Super Bowl or Bust — A Look at the Eagles Heading Into the Playoffs

The NFL’s regular season has come to an end, and the playoffs have begun. The Eagles finished the season with a record of 14-3, which was good enough to earn them the NFC East crown, and the number two seed in the conference. In previous years the number two seed would have granted them a bye week through the Wild Card Round. But with the newly expanded playoffs, the two seeds in each conference have to face off against the seven seed in the first round. The Eagles have drawn the Green Bay Packers. The Packers are not your typical seven seed as they finished with a record of 11 and 6. Getting through the daunting NFC playoff bracket will be no cakewalk, but it should be the expectation for Eagles fans.

Jalen Hurts Concussion Status

A big concern for Eagles fans going into this playoff run is the status of Quarterback Jalen Hurts. Hurts suffered a concussion early against the Commanders on December 22nd and he has yet to be cleared from concussion protocol. An important detail to know is that a player can not exit concussion protocol until he participates in practice. With the Eagles resting their starters last week against the Giants Hurts did not have a need to practice last week. All eyes will turn to practice later today to see if Jalen participated. If Hurts participates in practice today he will be able to exit concussion protocol and the Philadelphia region can breathe a sigh of relief. But if Hurts is still not at practice later today then we can start to worry. According to multiple reporters, the feeling around the team is that Hurts will be at practice today, but keep an eye on the injury report to be sure.

If we assume Hurts will be back at practice and good to go for this weekend’s game, the concern turns to the rust factor. Hurts had to exit the game against Washington fairly early, so he would not have played a game in essentially three weeks. This season Hurts has started very slow in the first quarters and sometimes even first halves, so that is definitely a worry going into this game. It is a shame that Hurts got hurt because he was starting to play his best football of the year. He was running with confidence and the passing game was starting to look like how we all thought it could. Now, we all just have to hope that the same player will be there on Sunday.

Number One Ranked Defense

With the regular season being officially over the Eagles have finished with the number one ranked defense. This is the first time the team has finished with the number-one defense since 1991. Going into the season a lot of people would have taken a serviceable season from the defense. With all the young players and a new coordinator, there were not many expectations for this side of the ball. But to Vic Fangio’s credit, he has created a defense that should be feared by the other teams in the NFC.

The Eagles offense has the household names but if they win the Super Bowl the defense may just be the reason why. The great thing about the Eagles’ defense is that they can beat you in so many ways. Jalen Carter, Milton Williams, and Jordan Davis can all stop the run. Darius Slay, Quinyon Mitchell, and Cooper DeJean can suffocate any receiving core. And Zach Baun, Jalen Carter, and C.J. Garner-Johnson can create a turnover as quick as lightning. It will not be easy as there are so many great offenses in the NFC playoffs including the Packers who they face this week, but I am more than confident that this is a defense that you can ride to a championship.

Keep Feeding Saquon

As we all know Saquon Barkley has produced one of the best running back seasons in NFL history. At 2,005 yards he is just the 9th running back to reach the 2,000 mark, and if he was allowed to play in week 18 he would have likely broken the single-season rushing record. When you have a player as special as Saquon you have to ride them to the championship.

The Packers and any other team the Eagles will face this postseason know the greatness of Saquon and will do everything in their power not to let him send them home. No matter how well a team defends him in the first or the second quarter, the Eagles have to stick with Saquon. If this season showed us anything it is that he gets better as the game goes on, and I am confident that he will make the plays in big moments to keep our season alive. The Eagles have done a great job at sticking with Saquon all year long, let’s keep riding him all the way to a parade on broad street.

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