A chaotic first quarter saw three challenge decisions swing momentum in Sunday's NFC Championship Game between the 49ers and Eagles — and helped keep the game tied.
The Eagles took a 7-0 lead on their opening drive thanks in large part to a massive 29-yard catch by DeVonta Smith, who made an acrobatic one-handed catch on fourth-and-3.
But on replay reviews, it became clear that Smith didn't catch the pass cleanly. The wide receiver even seemed to acknowledge this himself, making a hand signal for his teammates to rush to the line and get a play off quickly before too many replays could be looked at.
Fox's telecast didn't show whether 49ers coach Shanahan was trying to get the challenge flag out in time or not, but the Eagles got the first-and-goal play off without a stoppage and scored on the second-and-goal rush from Miles Sanders from six yards out.
When the 49ers got the ball for the first time, a play-action pass attempt from Brock Purdy was initially ruled incomplete after Eagles pass rusher Hassan Reddick hit Purdy while he was trying to throw.
But Reddick convinced Eagles coach Nick Sirianni to challenge the play, saying he hit Purdy before the rookie started his throw. The replay reviews proved Reddick, Sirianni and the Eagles correct, flipping the incompletion to a fumble and giving the Eagles the ball on their own 44-yard line.
While the 49ers defense forced a three-and-out after the fumble, Purdy hurt his elbow on the hit from Reddick, too, and sat out the next San Francisco drive. Fourth-string quarterback Josh Johnson entered and the 49ers went three-and-out again.
The 49ers' luck with challenges may have flipped late in the quarter, though. The ball appeared to hit a wire for Fox's SkyCam on a punt from Eagles punter Brett Kern, going out of bounds at the 49ers' 40-yard line.
The entire Eagles sideline appeared to protest that the ball hit the wire, which would have meant a re-kick. But after review, referee John Hussey said they "could not confirm if the ball hit the wire" and the play stood, as did a 10-yard penalty on the Eagles that gave the 49ers the ball at midfield.
While the 49ers' offense didn't score on that drive, the field positioning tilted in San Francisco's favor and led to Christian McCaffrey's 23-yard touchdown run on the next series for the 49ers.
The Eagles answered back with a touchdown drive of their own, then turned a Johnson fumble into another score and led 21-7 at halftime.
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