The Eagles are set to take on the Packers in what should be a hard-fought game Sunday. While the Eagles eye a Super Bowl, the Packers, who may be a much tougher matchup than expected, try to play spoilers.
The Philadelphia Eagles are set to host the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, January 12th at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, PA, at 4:30 pm. The game will be aired on Fox with the broadcast team of Kevin Burkhardt, Tom Brady, Erin Andrews, and Tom Rinaldi. The Eagles opened as favorites at -3.5 which has since elevated, most likely with the knowledge that Jalen Hurts is playing, to -5.5. Philly beat Green Bay to open the season 34-29, but that was nineteen weeks ago in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Green Bay is no slouch and was a team that lit it on fire in the wildcard round last year. It was that playoff run last year, which ended in the divisional round, that launched high expectations for quarterback Jordan Love and the Packers.
Packers Enter Playoffs with Inconsistent Momentum
The Packers entered this season with some lofty expectations. After blowing out the Cowboys in the Wildcard Round and giving it their all against the soon-to-be NFC Champion 49ers in the Divisional Round, the Packers 2024 seemed very stop-and-go in comparison. They would have moments of brilliance, but follow that up with some severe inconsistencies. A fair amount of that could stem from Jordan Love’s somewhat inconsistent play. The Packers overall finished 11-6, a two-win improvement from last year, which would be solid, but also put them in third place in their own division with the Vikings and Lions both finishing 14-3. The Packers offense ranked fifth in total yards a game this year, three spots higher than the Eagles. While only twelfth in the passing game. That is dramatically better than the Eagles who finished 29th in total passing yards a game. The Packers were also really solid at running the ball, ranking fifth in the entire league. Their 27.1 points a game was good enough for 8th best in the NFL. The acquisition of Josh Jacobs has helped elevate this Packers offense as well.
Defensively it is a similar story. The Packers were fifth in the NFL in total yards, giving up on average under twenty points a game. They also ranked third in the NFL in the turnover differential. So the Packers come into this game as a very formidable matchup for the Eagles. However, there is a little more to the statistics. Unlike last year when they entered the playoffs winning seven of their final eight, The Packers are ending their season on a down note, losing three of their final five games with the only two wins coming against non-playoff teams. Overall the Packers were 2-5 against playoff teams this year compared to the Eagles, 5-2. One of those losses for the Eagles was to the Commanders when Jalen Hurts got hurt in the first quarter. The Packers are nursing some key injuries too. On top of Zayne Anderson being ruled out, the Packers listed defensive end Brenton Cox Jr., offensive lineman Andre Dillard, defensive tackle T.J. Slaton, linebacker Quay Walker, and safety Evan Williams as questionable to play in the game. The three biggest injuries for them though are that they will be without star wide receiver Christian Watson and star cornerback Jaire Alexander. The third is the injury to quarterback Jordan Love. It appears Love was injured in week eighteen. He will play though and it is unclear how hurt he actually is. The expectation is that his injury will be of minimal concern for the Packers.
Eagles: Dominant and Hungry
The Eagles enter the playoffs as Super Bowl contenders. They finished the season 14-3 and have won twelve of their last thirteen games. They were two dropped passes away from going 16-1. While they ranked behind the Packers in total yards per game offensively it wasn’t by much finishing eighth to the Packers’ fifth. They also rank above them in points scored and rushing. The most exploitable part of the Eagles offense appears to be the passing game. Despite Brown, Goedert, and Smith, this team has struggled to really air it out this year. The passing game appears to have an accessible gear though as after a great passing game against the Steelers’ vaunted defense, Jalen Hurts, who completed a career-high 69% of his passes was quoted saying, “Just because we don’t, doesn’t mean we can’t.” The big reason why they have not had to rely that heavily on the passing game was the acquisition of Saquon Barkley. The Eagles offense, led by Saquon and the best o-line in football bullied teams into submission this season.
Defensively this team might even be better than their offense. They are the number one ranked defense in the NFL and are allowing under eighteen points a game to their opponents. Under Vic Fagio they have established a nasty, hungry group of young guys who enjoy inflicting pain. They’re also really starting to get turnovers. The Eagles ranked sixth in takeaways this year, but eleven of their twenty-six have come over the final three games. The defense appears to be getting more locked in with each passing week. With Jalen Carter upfront, Zach Baun in the middle, and rookie sensation Quinyon Mitchell, in the secondary this team has dominated this side of the ball. This team has held the Commanders (once), Steelers, Bengals, Ravens, and Rams, all to twenty points or less this year.
This takes us to the game on Sunday. This should be the Eagles’ game to lose. They are the better team right now and at this point, they will not face a team that is better than them moving forward. The Packers, however, are statistically very comparable to this team despite their recent cold spell. While there may be concerns that the Packers could flip the switch like they did in the playoffs last year, they did so against the Dallas Cowboys, a team notorious for imploding come January. They also as previously stated are entering the playoffs on an ice-cold streak, unlike last year. With seeding on the line they lost at home week eighteen to the Bears. The Eagles have concerns as well. Just how good can this passing game be if pushed to do so? The Packers have a great rushing defense so what if they can’t get Saquon going and need to pass? Will Jake Elliott’s collapse cost the Eagles? Elliott’s miscues of late are probably the team’s biggest weakness by far on this squad right now and if games are often decided by a point or two this could be what eliminates them. That being said, this Eagles team is better than the Packers. Expect a slow starting game that the Eagles pull away from in the end.
