Bleeding Green Nation
Follow along with Wild Card game updates here!
For the first time since the January 2023 NFC Championship Game, the Philadelphia Eagles are hosting a playoff game at Lincoln Financial Field. The Birds enter this matchup against the Green Bay Packers as 5.5-point home favorites.
If all goes according to expectation, the Eagles will advance to the Divisional Round to host either the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Minnesota Vikings, or the Los Angeles Rams depending on the Wild Card round results. If the Eagles lose, well, their 2024 season is suddenly over.
Follow along here for live score updates, highlights, injury news, analysis, and more before this article ultimately turns into our game recap. The best place to actually discuss the game as it happens is still in our open threads for each quarter, the first of which you can find here.
The Eagles won the opening coin toss and elected to defer, per usual. Oren Burks forced a Packers fumble for a Jeremiah Trotter Jr. recovery on the opening kickoff! After an automatic review determined the ruling on the field stands, the Eagles took over at the plus 28-yard line!
The Eagles’ first play from scrimmage was a Saquon Barkley run for 16 yards. Two plays later, Hurts had all day to throw and he took advantage by stepping up and delivering a strike 11 yards to JAHAN DOTSON for the wide receiver’s first career Eagles touchdown! Pretty awesome start. EAGLES 7, PACKERS 0.
After a kick return holding penalty, the Packers took over at their own 13-yard line. Jordan Love sailed his first pass and C.J. Gardner-Johnson got a hand on it but wasn’t in a great spot to pick it off. Facing 3rd-and-8 after a short Josh Jacobs run, Love nearly got sacked by Milton Williams but escaped and threw the ball away. Three-and-out. Great start by the Eagles’ special teams, offense, AND defense. Strong in all three phrases from the jump.
The Eagles took over at their own 35-yard line after a Cooper DeJean return for -1 yard. Hurts to A.J. Brown went for a first down a little beyond the marker. Facing 3rd-and-5, a swing pass to Barkley with DeVonta Smith lead blocking got stuffed for no gain. DeVonta lost on his block there ... but he’s not the ideal lead blocker to begin with. Don’t love the thinking there. The Eagles punted from 4th-and-5 at the plus 47-yard line. Could’ve afforded to be more aggressive there. Braden Mann’s punt bounced into the end zone just for a net of 27 yards.
The Packers took over at their own 20-yard line.
