49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel recently said that there was “no question” that his team was better than the Eagles last season, but they lost the NFC Championship Game after losing both of their available quarterbacks to injuries.
Other 49ers have shared similar feelings and linebacker Fred Warner said recently that it “felt like we never even had a chance to really compete.” Warner went on to say that his view of the game didn’t exclude self-analysis that could help them in the future.
Warner said he asked himself how “our defense could have been better in that game and how he could have been “better for our team and our defense” as he moves toward the 2023 season.
“I’ll always say defense wins championships, so it’s going to start and end with us,” Warner said, via 49ersWebzone.com. “We take that on our shoulders, that responsibility, and we need to be better.”
The 49ers have uncertainty about the quarterback position thanks to Brock Purdy‘s elbow injury, but weathering any difficulties will be a lot easier if Warner and the defense can find way to make 2022’s stingiest unit even tougher this time around.