Jalen Hurts threw two touchdown passes in his first game since a season-ending concussion, Dallas Goedert threw three stiff-armers on a gritty touchdown catch and the Philadelphia Eagles rode their best NFL defense to a 22-10 wild-card playoff -victory over the Green Bay Packers on Sunday evening.
Hurts threw for a modest 131 yards but played without hesitation in his return from a three-week layoff following a concussion in December. He started strong – six straight wins to open the game – and kept the Packers at bay with a 24-yard touchdown pass to Goedert in the third quarter that will forever be stamped as the franchise’s postseason highlight.
Philadelphia’s defense took care of the rest.
The Eagles turned a recovered fumble on the opening kickoff into Hurts’ first TD pass three plays later and the defense picked off Jordan Love twice in the first half. Leading 19-10 in the fourth, the Eagles forced a turnover on downs when Green Bay had a fourth-and-3 at three of its own 41 with five minutes left.
Quinyon Mitchell had one final interception of Love with 1:51 remaining, sealing the win for the NFC East champions, who will host a divisional matchup next week at the Linc.
The Eagles had the book on the Packers – and had time for some light reading while wide receiver AJ Brown sat on the bench flipping through the pages of Jim Murphy’s Inner Excellence. Brown had one catch for 10 yards.
Love threw for 212 yards and was intercepted three times as he nursed a sore right elbow injured in the regular season finale against Chicago.
Josh Jacobs ran for 81 yards and a score — and blasted Green Bay’s offense with a 31-yard run in the third, where he shook off a tackle, had his jersey stretched to his heel by one defender, another plowed and dragged two more unfortunate ones. Eagles to the one-yard line. Jacobs scored on the next play, cutting the score to 16-10.
Aided by an unnecessary roughness flag on Green Bay, Hurts got the Eagles close enough for Jake Elliott to make a 30-yard field goal for a 19-10 lead. Elliott needed the short kick for a confidence boost after missing an extra point on Goedert’s touchdown. Elliott, who has struggled with punts from more than 50 yards this season, added a 32-yarder in the fourth and a 31-yarder in the first quarter.
Saquon Barkley, who led the NFL in rushing with 2,005 yards, had 119 yards in his Eagles’ postseason debut.
The Eagles had the Linc pounding, from the moment the announcer took some glee in his command to, “Welcome back to the Eagles lineup, Jalen Huuurts,” to the recovered fumble moments later.
Green Bay’s Keisean Nixon had the ball knocked loose by Oren Burks and the ball was recovered by Jeremiah Trotter at the Green Bay 28. Hurts needed just three plays to find Jahan Dotson for an 11-yard touchdown.
Darius Slay went over his shoulder to the cornerback to reel the ball in as an elite receiver for an interception, and All-Pro linebacker Zack Baun made it two for the Eagles. The Eagles didn’t score with those picks, but they did keep the Packers off the board.
Hurts put any immediate questions about his health to rest as he completed his first six passes for 39 yards, including the TD to Dotson. He then missed his next seven going into the half. He didn’t complete another pass until late in the third quarter and then hit seven of his last eight overall, including the Goedert TD catch.
Brandon McManus, who earlier missed a 38 yards, hit one from 26 yards to make it 10-3 at halftime.