Eagles react to Packers’ draw in wild card round originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The Eagles have already beaten the Packers once this season.
Four months ago. On another continent.
“I feel like a lot of things have changed,” center Cam Jurgens said. “I feel like it’s been a year since we last played them… in Brazil, my God. Reset and get ready for these playoffs.
As the Eagles’ backups eliminated the lowly Giants, 20-13, in just 2 hours and 53 minutes Sunday afternoon, the Packers-Bears and Commanders-Cowboys games were still winding down as the Eagles celebrated their 14th victory in the home locker rooms. at the Lincoln.
So some players didn’t even know the Eagles had drawn against the Packers in the wild-card round until they heard the news from reporters. But it’s official: the Eagles, seeded 2, will host the Packers, seeded 7, Sunday at 4:30 p.m. in the NFC wild card round.
A rematch of the Eagles’ 34-29 victory over the Packers on September 6 in São Paulo, Brazil.
But a lot has changed since then. For both teams.
“Everybody’s making their adjustments throughout the season, trying to figure out who they are as a team, on defense, on offense,” linebacker Zack Baun said. “You throw wrinkles here and there and see what sticks. We have changed and I know they have too.
After that Week 1 game at Neo Quimica Arena, the Eagles went on to a 14-win season and an NFC East title. Meanwhile, the Packers were battle tested in the tough NFC North and made the playoffs as a wild card team.
This seems like a good matchup for the first round.
“Yeah, both teams are definitely different from that day to now,” head coach Nick Sirianni said. “We’ll use it.” You use everything. It’s something that when we play a team we played the year before, we’ll use it as well. It’s from year to year. So of course we will use it. They’re going to use this. We understand that. It’s a very good team. Really well coached.
Even though it’s been months since they last faced the Packers, the Eagles are excited to dive into tape of the Week 1 game.
Because even if the two teams have changed, this cinematographic study will still be very beneficial.
“Of course,” Jordan Davis said. “You can take anything, depending on where the coordinator is from, like in 1970, if he’s still coaching. We know they tend to do a lot of things. There are a lot of things that we know they particularly like, you see where they want to go. That comes with the experience of the first time we played them.
“We’re grateful for that, but at the end of the day we know they’re going to break the trends and they’re going to try to do some things to destabilize us. We just have to make sure we play smart and also watch the film they had after the game. Because it was the first match. Everyone changes. It’s a different team we’re seeing. We just want to make sure we resolve this.
It’s not hard to see how much the Eagles have changed since Week 1. Even with that win against the Packers, they entered their Week 5 bye week with a shaky 2-2 record, but went 12-1 in the final 13 games of the season.
On offense, the Eagles relied heavily on their incredible rushing attack behind the best offensive line in football and a running back Saquon Barkley who ended up rushing for 2,000 yards. By the end of the season, the Eagles threw fewer passes and made more rushing attempts than any team in football.
“Very different,” Jurgens said. “It’s always difficult this first match. You don’t know what they’re going to come out with. I feel like halfway through the year we started to find a good racing identity. We’ve changed a bit in that regard.
On defense, the Eagles really figured things out under Vic Fangio and ended up with the top-ranked defense in the NFL this season. And they did it with a ton of young players.
How have the Eagles changed on defense?
“Maybe not schema-wise,” Baun said, “but personally we just feel more confident in our communication.”
During that Week 1 win in Brazil, Baun had his coming-out party. He had 15 tackles, 2 sacks, 1 TFL and 2 QB hits. It was the first game of a Pro Bowl season for Baun in his first year as the starting inside linebacker.
Baun believes this match was a stepping stone to his incredible season.
“It was definitely a good baseline,” Baun said. “That set the standard for my game for the rest of the season.”
In that Week 1 win, Saquon Barkley scored three total touchdowns, Jalen Hurts threw for 278 yards, AJ Brown had 119 receiving yards, Baun was a threat and Reed Blankenship called the game with a late interception .
But the Packers were no pushovers. Jordan Love threw for 260 yards, Jayden Reed had 138 receiving yards and a touchdown, Josh Jacobs ran for 84 yards and the Packers picked off Hurts twice.
“I’m expecting a tough game,” Davis said. “At the end of the day, it’s the playoffs. We know what it is. We’ve seen them before. They were a good team when we first played them. We need to make sure we’re on our Ps and Qs because this game was also close. But at the end of the day, it’s a playoff mindset. It’s a new season that starts next week. We just have to treat it as such.
Technically, the Eagles were the home team in Week 1, but it felt more like a neutral site game in Brazil with fans from both teams filling the stands. This will not be the case next weekend.
The Eagles know what to expect from the Linc.
“Quite rowdy. I imagine it’s pretty rowdy,” Grant Calcaterra said. “I’m excited about it.”
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