Good evening, everyone. On Sunday night, the Green Bay Packers took on the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field. Entering this game, the Packers were looking to keep their playoff hopes alive with a win. In the end, the Packers came very close to winning the game had they played better in a certain aspect on defense (more on that later). Let’s get into detail on what happened in this game.
The first drive for the Packers defense did not go well at all. Twice in this drive, QB Jalen Hurts ran for big gains while evading defenders in the process. The drive concluded with a 4-yard touchdown run by RB Kenneth Gainwell that (with the extra point) gave the Eagles a quick 7-0 lead with 11:19 left in the first quarter. On the ensuing kickoff, Keisean Nixon muffed the catch and only returned the kick to the Green Bay nine yard line. It didn’t get better after that, with the drive ending in an Aaron Rodgers pass that was tipped and picked off by the Eagles. From the Green Bay 29 yard line, the Eagles offense had no problem scoring another touchdown to make it a two-possession lead. The extra point was missed, leaving the score at 13-0 with 9:02 left in the quarter. The Packers responded quickly with their own touchdown in a drive that was set up by a great kick return by Nixon that went to the Green Bay 41. The 20-yard touchdown run by AJ Dillon was preceded by a 30-yard catch and run by Aaron Jones that got Green Bay into scoring range. Mason Crosby made the extra point, cutting the lead to 13-7 with 6:40 in the quarter. The defense then responded by stopping the Eagles on a fourth and short play. It helped that the snap was messed up by Philadelphia. After the play, the chains were brought out (which also happened on the third down play). 5 plays later, Aaron Rodgers threw a great pass to Randall Cobb, who made the catch for the 11-yard touchdown that (with the extra point) gave the Packers a 14-13 lead with 3:09 left in the first quarter. That lead was short-lived thanks to the defense allowing yet another big run by Jalen Hurts that he nearly scored a touchdown on. 2 plays after that big run, the drive ended with a Miles Sanders TD run from two yards away that gave the Eagles a 20-14 lead just into the second quarter. The Packers started well on their next possession on offense, but the drive stalled after Aaron Rodgers threw his second interception of the night. Rookie safety Reed Blankenship read the play well and picked off the pass intended for Tyler Davis. After the pick, the Eagles took over at their 22 yard line. It looked like the Eagles were going to get another touchdown to take a two-possession lead again. However, this happened instead. On third and 8 from the Green Bay 22 yard line, Jalen Hurts connected with AJ Brown on a pass. Brown got no yards before being stripped of the ball by Rudy Ford. The fumble was recovered by Quay Walker, who almost scored on the return. He eventually ran out of steam and went out of bounds at the Philadelphia 13 yard line. The Packers had a touchdown on the ensuing play, but it was called back due to a horrendous penalty against Elgton Jenkins, who made a great block on his guy. That was an awful call but thankfully, the Packers scored anyway on a 23-yard touchdown catch by Aaron Jones. They would’ve taken the lead had it not been for a missed extra point by Mason Crosby. With the defense forcing a three and out, the Packers had a chance to take the lead with 5:48 left in the first half. Instead, the Packers failed on their drive and punted back to the Eagles. From their own 29, the Philadelphia offense went down the field in 9 plays. The Packers defense should have gotten a stop after sacking Jalen Hurts for a loss of 11 yards on second and 3 from the Green Bay 41. Instead, they got 13 yards thanks to zone defense and a first down after going for it on fourth down. The drive concluded with a Jalen Hurts touchdown pass to WR Quez Watkins that gave the Eagles a 27-20 halftime lead. All the Packers did after the kickoff was kneel down the rest of the 13 seconds.
The Packers’ first drive off the third quarter started at the Green Bay 47 yard line thanks to a fantastic kick return by Keisean Nixon that started midway into the end zone. That was the end of the good things that happened because the offense responded with a three and out. On third and 7 from midfield, Aaron Rodgers took a sack, which was followed by a punt by Pat O’Donnell that went to the Eagles 14 yard line. From there, Philadelphia’s offense went down the field for yet another touchdown in 11 plays. Once again, the Packers defense allowed the Eagles to run all over them. The drive ended with a 6-yard touchdown pass to AJ Brown that (with the extra point) increased the lead to 34-20 midway through the third quarter. After the kick return by Keisean Nixon, the Packers started their next drive at their 25 yard line. On the first play, the Packers got to Philadelphia territory after an 11-yard pass completion from Aaron Rodgers to Christian Watson and an unnecessary roughness penalty against Reed Blankenship. Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon were the focus on the ensuing 5 plays as Green Bay got to the 13 yard line of the Eagles. After three plays failed to gain 10 yards, the Packers faced a fourth and 3 from the 6 yard line. They were going to go for it, but a false start penalty on Yosh Nijman forced the Packers to settle for a 29-yard field goal by Mason Crosby, which he made to cut the lead to 11 points. That drive ended up being the last time Aaron Rodgers played on Sunday night due to rib issues. After the defense allowed the Eagles to go down the field to put up 3 more points, QB Jordan Love made his appearance in this game with 11:11 left in the fourth quarter. It didn’t take long for the Packers to score a touchdown. After two short pass completions that got them a fresh set of downs at the Green Bay 37, Jordan Love connected with Christian Watson on a pass completion that Watson took all the way for a 63-yard touchdown that made it a single possession game with 9 minutes left in the game. All the defense needed to do was get another stop and give Love a chance at tying the game. Instead, the defense once again allowed the Eagles to run out a lot of time off the game clock. The drive lasted nearly 7 minutes, ending with a 54-yard field goal by Jake Elliott that increased the lead to 40-30 with a little over two minutes left. Thankfully, the Packers started at their 47 due to another fantastic kickoff return by Nixon. They almost got a touchdown on this drive, but they settled for a field goal after Jordan Love’s pass to Randall Cobb was incomplete in the end zone. The field goal made it a 7-point game and the Packers saved all three of their timeouts. They didn’t have to do an onside kick. Yet, that’s exactly what they did. After the Eagles recovered the onside kick, they were able to get the first down to end the game. With the 40-33 loss, the Packers are now 4-8 on the season with their playoff hopes most likely dashed.
