Eagles vs. Packers: 14 winners, 1 loser, and 5 IDKs

The Philadelphia Eagles are through to the Divisional Round after beating the Green Bay Packers!

That wasn’t the prettiest win for the Birds. But, hey, that might not really matter. The Eagles won ugly against the Atlanta Falcons in January 2018 en route to winning Super Bowl LII.

The Eagles didn’t play their A-game in this one and yet they still won by two touchdowns. Perhaps the best is still yet to come?

Time to hand out some winners, losers, and IDKs.

VIC FANGIO

The Packers were held to 10 points and 302 yards. That’s their lowest scoring output and fourth-lowest yardage output this season.

Jordan Love was held to 20/33, 212 yards (6.4 average), 0 TD, 3 INT, and a 41.5 passer rating. That’s the second-lowest passer rating performance of Love’s career.

In the first half, the Packers gained just 76 yards on 31 plays. As has often been the case, the Eagles’ defense did a really good job of buying time for the offense to finally get going.

Fangio has more than earned the benefit of the doubt. His defense is so legit. And the Eagles might be able to ride it all the way to a Super Bowl win.

NOLAN SMITH

Smith’s development over the course of this season has been so impressive.

He went from playing a concerning amount in the third preseason game to being the team’s top edge rusher in terms of playing time.

Smith stuffed the stat sheet with eight total tackles, four solo tackles, two tackles for loss, and two sacks.

The two sacks are especially impressive considering 1) he was going up against Packers right tackle Zach Tom, who made Pro Football Focus’s All-Pro team and 2) Jordan Love is very hard to sack.

Smith is up to 8.5 sacks over his last 13 games. There are just nine NFL players who have more than 8.5 sacks in their last 13 games.

The energy and effort Smith plays with is admirable. He’s becoming a real nuisance for other teams to deal with.

DARIUS SLAY

Big Play Slay’s interception was a really great rep by him …

… if he does say so himself:

That was Slay’s first career playoff interception.

ZACK BAUN

First-team All-Pro linebacker Zack Baun makes big plays every week. His interception was aided by Love making a terrible decision … but there’s something to be said for Baun always being in position to make an impact.

NAKOBE DEAN

Dean was having a pretty great game before going down with what seems like it might be a season-ending knee injury that might linger into next season. Despite only playing 35% of the Eagles’ defensive snaps, Dean logged two of the team’s four TFLs.

The Eagles will miss Dean.

QUINYON MITCHELL

Q finally got his first career interception! And the pick killed off any unlikely Packers comeback attempt.

Outside of getting flagged for pass interference (on a ball that looked pretty uncatchable!), Mitchell was pretty good. Shocker!

JALEN CARTER

Carter was responsible for two of the Eagles’ five quarterback hits. One of them nearly created an interception for Zack Baun. Carter also had a pass deflection and he regularly drew extra attention, allowing his fellow defensive lineman to win one-on-one opportunities.

THE EAGLES’ OFFENSIVE LINE

The Eagles’ offensive line often gave Hurts all day to throw.

The line also paved the way for 169 rushing yards on a Packers defense that was only allowing 99.4 rushing yards per game, seventh-fewest in the NFL.

The only time the Packers allowed more rushing yards this season is when the Chicago Bears had 179 against them.

SAQUON BARKLEY

Barkley’s 25 carries resulted in 119 yards (4.8 average). He could’ve easily had more production if he didn’t slide late in the game. But while it’s not the most fun option, it was indeed the smart move. No need to put the defense back on the field and risk further injury. Just run the clock out and get the game over with.

Though his longest run only went for 17 yards, Barkley looked spry and well-rested after sitting in Week 18.

DALLAS GOEDERT

Two big Goedert plays in this one.

1) The 24-yard catch-and-run touchdown where he bullied Carrington Valentine by stiff-arming the second-year cornerback multiples times en route to the end zone. Now that’s football. Imposing your will on another player to the point where they can’t even do anything about it.

2) The one-handed grab that went for 10 yards to begin a 13-play, 58-yard field goal drive that gave the Eagles a nine-point lead.

It’s been a relatively disappointing season for Goedert as he’s struggled to stay healthy. But he’s been looking good since returning from his knee injury.

JAHAN DOTSON

He lives!

Dotson finally notched his first touchdown with the Eagles.

It was his first score since November 19, 2023.

OREN BURKS ON SPECIAL TEAMS

Burks put a huge hit on Packers kick returner Keisean Nixon to force a fumble on the opening kickoff. Talk about a tone-setting play.

Burks’ forced fumble set up an early Eagles lead that they maintained for the rest of the game.

NICK SIRIANNI

Prior to Sunday’s game, some questioned if Sirianni’s job could be in jeopardy if the Eagles suffered their third blowout Wild Card loss in four years. That much was avoided.

