Game Review – Playoffs – PHI 22, GB 10

Posted: January 15th, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 2 Comments »

Buddy Ryan never won a playoff game as coach of the Eagles. If he had, this is the kind of win that would have made him happy. The Eagles played great defense. They ran the ball well and passed effectively enough to secure the win. This felt like old school football.

The game was short on style points, unless you love defense. Both teams teams had Top 5 defenses in the regular season and that showed in the game. Every yard was hard earned. The difference in the game was the Eagles coming up with 4 takeaways and a fourth down stop.

This game wasn’t a shootout like the season opener played by the same two teams. Still, it was an intense, compelling game. The Eagles were in control from start to finish, but they did struggle to get separation. Jordan Love will get a lot of criticism for his performance. He struggled. A lot of that was due to the Eagles. They were disruptive up front and covered well on the back end. Love never looked comfortable.

It is fun to have a great defense.

COACHING

Nick Sirianni seemed to go with a conservative approach in this game. The Eagles only went for it on one fourth down. They were conservative on several 3rd & long situations. Maybe he sensed the offense wasn’t at its best. Maybe he felt that confident in his defense. The strategy worked, even though it isn’t the style of Eagles football we are used to seeing.

Kellen Moore focused on the run game, calling 34 runs to 23 pass plays. RPOs may skew that a bit, but you still see that the Eagles focused on the run. Moore made a handful of really good calls in the game, but overall this was not his best game. The passing game felt too random and just didn’t have a good flow to it. Some calls made no sense. The Eagles threw out wide to Barkley on an early third down with a banged up DeVonta Smith as the lead blocker. Shockingly that play got stuffed.

Vic Fangio did a great job with the defense. He mixed man and zone to keep the Packers off balance. He moved Zack Baun around and used him creatively to give different looks to the offense.

OFFENSE

290 total yards
169 rushing
131 passing
2 of 11 on 3rd down
1 of 1 on 4th down
1 of 4 in the red zone
no turnovers

The offense struggled for a varitety of reasons. Moore didn’t have a strong gameplan. Jalen Hurts was rusty and didn’t play his best game. You also have to give some credit to the Packers defense. They were tough.

Hurts was 6-13-39 at halftime. He went 7-8-92 in the second half. That’s not anything special, but he proved to be clutch. The highlight moment was the TD to Goedert.

That is a smart audible and good, quick throw. Not an easy play at all. Hurts other TD was quite the opposite. He sat in the pocket for 6.75 seconds and waited for Dotson to come open over the middle. That play took patience. Hurts had a chance to hit AJ with a deep ball on a fake Brotherly Shove. The pass was just a bit long. He was off target a couple of times, which isn’t usually an issue for him.

Hurts was 6-36 as a runner. He was aggressive, but not reckless. He avoided big hits. Hurts took a dumb sack. He had a chance to simply throw the ball away, but went down for a short loss. He knows better than that.

Saquon Barkley was 25-119 on the ground. That was a career high for him in the postseason. It was also his first time having a home playoff game. Welcome to the good life, Saquon. The most effective runs went left and outside.

GB did a good job of controlling inside runs. Barkley had to fight for yards. He finally got loose on the final drive, but went down instead of running for the TD. He did that so the Eagles could kneel down and end the game. Smart.

Barkley was 2-4 as a receiver. The Eagles did not get him the ball in good situations. Barkley did a good job as a blocker. Kenny Gainwell was 3-14 as a runner and got a couple of first downs.

AJ Brown caught an early pass and that was it. He finished 1-10, which is crazy. The Eagles have to find a way to get him the ball. It is fair to wonder if his knee was more of an issue than we knew. You couldn’t see anything obvious when watching the game. DeVonta Smith was 4-55, including a 28-yard play that led to a TD. Jahan Dotson was 1-11 with a TD. He lost his DB and came wide open.

Dallas Goedert had a really good game. He was 4-47-1 as a receiver. Three of the catches came in the second half and helped the team to score points. Goedert also did a good job as a blocker in the run game. It was great to see him back in action in a real game. Grant Calcaterra went 1-4. It was a nice grab. His blocking was very up and down.

The Eagles OL mostly had a good game. There were some real highlight moments, but also some missed blocks. The highlight moment came on the TD to Dotson.

That is mind-blowing stuff. This block from Jordan Mailata also caught my eye when watching the tape.

Wow. That is some serious movement. The line definitely had some great moments, but the Packers have a good front and those guys won some battles. 55 and 90 each grabbed my attention multiple times. That said, GB generally had to blitz to get pressure on Hurts. And Barkley did run for 119 yards. The OL was solid overall.

DEFENSE

302 total yards
107 rushing
212 passing
7 of 13 on 3rd down
1 of 2 on 4th down
1 of 3 in the red zone
3 takeaways

I can’t stress enough how much I love watching this defense. They don’t blitz and attack like the Buddy Ryan days. The pass rush isn’t overwhelming like 2017 or 2022. This defense is physical. They are smart. They cover well. And they make big plays. I’m not used to an Eagles defense playing quite like this.

