GREEN BAY vs PHILADELPHIA 

EAGLES WIN 10 – 7 

• A Defensive Showdown Unfolds in Green Bay as the Eagles and Packers Offenses Fall Flat 

While both of these respective teams have had their struggles, especially on offense as of late, this was a phenomenal defensive showing from both sides. The Packers run defense was as good as you could ask for against a great RB like Saquon Barkley and the Eagles pass rush and in turn passing defense as a whole looked completely revamped with the addition of Jaelan Phillips. The offenses on the other hand were absolutely atrocious this game on both sides. The Packers predictability in tempo offense, inconsistency along the OL in both run and pass blocking, and drops in big moments from their WRs killed drives time after time and led to this very talented offense only putting up 7 points all night. The Eagles offense once again looked lost as they struggled to establish any semblance of an identity aside from their first drive where they had some success in the run game. Both of these teams played some of their worst offensive football in this game and some of their best defensive football so whether you want to believe the defensive performances led to the offenses struggles or vice versa that’s up to you but I personally believe these offenses both have another level they can go to with the Packers giving me more hope than the Eagles moving forward due to their high level of play through points of this season. There’s concerns for both of these teams and I’m not sure this game gave either fan base the answers they were looking for. But ultimately I believe both teams will figure it out down the stretch of this season and while they may not be dominant like we had thought coming into the season they’re still going to quality teams that should make some noise in the postseason.

• Key Notes for the Eagles 

This Eagles offense once again looked lost through a large stretch of this game as they continue to establish any sort of identity or consistent strength on this side of the ball. Whether it’s running the ball more and utilizing play action, putting the ball in Hurts’ hand more and allowing him to be a drop back passer with these great receiving targets, or utilizing their effectiveness in short yardage and leaning into a Chiefs style of offense this Eagles team needs to find and consistently establish something on offense. They have the talent and I don’t believe it’s an indictment on said talent that this team is struggling. The coaching here is an issue though, specifically OC Kevin Patullo. The talent isn’t being utilized correctly as they don’t consistently play to any of their strengths and it’s leading to this team having to piece together wins and overall make games 100 times harder than they ever should be. 

With the addition of Jaelan Phillips and Nolan Smith coming back into the lineup this Eagles pass rush looked like a completely new group compared to the first half of this season. These two coming back not only made an impact with their own respective production but it also freed up looks for guys like Jalen Carter and Moro Ojomo along the interior of the Eagles DL and most importantly… it sped up Jordan Love so he couldn’t punish some of the mistakes/weaknesses on the backend of this defense. If this group can continue to affect the game the way that they did against the Packers the outlook for this defense is completely different and much higher than what it was before the trade deadline. 

• Key Notes for the Packers 

The Packers OL continues to have an uncharacteristically bad year. Aaron Banks has proven to be a rough signing for them as he continues to struggle pass protection and surprisingly run blocking as well, which he had been really solid at in San Francisco. It’s not just Banks though as Jenkins looked rough at C once again before he went out with an injury and there were mistakes for quite literally everyone along the OL. The struggles bled into the rest of the offense as Jordan Love started to drop his eyes on a number of passing plays which led to missed reads and Josh Jacobs once again was fighting for every single yard for a large majority of this game. Until this group improves the rest of the issues with this offense really won’t matter as they won’t be able to operate in any way shape or form without quality OL play. It doesn’t have to be perfect but it can’t be what they’re putting out there right now.

• Sean Rhyan played quite well at C after Jenkins went out with an injury

The WR room needs to get healthy for this offense to reach their full potential. There were a number of crucial drops in this game and I can’t say that was all that surprising as they had Bo Melton (6th WR) playing significant snaps in this game. This receiving core without rookie Matthew Golden, Jayden Reed, and Tucker Kraft has no real YAC threat which is crucial for this offense to stay on schedule and even more importantly Love has no trust worthy WR to target in big situations aside from Doubs who has slowed down after a hot start to the season. The passing game looks disconnected and inconsistent with all of the injuries to the WR and TE rooms and it’s leading to a number of struggles that everyone is freaking out about online. 

While Matt LaFleur hasn’t been perfect as a HC and play caller this season the idea they need to move on from him as the HC as they sit 1 game out of the lead for the NFC North and 5-3-1 is absolutely ridiculous. He’s still one of the best offensive minds in the entire league despite having some predictability in his play calling (tempo especially) and he has a Packers team who’s dealing with a number of crucial injuries to their team right in competition for a top spot in the NFC. It’s been an up and down month with a number of struggles but that doesn’t mean you move on from a HC that has been EXCELLENT throughout his entire tenure with your team. Calm down… it will be okay.

This defense continues to impress as they stood strong against an Eagles offense that has impressed in recent weeks. The pass rush may have not gotten home this week but Micah Parsons and company along the DL (Kingsley Enagbare especially) wrecked a number of plays by getting quick pressures on Hurts. They were absolutely phenomenal against the run as well as they forced Saquon to stop his feet in the backfield what felt like every play and the second and third levels (Walker, Cooper, Williams, and Bullard were awesome) of this defense were unbelievable flying downhill and wrecking plays as well. This group really doesn’t have a weakness as they continue to stack impressive performance one after another.

• Standout Performers 

PHI

Jalen Hurts – 15/26  183yds  1/0 – 5/27 rush

DeVonta Smith – 4/60  1 TD 

Jaelan Phillips – 6 Tackles (4 Solo)  1 TFL 

Nakobe Dean – 7 Tackles (6 Solo)  1 Sack  1 TFL  1 FF 

Quinyon Mitchell – 2 Tackles  2 PBUs 

GB

Josh Jacobs – 21/74  1 TD – 5/33 

Dontayvion Wicks – 4/38 

• Had a rough drop late but was one of the few consistent targets through this game and especially in the 2nd half 

Micah Parsons – 2 Tackles (1 Solo)  5 Pressures 

• Wrecked run plays all game long 

Evan Williams – 6 Tackles (4 Solo)  2 TFLs 

Kingsley Enagbare – 3 Tackles (1 Solo) 

• Shot into backfield a number of times 

Edgerrin Cooper – 6 Tackles (2 Solo)  1 FF 

• Forced fumble on Hurts ended early drive for PHI which would have 1st inside the 15yd line 

Carrington Valentine – 1 Tackle  1 PBU 

• Aside from a missed tackle on a big catch and run by Saquon Valentine locked down the left side of the field for GB and forced some big incompletions in big situations