With offense sputtering, Eagles’ defense dismantles Packers

https://sports.yahoo.com/offense-sputtering-eagles-defense-dismantles-151256431.html

With offense sputtering, Eagles’ defense dismantles Packers originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The numbers during the regular season said the Eagles had the best defense in football.

On Sunday, they went out and proved it.

On a day when the offense scuffled most of the game, Vic Fangio’s defense carried the Eagles to a 22-10 win over the Packers in a wild-card round playoff game at the Linc.

“I think Coach Vic, I don’t know what he sees, but that man is a mastermind,” Nolan Smith said.

The Packers have played 65 postseason games in their illustrious history, and this is only the sixth time they’ve been held to 10 or fewer points.

This was a demolition.

The Packers turned the ball over four times (three by the offense), never got their vaunted running game in gear, couldn’t get anything going down the field in the passing game, managed just one touchdown on three red-zone trips and just had no chance against the NFL’s youngest defense.

Jalen Hurts was rusty in his first full game in a month, and the offense had a rough time getting going. And this is what a great defense does. Picks up the offense when it’s struggling.

“Of course,” Darius Slay said. “That’s what we’re here for. Like, there’s been times he’s picked us up before. So that’s what a team is. He’s been a guy that’s just been out for (three) weeks, trying to get his stuff together. And look, I know everybody’s probably thinking (it wasn’t) pretty, but it was pretty enough for us to get a dub.”

The Eagles had just two interceptions in their last nine playoff games, but Zack Baun, Quinyon Mitchell and Slay had interceptions Sunday against a quarterback who had thrown 173 consecutive passes without an INT coming into the game.

This was the first time the Eagles have had three INTs in a playoff game since the 2001 conference semifinal win over the Bears at Soldier Field, when Damon Moore picked off Jim Miller and Carlos Emmons and Rashard Cook picked off Shane Matthews after Hugh Douglas knocked Miller out of the game during Moore’s INT return.

The key to everything the Packers do on offense is Josh Jacobs, one of the NFL’s best running backs, but other than his tackle-breaking 31-yard run in the third quarter that set up the Packers’ only touchdown, the Eagles kept him bottled up. That was his only run over seven yards.

“We didn’t have a whole lot of luck running the ball consistently,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said. “Josh competed his butt off. I thought we were competing. It’s just we weren’t as productive as we’d like to be. Then the pass game was just pretty much a struggle all night.”

Thank the Eagles for that.

They hounded Jordan Love all night, pressuring him into misfires and mistakes. His 41.5 passer rating was 2nd-lowest of his career and 2nd-lowest ever by a Packers quarterback in the postseason (Mark Brunell had a 39.6 in Dallas in 1994).

Smith became only the sixth Eagle with a two-sack game in the postseason, joining Carl Hairston, Hugh Douglas, Darwin Walker, Derrick Burgess and Haason Reddick. He’s now got 8 ½ sacks in 14 games since the bye.

Losing Nakobe Dean to a knee injury was a huge bummer for the defense and the entire team. He’s played so well this year and was having his usual monster game when he got hurt Sunday.

But overall it was a fabulous day for Fangio and his group, who held a team averaging 27 points per game to just 10.

“I thought we were very physical,” Nick Sirianni said. “I think we had some tackles that we missed that we’re going to want back. It wasn’t a perfect game for us. … But it’s going to be about how you play the next play. How do you go on and move on from that?”

Tough day for the offense, which managed one first down from late in the first quarter until late in the third quarter.

But when the defense plays like this? It doesn’t matter.

“First and foremost, our defense played their tails off,” Jalen Hurts said. “They played their tails off and created turnovers. Ultimately, when you have those opportunities, you have to take advantage of them, and that starts with me.”

This was the Eagles’ first home wild-card win since the Jeff Garcia game vs. the Giants in 2006. They’ll face the winner of the Vikings-Rams game Sunday at the Linc, where they’re now 9-4 all-time in the postseason, allowing more than 17 points just twice.

“This group has been amazing,” said Slay, whose INT was his first this year and his first ever in the postseason. “I just love going to attack in the field with them. So to go ahead and advance to the next week for the playoffs, it’s a blessing.”

https://sports.yahoo.com/offense-sputtering-eagles-defense-dismantles-151256431.html