“Let’s Hunt”— Packers at Eagles Wild Card Game Preview

Nearly one year ago, the Philadelphia Eagles were embarrassed by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the wild card round, ending an equally embarrassing 2023 season. They were coming off a near Super Bowl victory the season before and they followed it up with one of the worst collapses in team history. On top of that two of the greatest Eagles to ever don midnight green Jason Kelce and Fletcher Cox decided to call it a career.

Heading into 2024, the team was pissed off. They were embarrassed by the way things ended and they were upset that they couldn’t get Kelce and Cox another ring. They were hungry to get back to the Super Bowl and win it this time.

Fast forward to now and the Eagles find themselves against the team that they opened the 2024 season against in Brazil the Green Bay Packers. It’s a good old-fashioned rematch this time at the Linc on a cold Sunday afternoon for a spot in the NFC Divisional Round.

Silencing The Outside Noise

The Packers had a very similar year compared to last year. They’re once again the 7-seed in the NFC but this time they improved their win total from nine to 11. While they’ve had a good year, the simple fact is the Eagles already beat this team, on a neutral field in another country, and Saquon Barkley ran all over them. So this game shouldn’t even be close. Well, that doesn’t seem to be the topic of conversation.

While people aren’t doubting that the Eagles could blow out Green Bay, an upset has been floated mainly due to the fact of what happened last season. As mentioned already, the Packers were the 7-seed last season and in their game last year they traveled to another NFC East Champions stadium for a wild card matchup. They took on the Dallas Cowboys and things didn’t go the Boyz way.

While the score didn’t show a true blowout, the Packers destroyed the Cowboys on their home field 48-32. Jordan Love had maybe his best game as a pro, throwing for 272 yards and three touchdowns, while former Packer’s running back Aaron Jones rushed for 118 yards and three touchdowns. So Green Bay has been in this same spot before and now people think the Eagles, who at times haven’t looked great, with a banged-up Jalen Hurts could be on upset alert.

This is huge for the Eagles to officially silence the outside doubt and prove to the world that they are serious contenders not just in the NFC, but in the entire NFL overall. The road to a Super Bowl starts Sunday and it starts with picking up win No. 1.

Stopping Josh Jacobs

The defense is going to have its hands full this Sunday as they take on one of the best running backs in the world. Josh Jacobs signed a four-year, $48 million contract with the Packers in the offseason and has proved that he’s been worth every penny.

He finished with 1,329 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns and was the focal point of the Packers offense all year. However, way back in week one during the team’s first matchup, Jacobs was a non-factor rushing for just 84 yards and no touchdowns. It was the first game of the season and since then Jacobs has been a huge part of Green Bay’s success.

If the Eagles want to win this game, they have to do exactly what they did earlier this season. Keep Jacobs in check and force Jordan Love to beat them. The Packers passing game has been up and down all year and now starting wide receiver Christian Watson is out for the season. The game plan has to be to win in the sky, a strategy that the Eagles have been great at this season thanks to the improved secondary. If they can prevent Jacobs from running all over them, they can easily handle the Packer’s offense.

Getting Hurts Back Into The Swing Of Things

It’s been three weeks since Jalen Hurts has played in-game action, as he’s been out with a concussion since the team’s week 16 36-33 loss to the Washington Commanders. While people have argued that Hurts has really hurt this whole time or has just been staying out due to rest due to the division being already locked up, all of that doesn’t matter.

Hurts is healthy now and he will be the team’s starting quarterback in Sunday’s game. But what kind of Jalen Hurts are we going to get? Will Hurts pick up right where he left off, making correct throws and knowing when to move out of the pocket and take off? Or will he be limited and not be able to use his legs or plays or be able to hit receivers? Will he look rusty or will go back to being the same player we saw all season? We have no idea what kind of Hurts we’re going to get.

Now the team obviously wouldn’t put him out there if he wasn’t ready so we should see a very similar Hurts. Getting him back into the swing of things and getting him comfortable is very key in this game. This postseason is a marathon, not a sprint and you have to make sure that Hurts can be the guy that wins you a Lombardi. Punding the run game and making sure he gets great routes from receivers and good play calls is going to be the top priority.

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