It’d still be very disappointing if the Eagles don’t at least advance to the NFC Championship Game. But even if they don’t make it there, Sirianni will likely be back in 2025.

JIM MURPHY

Murphy is the author of A.J. Brown’s sideline reading material — Inner Excellence: Train your mind for extraordinary performance and live the best possible life.

Suddenly, his work has become very popular.

---

LOSERS

THE DALLAS COWBOYS

With the Eagles beating the Packers and the Buffalo Bills beating the Denver Broncos, teams entering the playoffs as the No. 7 seed are now 1-9.

The only team to ever lose to a No. 7 seed? The Dallas Cowboys … when they got blown out at home by the Packers last year.

And the Cowboys might soon sign the head coach who oversaw that defeat to a contract extension!

---

I DON’T KNOWS

JALEN HURTS

The numbers: 13/21, 131 yards (6.2 average), 2 TD, 0 INT, 111.4 passer rating … 6 rushes, 36 rushing yards.

Hurts didn’t turn the ball over. That’s obviously important.

But the passing attack should probably have been better than it was. An all too common refrain this season.

In fairness, the Packers entered this game ranked ninth in pass defense DVOA and fourth in dropback EPA. They allowed the 13th-fewest passing yards per game (215.2).

There was reason to believe the Packers were a bad matchup for Hurts since they’ve been very zone-heavy and Hurts has had much more success against man coverage than zone coverage.

Hurts can be better than he was in this game. I’m not ruling out the possibility that he gets hot in the playoffs.

This just wasn’t a super encouraging performance in that regard.

121 net passing yards is a very low number. It’s easily the lowest net passing yardage total from any Wild Card team. The average from all other teams in this round is 218 net yards.

And for as good as the Packers’ defense has been, they were missing their top cornerback in Jaire Alexander. Green Bay also had Devonte Wyatt, who ranks second on their roster in sacks, go down early in the game.

Hurts left some throws on the field that were there to be made. He missed an open Goedert at one point. He overthrew A.J. Brown on the fake Brotherly Shove attempt. He failed to lead the offense to points after they took over at the plus-45 yard late in the second quarter. He held onto the ball for an eternity. Hurts just wasn’t super sharp.

One could theorize Hurts’ struggles were due to “rust” in his first game back from a concussion. The problem with that is that these passing struggles aren’t new. And it’s not like Hurts started slow! He went 6/6 to start but then hit a bad 0/7 lull. To his credit, Hurts finished strong by going 7/8.

Hurts ultimately did enough to help the Eagles win this game. But he’s probably going to need to play better for the Eagles to win the Super Bowl. And it’s reasonable to expect that from him given his incredibly strong supporting cast.

KELLEN MOORE

Moore shares blame for the passing offense being out of sync. The broadcast showed replays where Hurts didn’t appear to have good answers. It’s hard to say Moore is absolutely crushing it, though the fake Brotherly Shove was a really nice call that the QB just didn’t execute.

I don’t know that I’m willing to blame the Eagles’ offensive coordinator as much as others when some of the issues with the passing offense predate Moore’s time in Philly.

Speaking of issues that predate Moore, I don’t know how much the Eagles’ conservative approach on third-and-long has to do with him. He’s calling the plays, yeah, but I doubt Sirianni isn’t involved in what the Eagles are aiming to accomplish in those situations.

The Eagles called runs on 3rd-and-12, 3rd-and-19, and 3rd-and-13. They simply gave up on trying to get first downs. What is all of this offensive talent even for if that’s going to be the mindset?

A.J. BROWN

Brown was targeted three times. He had one reception for 10 yards.

How much did Brown’s knee injury limit him, if at all? How much credit do the Packers deserve for taking him away? How much blame do Hurts and Moore deserve for the ball not finding him more often?

I don’t know.

But I do know Brown needs more than three targets in a playoff game.

OREN BURKS ON DEFENSE

Burks seemed to struggle as a tackler and get picked on in coverage while playing in place of an injured Dean. Teams could be looking to exploit him moving forward.

I don’t know if Burks should be playing all of the linebacker snaps next to Baun. Perhaps rotating Jeremiah Trotter Jr. in could be good.

JAKE ELLIOTT

Elliott made all three of his field goals attempts: 31, 30, and 32.

Not exactly the most challenging kicks. But he didn’t mess them up.

Elliott also had a sneaky valuable kickoff that bounced in the landing zone and then into the end zone, prompting a 20-yard touchback instead of the typical 30-yard touchback for a kickoff that goes directly into the end zone. Those 10 yards of field position mattered with the Packers turning the ball over on downs and the Eagles taking over at the plus 41-yard line to drive 27 yards for a field goal that made it a 12-point game.

While there was more good than bad, Elliott did miss an extra point. He’s up to 10 misses this season after missing 11 kicks over the previous three years combined. I don’t know if I feel more confident in him after this performance.