The stage is set in South Philly. The #7 seed Green Bay Packers (11-6) visits the #2 seed Philadelphia Eagles (14-3) at 4:30 p.m. Sunday at Lincoln Financial field in the Wild Card round. It’s a rematch of the Week 1 clash in Brazil where the Eagles won 34-29 to open the season. This week’s contest has a lot more on the line.
The Packers are limping into this matchup, coming off back-to-back losses, including a last second loss to the Chicago Bears at Lambeau Field. The Eagles are well rested, able to sit all of their starters in the regular season finale. Jalen Hurts officially cleared concussion protocol and all of his aerial offensive weapons in A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith and Dallas Goedert are healthy and will all be playing together for just the fourth time this season.
Let’s take a look at some key matchups that can determine who wins this game.
Eagles’ Ball Security vs. Opportunistic Packers’ Defense
You hear it in every coach’s press conference. The turnover battle is crucial in any game. If you’re in the negative, it makes it extremely hard to win, no matter how good of a team you are. The Packers’ defense has been one of the top units in generating takeaways, ranking 4th in that department with 31. Green Bay finished with the third most interceptions (17) and fumbles recovered (14) in the league. They will need to generate some to quiet the raucous crowd that will pack Lincoln Financial Field and to gain some extra possessions.
For the Eagles, they have been very consistent with ball security as of late with Hurts in particular. The quarterback has thrown only five interceptions this season, the second-lowest amount in his career. Four of those interceptions came in the first three games of the year, including a pair against the Packers in Week 1. Hurts’ last interception was back in Week 10 against Dallas.
As a whole, the Eagles offense has only had four turnovers over the last eight games of the season, with a pair of giveaways in back-to-back games against the Steelers and Commanders games in mid-December.
Saquon Barkley vs. Josh Jacobs
This game features two of the top running backs in the league enjoying wildly successful first seasons with their new teams. Whoever has the bigger game could dictate who wins.
We know all about Barkley. “2KSA”, led the league in rushing and his 2,0009 yads are good for 9th most in a single season in NFL history. He is a homerun playmaker who has a chance to electrify the stadium whenever he touches the ball. He should have fresh legs since sitting in the regular season finale and will be relied heavily on in this one. In his Eagles’ debut against the Packers back in Week 1, Barkley ran for 109 yards and two scores, showing early dividends on his signing in the offseason.
However, the Packers running back in Josh Jacobs has had quite the success in the NFL. Like Barkley, he too led the league in rushing yards, back in 2022 when he was with the Raiders, racking up a league-best 1,653 yards. Jacobs, in his first year in the green and yellow, has been very productive, ranking 6th in the NFL with 1,329 yards and second with 15 rushing touchdowns. He has been living in the endzone as of late, scoring 11 of his 15 touchdowns in the last eight games, including a pair of three touchdown performances for Green Bay.
Jacobs ran for 89 yards and averaged 5.3 yards per carry against the Eagles back in Week 1, but with the Packers’ inconsistent passing game and without Christain Watson, one of their deep threat receivers, Jacobs might be the main focus offensively for Green Bay.
A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith vs. Packers Secondary
The Eagles have arguably the best wide receiver duo in the league and certainly in the playoffs. Despite Brown dealing with a nagging knee injury and Smith not practicing on Friday due to back tightness, the dynamic duo is expected to be ready for the game. They had a lot of success against Green Bay in the regular season opener, combining to haul in 12 catches for 203 yards with Brown scoring on a 67-yard reception in the win.
The two will look to attack a Green Bay secondary without one of their top corners in Jaire Alexander, who is all but likely out for the rest of the season after being placed on IR. The Packers will rely on Keisan Nixon and Carrington Valentine to slow down two of the most explosive receivers in the game with some help from ball hawk safety Xavier McKinney who has seven interceptions on the season.
This a matchup that bodes extremely well for the Eagles, especially if the Packers try to focus on limiting Barkley in the run game.
Jordan Love vs. Eagles Secondary
I wrote about the quarterback matchup and who has the edge between Hurts and Jordan Love earlier in the week. One of the biggest factors in this game will be how Packers’ quarterback Jordan Love plays against a much different and stronger secondary than in the Week 1 clash. The Eagles’ secondary transformed into one of the toughest to pass on in the NFL, allowing the fewest yards through the air per game in the regular season at 174.2, the fewest yards per attempt at 5.5 and the sixth-lowest completion percentage at 62.2%.
That does not bode well for Love who has been inconsistent this season. There’s no doubt Love has the ability to make big time throws with his arm, but this Eagles’ secondary will force him to have to be near perfect and he has been anything but this season. Love finished with a 63.1% completion percentage, that was 31st out of 39 qualified quarterbacks, tied with Tennessee’s Will Levis.
Eagles Success Against Playoff Teams vs. Packers Lack of Success
The Eagles are more battle tested than this year’s Packers team. Green Bay was a fantastic story last year, making an improbable run to the NFC title game, but this year is much different. The Packers are 0-5 against the Eagles, Vikings and Lions this season and their two wins against playoff teams came against the Rams earlier in the season when they were without Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp and an up and down Texans team.
Meanwhile, Philadelphia is 4-2 against the field with wins over the Rams, who had both of their star wide receivers back healthy, Ravens, Steelers and Packers. Couple that with the success the Eagles have had at home over the last handful of years, this is a tough matchup for the Packers.
Sure, any team can win on any given Sunday. Just don’t expect the Packers to be that team to pull off the upset in the Wild Card round.
Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