(Here are the highlights of the game, provided by the NFL's YouTube page. Click on "Watch on YouTube.)
On offense, the Packers were able to put up the most amount of points this season. They had to score those points to catch up to the Eagles (more on the defense later). Aaron Rodgers did not play his best game, but I have to give him credit for playing with not only a broken thumb, but with a new rib injury suffered during Sunday night’s game. It didn’t help that he took a few sacks in the game. Before he left in the third quarter, he made a few great throws, including the touchdown passes to Randall Cobb and Aaron Jones. He did throw two interceptions, with one of them being tipped by the defense and the other one a great play by Reed Blankenship (the rookie safety with the Eagles). After Rodgers left due to injury, Jordan Love played great in the fourth quarter. He made some great throws, including the touchdown pass to Christian Watson (who had 4 catches for 110 yards and that TD). Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon combined for 107 rushing yards, with Dillon rushing for the Packers’ first touchdown of the night. The running backs also combined for 80 receiving yards, with Jones catching 8 passes for 56 yards and the touchdown that was set up by a turnover. The offensive line played good at points, but they did allow a couple of sacks to the Eagles defense. There were a couple of drives that were stalled because of them getting away from running the ball at a certain point. One example was the drive that ended in the second pick by Rodgers. That drive was mostly run until that interception. Even with the mistakes made, I thought that the offense did enough for the Packers to have a chance at winning under different circumstances.
On defense, the Packers did not play well at all, other than a couple of sacks and the forced fumble. I am not kidding when I say this: the Packers defense gave up an astonishing 363 rushing yards to the Eagles offense. That is the most rushing yards that the Packers have allowed to anyone in nearly 50 years. Jalen Hurts alone ran for 157 yards on 17 attempts. Three in particular were huge plays that went for at least 30 yards. It gave me flashbacks to Colin Kaepernick in the 2012 Divisional Round when he ran all over the Packers defense in that game for the 49ers. A big reason why the Eagles ran for that many yards was because of awful tackling by the Packers defense from everyone. Every time the Packers needed a stop to allow the offense to come back, the defense failed to do so. Other than being gashed for many rushing yards, the defense also allowed a few open pass plays due to playing zone and keeping things in front of them. The biggest mistake was after sacking Jalen Hurts to force a third and 14 near the end of the first half. Rather than play aggressive, they played soft and allowed a 13-yard pass play that gave the Eagles a short fourth down, which they converted. A couple of plays after that, the Eagles scored a touchdown right before halftime. To be honest, Joe Barry should have been left in Philadelphia so he can enjoy the city and have some cheesesteaks. Most likely, he’ll be gone at the end of the season. Most of the players have tuned him out at this point (and even earlier). Injuries don’t help, but that can’t be the only reason why the defense hasn’t played to their potential. Hopefully that changes with a new person in charge next season.
On Special Teams, there were some positives and some negatives. Mason Crosby did miss an extra point, but he was able to make every other field goal and PAT attempt and got a couple of kickoffs to the end zone for a touchback. Pat O’Donnell punted good on Sunday night (granted he only punted twice). Keisean Nixon had a great night returning kicks. After he messed up on the first one, he responded by returning three kickoffs for plenty of yards. Two of those returns went for over 50 yards, and I thought he would’ve scored on one of those. On the other side, the Packers did better with kickoff return coverage, not allowing a return past the 30 yard line. Granted, it helped that a couple of the kicks were touchbacks. One thing that I was relieved that it didn’t happen was a turnover on Special Teams. With how unstoppable the Eagles offense was, the score could have been worse than the 40 points that they put up had there been a screw up on Special Teams. Once again, I’m sure that Rich Bisaccia’s job is safe.
Overall, I was happy that the game was competitive. Like the Bills game, I was relieved that the Packers did not get blown out of the stadium. I thought that the Packers had a chance of winning this game had they not given up 363 rushing yards. As it is, the Packers’ playoff hopes are most likely dashed now. Hopefully they get back in the win column against the Chicago Bears next week before they have their bye week. Have a good night, everyone. Go Pack Go, win or lose (or tie).
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