Eagles Win 22-10 Despite Some Early Struggles From Offense
If you were hoping for an easy Eagles win where you could kick your feet up, you did not get your way. The Eagles, as we are used to, made us sweat a little bit.
The offense took a while to get things going, and the defense, despite holding the Packers to just 10 points, had some tackling issues. But in the end, only the result matters. And this Eagles season is lasting at least another week with a 22-10 win over the Packers.
Jalen Hurts Struggles Early
Hurts delivered a TD to Jahan Dotson on the Eagles’ first drive, and went on to complete 6 straight passes to open the game. But things got ugly from there. The Packers started to bring the blitz, and he had no answers. He missed his next 7 passes before half, and took a bad sack to open up the 2nd half.
Was it rust? Maybe. Was it the playcalling? Kellen Moore certainly was not helping him with the lack of quick routes to counteract the blitz. But Hurts was not good enough in the 1st half period.
That said, from that point on he did go 8 for 9 with 92 yards and a TD. So he did settle in and helped the Eagles close this game out. But going forward they are going to need better from him, and better from Kellen Moore. They can’t keep waiting until the 2nd half to get the passing game going.
Dallas Goedert Plays Bully Ball
The play of the game without a doubt goes to Dallas Goedert. The Packers made it a 10-3 game. Things suddenly felt tight. But then he put the team on the back. He caught a short pass from Hurts, and then delivered not 1, not 2, but 3 stiff arms, all to the same defender, to eventually find the end zone.
Elliott missed the extra point, and the Packers took those points back the next drive, but it was a pivotal point in the game and helped keep the Eagles ahead with a somewhat comfortable lead.
Defense Carries The Eagles
The defense had one drive where they literally let Josh Jacobs run all over them. 32 yards all the way to the 1-yard line, breaking several tackles in the process. The next play he punched it into the endzone to make it a 6-point game. But outside of that 1 drive, and really that 1 run, the Packers could not do much else.
Jacobs averaged just 2.9 yards per carry outside of that 1 run. Most of his carries were going for only 2 or 3 yards. They bottled him up for most of the night.
Meanwhile, they picked on Jordan Love all night. 3 Interceptions. Including Quinyon Mitchell finally coming away with one late in the 4th quarter to put the game away. The Packers’ WR group was depleted, but the Eagles’ defense showed why they are the number 1 unit in the league.
Game Takes A Heavy Toll
The Packers suffered a bevy of injuries. But the Eagles also suffered one that could hurt them the rest of the way. Nakobe Dean was carted off the field early on with a knee injury. We still do not know much about the specifics, but the fact news that he was out came back so fast, does not bode well, and it did not look good on the field.
Oren Burks filled in, and did as well as you can hope for a backup, but there was a difference. Not just in the level of play, but Dean is the on field leader for the defense. He wears the green dot, and the defense did not feel quite as crisp after he went out. They obviously still had good results, but there were missed tackles and more mistakes without Dean out there.
They are mostly healthy, more so than most teams in the playoffs, but this loss will hurt.
What Is Next?
Eagles will play the highest seed that advances. If the Buccaneers beat the Commanders, it will be the Bucs they face next week. But if the Commanders win, the Eagles get whoever wins Monday Nights game between the Rams and Vikings.
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