Packers-Eagles on Wild Card Weekend Sunday: What We Learned from Philadelphia's 22-10 win

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1. Eagles use turnovers to smother Packers. Philadelphia forced a fumble on the opening kickoff, a theme that would continue throughout the defensive tussle. The Eagles stifled Jordan Love and the Packers, generating two second-quarter interceptions and a game-sealing Quinyon Mitchell pick to close the contest. Philly's D controlled the contest from start to finish as the offense worked through issues. The sticky secondary forced Love to hold on to the ball, not giving the Packers easy answers. Vic Fangio's D was electric off the bat, allowing just one first-quarter first down and 16 yards as the Eagles jumped out to a double-digit lead. Outside of a couple of Josh Jacobs runs and a Jayden Reed YAC play, the Eagles tackled well and didn't give up extra yards. Fangio's D smothered the big-play Packers offense, giving up just four plays of 20-plus yards and holding Green Bay to 302 total yards. The Eagles defense has spearheaded the turnaround from last year's collapse. That trend continued in the wild-card win. 
2. Packers offense sputters in a big spot. Jordan Love missed throws, never got into a rhythm, and was uncomfortable behind a dinged-up offensive line. Love sailed a high pass on the game's opening drive, foreshadowing a day of struggles for the quarterback. Love finished 20-of-33 passing for 212 yards with three INTs and took two sacks. He earned a woeful 41.5 passer rating. Green Bay lost stud left guard Elgton Jenkins early in the contest, causing some of the offensive issues. Backups Travis Glover and Kadeem Telfort struggled with penalties and porous blocking. Then injuries hit the receiver corps. The Packers entered the game sans Christian Watson, then saw Romeo Doubs and Jayden Reed go down with injuries. Love was throwing to third-stringers, stifling some of the comeback ability. Even before the injuries, however, the Packers offense couldn't find any productivity, looking like a disjointed operation. Love was awesome in last year's wild-card win. Sunday, he played his worst game of the season. 
3. Hurts rusty after missing two games. Luckily for Philadelphia, the defense stood tall, because the offense couldn't find consistency for much of the contest. Hurts took advantage of the forced turnover on the kickoff to throw an opening drive TD. The QB completed his first six passes. Then he rusted like the Tin Man doused in water. Hurts went nearly two full quarters without completing a pass, held the ball too long, and misfired often. He finished 13-of-21 passing for 131 yards with two TDs. Even with the defense forcing turnovers, the offense couldn't bust the game open. Philly went three-and-out on all three of its second-quarter possessions. The Eagles finished with 290 yards and 16 first downs while going 2 of 11 on third downs. Those numbers can get you beat in the postseason. Saquon Barkley was once again the bright spot, generating 119 yards on 25 carries, but most of those yards were hard-fought, with just three jaunts of 8-plus yards. Heading into the Divisional Round, the hope for Philly is that Sunday was just the shake-the-rust-off game for Hurts after missing time due to a concussion. 
4. Packers special teams, offense waste solid defensive effort. The Green Bay D kept the game close as long as it could, earning two sacks, forcing punts on quick-turn situations, and getting the ball back to the offense. Given the negative situations the offense and special teams put it in, it's hard to have expected Jeff Hafley's crew to play much better than it did. Meanwhile, Rich Bisaccia's special teams unit had a woeful game. Keisean Nixon fumbled the opening kick after bringing it out of the end zone. The crew had a penalty on the next kick return, setting the offense up in a bad spot. Brandon McManus missed a field goal. It was a terrible spot to have a horrible game for the Packers' third unit, and could lead to some offseason changes. Added to the turnovers and special teams miscues were the avoidable penalties. Green Bay was flagged eight times for 85 yards, including a host on the backup offensive linemen and one personal foul call on Nixon. On the whole, Matt LaFleur's club played about as poorly as it could on the road. 
5. Brown turns to "Inner Excellence." Late in the fourth quarter, FOX cameras showed Eagles' star receiver A.J. Brown on the bench reading a book. Sleuths showed that the tattered-looking script was Jim Murphy's Inner Excellence, subtitled, "Train Your Mind for Extraordinary Performance and the Best Possible Life." Brown said he always brings the book to the game, and it wasn't about being frustrated with his role, but you can understand if he needs to find some peace. For long stretches this season, he's been a lost soul in the Philly offense. Sunday, he had just one catch on three targets for 10 yards. Sure, Brown usually sees the bulk of the defense's attention, but not scheming up easy plays for one of your best players is a fault that plagued Philly's offense. The Eagles handled their business Sunday against the No. 7 seed. They'll need to play better to continue marching toward February. Otherwise, all of Philly will have more time to read motivational books in January.

Next Gen Stats Insight from Packers-Eagles (via NFL Pro): The Eagles defense limited Jordan Love to 3-of-11 passing for 58 yards and three interceptions on passes of 10+ air yards (-14.6% CPOE).

NFL Research: Saquon Barkley ran for a playoff career-high 119 rushing yards in the Eagles' wild-card win. Barkley now sits at 2,124 rushing yards in the 2024 season, which is the fifth-most by any player in a season in NFL history, including playoffs.