The No. 2 seed Philadelphia Eagles took down the No. 7 seed Green Bay Packers in the Wild Card round at Lincoln Financial Field. The final score was 22-10 in a tough, defensive battle. The Eagles took an early 7-0 lead and were up 10-0 at the half. The offense struggled, but the defense shut down Jordan Love and the Packers’ offense. Here are five takeaways from the Wild Card win:
Eagles kicker Jake Elliott kicked the game’s opening kickoff to Packers return man Keisean Nixon. Backup linebacker Oren Burks laid a big hit on Nixon who fumbled the football. Jeremiah Trotter Jr., son of former Eagles linebacker Jeremiah Trotter, recovered the ball at the 28-yard line, giving the Eagles’ offense an excellent field position.
Burks’ huge hit set the tone for the game. It turned out to be a physical, defensive game by both teams. The Eagles’ offense struggled with quarterback Jalen Hurts returning from a two-game absence with a concussion, and the Packers’ offense struggled against the top defense in the NFL.
The Eagles’ offensive identity throughout the 2024 season was Saquon Barkley and the run game. Barkley had a historic season, and the offensive line produced one of the most dominant seasons ever.
Hurts left the Week 16 matchup against the Washington Commanders in the first quarter with a concussion. He missed the final two games of the regular season. He was expected to likely encounter some rust after missing almost three full games.
Hurts started the game 6-for-6 passing. With the short field after the fumble recovery on the opening kickoff, Hurts found Jahan Dotson for an 11-yard touchdown. It was Dotson’s first career touchdown as an Eagle who was coming off his best game as an Eagle with a 94-yard performance in the Week 18 win over the New York Giants.
The Eagles’ offense fell into a lull after the early touchdown. Five of their next six possessions resulted in punts, including three three-and-outs. It wasn’t until 3:20 left in the third quarter that the Eagles scored their next touchdown. Hurts found tight end Dallas Goedert for an angry catch-and-run 24-yard touchdown as Goedert embarrassed the defender with multiple stiff arms on his way into the end zone.
After his perfect start throwing the football, Hurts finished the game 13/21 for 131 yards and two touchdowns. He never seemed to find a rhythm and couldn’t get his star wide receivers involved. DeVonta Smith caught four passes for 55 yards, but A.J. Brown only had one catch for 10 yards on three targets. Brown was caught on the sideline reading an inspirational book, something that he says he does often. It perfectly summed up the Eagles’ lackluster passing game.
Barkley was the league’s leading rusher in 2024 with 2,005 rushing yards. He became the ninth player in history to rush for over 2,000 yards in a season and was named to the Pro Bowl roster and First-Team All-Pro for his efforts.
Nothing came easy for Barkley and the Eagles’ offense against the Packers. The superstar running back didn’t have much room to run as he’s accustomed to, but offensive coordinator Kellen Moore stayed true to the team’s identity and continued to feed him. Barkley grinded out 119 rushing yards on 25 carries, the first 100-yard rushing performance in his playoff career.
Although it was a grind for most of the game, Barkley could’ve finished with a monster game. With just over one minute remaining in the game and the Eagles up by 12 points, Barkley found a hole in the defense and broke free for what would’ve been a 76-yard touchdown run. Instead, the selfless player slid down after a 17-yard run and first down to run out the clock and seal the win.
The Eagles featured the NFL’s top defense in 2024 under defensive coordinator Vic Fangio. The unit came to play in the Wild Card round against the Packers. The defense intercepted Love three times, including rookie cornerback Quinyon Mitchell’s first of his career.
Love was 20/33 passing for 212 yards and no touchdowns. The Packers’ leading receiver in the game, Jayden Reed, had 46 yards. Love was sacked twice, both by second-year player Nolan Smith. The Packers only scored 10 points.
The only blemish on the Eagles’ stellar defensive performance was Packers running back Josh Jacobs’ 31-yard run at the end of the third quarter. Jacobs forced multiple missed tackles before being brought down at the one-yard line. He scored a touchdown on the next play to make it a six-point game.
Unfortunately, the Eagles’ defense took a massive blow in the win. Starting linebacker Nakobe Dean enjoyed a breakout season in 2024, but the third-year player was injured and carted off in the second quarter and didn’t return. Dean suffered a torn patellar tendon and will likely miss the remainder of the playoffs.
If the Eagles continue to play lights-out defense, they’re going to be a tough team to face throughout the playoffs.
Elliott had an uncharacteristically bad season. He missed eight field goals, the most he’s missed in a season in his career. He was among the NFL’s best kickers from 2021 through 2023, but he owned the second-lowest field goal percentage (77.8) of his career in 2024.
Elliott made all three of his field goal attempts against the Packers. His longest attempt was 32 yards. He did, however, miss an extra point after Goedert’s touchdown in the third quarter. The miss could’ve proved costly as the Packers cut the Eagles’ lead to six late in the third quarter. Luckily for Elliott and Eagles fans, the Packers didn’t score the rest of the game.
It’s worth noting that Elliott was 1-for-7 on field goals 50 or more yards in the regular season. It’s hard to trust a kicker in big moments who has struggled that much.
The Eagles will host either the No. 5 seed Minnesota Vikings or No. 4 seed Los Angeles Rams on Sunday in the Divisional round. They didn’t face the Vikings in 2024, but they beat the Rams 37-20 on Sunday Night Football in Week 12. Barkley rushed for a career-high 255 yards in that matchup.
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