My only complaint from this game is missed tackles. The Eagles were sloppy. They missed on the QB, RB, TE and WR so this wasn’t one offensive player or just one part of the defense. That needs to be cleaned up.

Josh Jacobs did finish 18-81, but that included a 31-yard run. The rest of the game he was 17-50. The Packers struggled to sustain drives, in part because they didn’t have a consistent run game.

Jalen Carter led the way up front. The stat sheet shows 2 tackles, 2 QB hits and a PD. He was regularly disruptive.

Carter got into the backfield several times. He wasn’t always able to finish, but he affected the Packers all game long. Jordan Davis had a good game. He was credited with 1 tackle. He also got pressure on 2 pass plays, one of them leading to a holding call. Milton Williams had a tackle and a QB hit. The Packers had 3 different LGs and all of them struggled to block Williams. Moro Ojomo also flashed on some plays.

Nolan Smith had a terrific game. He set the tone on defense when he blew up the pulling LG and knocked him out of the game, despite being smaller by 80 pounds. Smith was the hammer and Elgton Jenkins was the nail.

Smith had 2 sacks and 7 tackles. He set the edge well. He played the run well. This was his best game in the NFL. You can see that he’s able to be physical and also athletic. He was great. A real difference-maker.

Josh Sweat had 1 tackle. He got pressure a couple of times, but not with any consistency. Jalyx Hunt had 2 tackles and flashed. He’s really coming on. Bryce Huff only played 1 snap, but he did pressure the QB. That was at the end of the game.

Stop me if you’ve heard this before…Zack Baun had an outstanding game. I can’t say great because he missed several tackles, but he made enough plays to forgive the misses. Baun had 7 tackles and an INT. Fangio moved him around. Baun would go up on the LOS at times. He might rush. He might set the edge. He might drop. When he stayed back, Fangio still had him do different things. Check out this pass coverage on a deep ball.

How was that guy just a STer last year???? Wow. He might have gotten away with PI at the end, but he speed and range are crazy. Baun just missed an INT on a ball that was deflected. On the next play he made a good read over the middle and did get his pick. Good hands catch on that play.

Nakobe Dean was having a great game prior to his injury. He finished with 6 tackles and 2 TFLs. It sucks that he got hurt. Watching him fly to the ball was a lot of fun. Oren Burks stepped in and was up and down. He finished with 4 tackles and was okay. He took bad angles a couple of times and missed a couple of tackles.

CJGJ didn’t have any tackles. He had a chance for an early INT, but couldn’t make the grab. Reed Blankenship led the team with 11 tackles. He also had a FF. Blankenship had multiple big hits on receivers over the middle. He made them pay, knocking one out of the game. These were clean  hits, but impactful. Avonte Maddox had to step in a safety for a few plays and looked good.

Quinyon Mitchell finally got his pick. He also had 6 tackles. Mitchell was good in run support. He did get called for a PI that put GB near the goal line. They were held to a FG on that series. Good game overall. Slay had a really impressive INT. He was also in on 3 tackles. He had to leave the game for a bit. Isaiah Rodgers filled in well.

ST

Michael Clay told his guys to set the tone on the opening KO. Oren Burks did just that.

What a great start to the game.

The Eagles won the STs battle. Keisean Nixon is a really good returner. His long KOR was 28 yards. Rodgers had a 32-yard KOR for the Eagles.

Jake Elliott did miss an XP. He was 3 for 3 on FGs. Still, it would have done us all good to see him have a perfect game.

_


2 Comments on “Game Review – Playoffs – PHI 22, GB 10”

  1. 1 The Linc - Former NFL QB says Jalen Hurts is “not going through progressions really well” - SportSourcio said at 11:01 AM on January 16th, 2025:

    […] Game Review – Playoffs – PHI 22, GB 10 – Iggles Blitz […]

  2. 2 The Linc – Over View – Your Daily News Source said at 2:32 PM on January 16th, 2025:

    […] Game Review – Playoffs – PHI 22, GB 10 – Iggles BlitzThe offense struggled for a varitety of reasons. Moore didn’t have a strong gameplan. Jalen Hurts was rusty and didn’t play his best game. You also have to give some credit to the Packers defense. They were tough. Hurts was 6-13-39 at halftime. He went 7-8-92 in the second half. That’s not anything special, but he proved to be clutch. The highlight moment was the TD to Goedert. That is a smart audible and good, quick throw. Not an easy play at all. Hurts other TD was quite the opposite. He sat in the pocket for 6.75 seconds and waited for Dotson to come open over the middle. That play took patience. Hurts had a chance to hit AJ with a deep ball on a fake Brotherly Shove. The pass was just a bit long. He was off target a couple of times, which isn’t usually an issue for him. Hurts was 6-36 as a runner. He was aggressive, but not reckless. He avoided big hits. Hurts took a dumb sack. He had a chance to simply throw the ball away, but went down for a short loss. He knows better than that. […]