A New Look: Eagles-Packers Week 10 Preview

It’s been just about two weeks without Eagles football, and I don’t know about you guys, but I’m yearning for Philadelphia football.

Watching our NFC foes get beaten up is always fun, but I’d rather watch the Eagles beat up a fellow NFC team, which welcomes the Packers on Monday Night Football.

Monday night will feature two NFC contenders in a face-off in Green Bay. Jalen Hurts and the 6-2 Eagles will walk into Lambeau Field and try to take down the 5-2-1 Packers.

The Packers, fresh off their loss to the Panthers via a walk-off field goal, will try to hold on to their NFC North lead and maintain their playoff spot. Their season has had early-season highs and mid-season lows. The Eagles will find themselves in the thick of the Packers’ schedule as they will face their three NFC North opponents in three out of their next five games.

A win for the Packers will put them on a good pace, especially with such a hard schedule in front of them. But, they’ll have to go through an Eagles team fresh off a bye week, with a few new trade acquisitions.

Over the bye week, the Eagles added a few big additions to their roster. Jaelan Phillips, a defensive end of the Miami Dolphins, Michael Carter II, a cornerback of the New York Jets, and Jaire Alexander, a cornerback of the Baltimore Ravens, were acquired by Howie Roseman before the trade deadline concluded. Roseman’s moves added reinforcements to the defense, specifically the defensive line and the secondary. Phillips, a former first-round pick, provides a huge addition to the defensive line. With his athleticism, the Eagles’ d-line has improved tremendously. Carter II gives depth to the Eagles’ secondary, which was rather weak with Adoree’ Jackson and Kelee Ringo finding important snaps. Roseman gave up his team’s third-round pick for Phillips and a 2027 sixth-rounder with John Metchie as a sweetener for Carter II.

Roseman made some big moves at the deadline, but possibly the biggest addition is Nolan Smith as an EDGE. The Birds have lacked in the EDGE department, and their acquisition of Za’Darius Smith did not work out. Smith will add depth to a thin D-line that is already adding depth with Phillips and Brandon Graham returning. Graham, coming out of retirement, will make his 2025 debut against the Packers after retiring following his second Super Bowl victory.

With all these additions to the team, you can expect a much different Eagles team than the weeks prior.

Re-Invented Defensive Line

The defensive line, which has struggled greatly with impacting the quarterback, will get huge additions as it finds its way along this season.

Phillips will make his presence known on Monday night as he faces off against a relatively mediocre Packers offensive line. Love has struggled greatly with pressure, and a newly reinforced D-line will be a test for both sides as they find their groove.

The big headline, Phillips, has experience in Vic Fangio’s defense, as he played with the Dolphins when Fangio led the defense. Phillips has three sacks on the season with over a dozen solo tackles and seven QB hits. Phillips will fit into Fangio’s defense nicely as the defensive coordinator already has a feel for Phillips’ ability, which played a major role in the Eagles’ pursuit of Phillips.

As mentioned before, Smith will make his highly anticipated return to the Eagles, along with Graham, who ran out with his jersey in the Super Bowl. These two will be massive for the defensive line entering the second half. Graham will likely be limited on snap-share as he returns from retirement, but any competitive snaps from Graham will be helpful for this Eagles’ defense. Smith will work his way back up to an average snap-share, but will make an instant impact with his youth and athleticism.

Fangio, who has already made a poorly-personeled defense competitive, will get three valuable pass rushers to add to his arsenal. As Love struggles with pressure, you can expect Fangio to utilize his newly acquired players and bring the heat to the three-year starter.

Open Up the Playbook

The Eagles have been inconsistent on offense all season, and it’s been heavily publicized by A.J. Brown‘s apparent discomfort. We have seen blips of the Eagles at their peak on offense, but we have also seen them at their worst, with rough third-down calls and uncompetitive drives.

It’s time for the Eagles to open up the playbook and keep it open all four quarters.

A main concern has been the Eagles showing offensive life for a half, but looking like a high school football team the next. Much of this problem has been directed towards Kevin Patullo, and who is to say whether or not he deserves much of this blame, but it’s obvious that this offense has played better when the players have a say in the playcall.

Hurts, DeVonta Smith, and Brown have all recognized defense patterns and essentially called plays on their own that have worked out better than much of Patullos’ playcall. Now, it’s impossible to say what’s happening in the headset without being in the headset, but it’s obvious that the Eagles need to get creative with their playcall.

The key to this Packers game is getting the offense on the same page and feeding the several all-pro skill players on the roster. Let Brown find open grass after his catch, let Smith stretch the field with a deep ball, and feed Saquon, as it’s the only way to draw the defense in and let Brown and Smith attack the field.

Pass Protection

Since the last time these two teams matched up, the Packers have added a stud to their defensive line. Former Cowboy Micah Parsons is now a key threat to Hurts and this relatively banged-up offensive line.

We have seen Lane Johnson handle Parsons in the past, but Johnson has worked through some injuries this year, and Parsons has much of his pressure from the opposing side of the trench. It will be a team effort for the offensive line to stop Parsons, and you can imagine that Jeff Stoutland has prepared this team well for Parsons and the Packers. However, much of Parsons’s duty will belong to Jordan Mailata on the left tackle.

Mailta has a PFF grade of 80.2 this year, a solid showing from the Australian, but not as effective as he was last year. Coming into the season, he was a top-ranked player in the league, let alone his positional rank of #1. Mailata has only allowed one sack this year and has a pass blocking grade of 77, good for 15th amongst tackles.

Parsons hasn’t lit up the stat sheet with sacks, but his presence will be made on Monday night, as it has been in every game he’s played for the Green Bay faithful. It’s up to Mailata and Johnson to do their part and give Hurts the pocket he needs to execute his game plan.

Coming off a bye week, the Eagles have had plenty of time to prepare for this NFC contender matchup, and it is expected they will win handily. Even though the Packers are a great team, they are fresh off an unexpected loss and may be rattled, but the Eagles have had more than enough time to prepare.

Open up the playbook, let Hurts pick apart this Packers secondary, and let Fangio handle the defensive side of the ball. This is the true testament to what this Eagles team is about; they have their players, and there are no more trades to be made. Roseman did his part; it’s time for the team to do theirs.

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