With their defensive game plan, San Francisco changed the narrative, and this is what it revealed about Philadelphia.
PHILADELPHIA: The 49ers’ pass rush had been performing admirably.
In just three weeks, they had fired Trevor Lawrence five times, Baker Mayfield four times, and Geno Smith six times after Chase Young joined an already-deep group at the trade deadline.
It appeared that Jalen Hurts, the quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles, would have to be concerned about their takedowns this week. The 49ers specifically wanted Hurts to believe that.
Rather, San Francisco approached Philadelphia with a strategy that purposefully did not encourage sacks or pass rushes. If carried out correctly, the goal of the game plan was to keep Hurts confined to the pocket, restrict his ability to get out of the pocket up the B-gap, and ultimately neutralize his run threat, which would render the Eagles offense as a whole one-dimensional.
49ers edge rusher Nick Bosa stated, “Our whole mentality was, we’re not trying to set the record on sacks, we’re trying to close the pocket, we’re trying to get his eyes on us.” “The game was undoubtedly assignment-focused. We knew that the key to the game was to force Jalen to concentrate more on the rush than on looking downfield.
If Philadelphia doesn’t get back together soon, it may also be the key for the Eagles’ upcoming opponents to prevent the team with the best record in the league from winning. Because San Francisco revealed an offensive weakness that few had recognized in a 42-19 demolition.
According to 49ers linebacker Fred Warner, “that was as grimy as it gets.” “Even though it seemed like we won 42-19, the game plan we had, particularly down there in the red zone, was spot on during the opening moments of the game when we had to stand tall in the red zone.
It all came down to execution and making sure Jalen didn’t beat us with his legs down because they like to run him during those pivotal times.
Eagles’ lowest rushing total since Jalen Hurts’ days was held by the 49ers.
The Eagles’ strong run game was a major factor in their 10-1 start to the game. Out of all the teams, only seven had averaged more than 133.3 rushing yards per game. Through 12 weeks, the Eagles had scored 17 rushing touchdowns, more than any other team.
However, coming in with the second-best run defense, the 49ers held their opponents to just 82 yards per game. Arik Armstead, the defensive tackle, had even more frugal goals.
Armstead declared, “I would say we’re going to win the game if we can keep a team under 70 yards rushing.” Thus, that needs to be our main area of concentration. A team can become one-dimensional, and that’s what makes everything possible.
“When we play great football and great dominant defense, it starts in the run game.”
Therefore, only 19 of the 124 yards the Eagles ran against the 49ers in the first quarter came through the air. And that was the best quarter of rushing for Philadelphia.
The Eagles’ total rushing yardage of 46 was held by the 49ers, which is not only their lowest since the Cowboys held Philadelphia to 34 on December 9, 2018, but also their lowest since the Eagles’ lowest production this season. During the Hurts era, the Eagles’ run game had not been effectively contained.
The Eagles’ rushing attempts total of 18 surpassed their previous low of 22 against the Jets, and their 2.6 yards per carry was less than their previous season low of 2.7 yards recorded in an overtime victory over the Washington Commanders.
The Eagles’ head coach, Nick Sirianni, stated on Monday how critical it is to revive the ground game.
In order to relieve pressure on everyone, Sirianni stated, “We as coaches have to be better dedicating ourselves to the run game.” We really only think about this next game, so we know that in order to get where we want to go, we need to improve in the run game and get more runs called in order to relieve some of the pressure on everyone.
“So, yes, we need to improve.”
Leave a Reply