Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) looks to pass during the second half of an NFL wild-card playoff football game against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
While it wasn’t pretty, the Philadelphia Eagles managed to defeat the Green Bay Packers and move on to next week’s Divisional Round.
By Chris Murray
The Philadelphia Eagles’ 22-10 win over the Green Bay Packers in the Wildcard round of the NFL Playoffs will not go down as a classic game in postseason history.
But it didn’t have to. All it had to be was a victory that would allow the team to play next week in the NFC Divisional round.
On a day when quarterback Jalen Hurts showed signs of rust after missing the last three games of the regular season and running back Saquon Barkley had a pedestrian performance, the Eagles (15-3) managed somehow to win the game over an overmatched, mistake-prone Green Bay team who saw their season come to an end.
Hurts was simply happy to be back on the field.
“I think just to have another opportunity. I think it’s been an odd year in a sense of how choppy it’s been, and obviously, me kind of being on leave the last couple weeks or so,” Hurts said. “Being back and just getting into that rhythm and leaving it all out there right now, that’s what it’s about. … It’s all about winning. That’s the only thing we’ve got to the point we are. So, it’s about finding ways to win.”
Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni said he was glad to have Hurts back on the field.
“First of all, Jalen is a winner. He wins. I mean, no one can argue that,” Sirianni said. “The other thing is we know when we take care of the football, the things that happen when we take care of the football, and Jalen’s on this pace of the efficiency that he’s played with this year with his quarterback rating, with his yards per attempt, and all those different things, to be able to do that while also taking care of the football is huge.”
Taking care of the ball was something that Green Bay had a problem with from the opening kickoff. The Packers committed four turnovers (one fumble and three Jordan Love interceptions) and were woefully inconsistent, if not outright bad, on offense. The Eagles’ defense physically smacked the Packers around and held them to just 10 points. It was Green Bay’s lowest point total of the year.
The Eagles got things started earlier on the opening kickoff when Eagles backup inside linebacker Oren Burks pried the ball loose from Green Bay kick returner Keisean Nixon. The ball was recovered by Jeremiah Trotter Jr. at the Green Bay 28. Barkley had a 16-yard run and on second down, Hurts hit a wide-open Jahan Dotson for an 11-yard touchdown pass to give the Birds a 7-0 lead.
More importantly, Burks hit on Nixon set the physical tone of the game, especially for the Eagles’ defense, which shut the Packers out in the first half.
“The big emphasis for the week was the physicality and setting the tone and getting out there and making a play,” Burks said.
The Eagles added a 31-yard Jake Elliott field goal to take a 10-0 halftime lead.
The Packers finally got on the board late in the third quarter when Brandon McManus kicked a 26-yard field goal to cut the lead to 10-3. But on the Birds’ next offensive possession, they went five plays and 68 yards to take a 16-3 lead on a 24-yard touchdown pass from Hurts to Dallas Goedert who stiffed-armed his way past Packers cornerback Carrington Valentine on his way into the end zone.
“Nobody in this league is as violent and as physical as Dallas Goedert with the ball in his hands,” Sirianni said. “Did he have two or three stiff arms on that play? It really reminded me of the play that he made in the 2022 playoffs early in the game where he had a stiff-arm and ran somebody over against the Giants. You could see the spark it gave to the sideline.”
The Packers cut the lead 16-10 on a one-yard run by Josh Jacobs, but that’s as close as they would get. Elliott added two more field goals to put the game out of reach.
Most fans may not have liked the look of this game. Barkley gained 119 yards on 25 carries and Hurts completed 13 of 21 passes for 131 yards and two touchdown passes.
“We won. I think that’s the most important thing,” Barkley said. “I know a lot of people are going to try to get into stats and how people performed or were we rusty. How did Jalen look? … In reality, the only thing that matters in this locker room is winning football games whether we win 45-44 or if we win three to zero. That’s our mentality for the rest of these playoffs — we’re going to stick to that and we’re going to buy him.”
At press time, the date and time for the Eagles Divisional Round game at Lincoln Financial Field had not been set. The team will take on the winner of Monday night’s Wildcard game between the Minnesota Vikings and the Los Angeles Rams at Glendale, Arizona’s State Farm Stadium. The game, which was supposed to be played at SoFi Field in Los Angeles, was moved due to the Southern California wildfires.
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