Getty Images Michael Irvin
The Eagles won a Super Bowl living by the phrase “hungry dogs run faster.” Right now, there isn’t a hungrier team in the NFL.
Philadelphia cannot go four games with zero victories and expect to win the NFC East, even if they proved that to be a winning script last year. The Eagles need to flap their wings into San Francisco and fly out with the W. Michael Irvin knows it and cautioned the 49ers about falling into a trap against playing a team in “total desperation” mode. Jobs on are on the line, maybe even Doug Pederson’s head-coaching gig, and grown men need to feed their families.
Irvin’s tone turned serious on Tuesday afternoon during an appearance on 95.7 The Game in San Francisco as he previewed the Eagles-49ers matchup (as transcribed by Yahoo! Sports):
“What you’re going to get more out of the Eagles is just total desperation. Anything left in the tank, they have to empty. They can’t go four games with zero victories. They’ll have to empty them. They are going to empty the tank so you got to be ready for that and the young team has to be ready for that.
“You got a young team, you can’t just go thinking, ‘Oh we played well over there. We rollin’, we rollin’.’ No, you about to get desperation. You about to see man worry about food for family. Man worrying about food for family. So when man start worrying about food to feed family — oh my god, you’re going to get the best of whatever they got left.”
“You’re about to see men worrying about food for family.” 👀
@michaelirvin88 warns the #49ers will be facing a desperate 0-2-1 Eagles team
Irvin went on to say that he believed the Eagles were “still a better team than the Giants right now.” The same pathetic Giants that an under-manned 49ers team rolled 36-9 last week in New York. Perhaps no one would know better than the ex-Cowboys star to never discount the desperation factor of Philly teams.
The Hall-of-Famer saw his career end versus a bad Eagles team in 1999 after suffering a spinal cord injury. Irvin left the field in a stretcher as the Philly faithful wildly cheered his demise. Pederson was the Eagles quarterback on the field that day, too.
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Eagles Not Concerned with 49ers Injuries
The 49ers were able to put a severe beatdown on the Giants last without some of their biggest playmakers, including QB Jimmy Jimmy Garoppolo, RB Raheem Mostert, DE Nick Bosa, RB Tevin Coleman, DE Soloman Thomas, TE George Kittle.
On Monday, the team announced that backup tight end Jordan Reed was heading to short-term IR. So, yes, San Francisco is running on fumes on both sides of the ball as they continue to evaluate their injured stars.
Injuries are never an excuse in the NFL, though. Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz told reporters on Tuesday that he was more concerned with stopping their scheme. It’s all in the details.
“We really don’t concern ourselves too much with their injuries. Everybody’s dealing with that in the NFL,” Schwartz said. “I think the biggest thing there is their scheme has a long track record. Let’s go battle the scheme, and let’s respect every player that they put out there regardless of if they’re an all-pro player or a guy that’s just brought up from the practice squad. Everybody in this league can play and everybody’s expected to be able to perform if they get put in the game.”
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