PHILADELPHIA – Defensive end Bryce Huff returned to Lincoln Financial Field for the first time since his disappointing tenure in Philadelphia on Sunday, helping his San Francisco 49ers defeat the Eagles 23–19 in the wild-card round.
The Eagles used Huff sparingly in the second half of last season and in the playoffs, including leaving him inactive for the Super Bowl LIX win. Added emotions on Sunday would have been understandable
While Huff downplayed any revenge motives, one of his teammates said otherwise.
“He is going to give you all the politically correct answers, but the whole time, he was really saying (expletive) Philly,” 49ers defensive lineman Keion White said. “I’m not going to give you the PC answer. He’s not going to say it, but I will. We were doing it for him, for real.”
Huff, whom the Eagles acquired in a trade during the 2024 offseason to replace edge rusher Haason Reddick, was shipped off to the 49ers in June for a conditional 2026 selection. The condition was based on how many sacks Huff had this season. Because he finished with four, the Eagles will receive a fifth-round selection.
“It feels good, especially with the stakes on the line,” Huff told NJ Advance Media after the game. “To be able to continue the season held a lot of weight on me. But it was good to be back, and it was good to compete.”
Huff finished the game with three tackles, two of which were tackles for loss. Coincidentally, Huff’s two tackles for loss came against the run, an aspect of his game that was criticized during his time with the Eagles.
Huff appeared calm from the start, quietly stretching by himself during warm-ups. There were no incidents during the wild-card win, either, that showed that this game was personal for Huff.
“A lot of people talked to me a lot about it being a revenge game all week, but that didn’t really motivate me,” Huff said. “It was more me and these guys working our butts off this season and just wanted to continue doing that for another week at the very least. We had to come out here and get that dub (win) just to continue the season and give us a chance at the Super Bowl, so that was good.”
Huff also had to deal with Philadelphia fans who were upset with him about how things turned out last season.
“I just thought it was funny,” Huff said. “That’s all they can do is boo. At the end of the day, I’m the one on the field. I have control of my performance. Booing is just funny to me, honestly.”
Huff and the 49ers will face their NFC West rival, the Seattle Seahawks, next week in the divisional round. It is a rematch of the regular-season finale that determined the NFC West winner and No. 1 seed in the conference, which the Seahawks obtained with their 13-3 road win.
