January 09, 2025
It's go time. The Philadelphia Eagles are in the playoffs, and their opponent, the Green Bay Packers, were also their Week 1 opponent. Our five things to watch, when the Packers have the ball.
Five things to watch when the Eagles have the ball
Jordan Love is the face of the Packers' franchise these days. As such, it feels like the perception of this team is that they love to throw the ball all over the field. Do I have that right?
Anyway, that's not really true. First and foremost, the Packers want to run the football. In fact, they were the third-most run heavy team in the NFL this season, in terms of run-pass ratio:
| Team | Run:pass ratio |
| Eagles | 55.8% run |
| Ravens | 52.5% run |
| Packers | 51.2% run |
| Steelers | 49.3%run |
| Bills | 47.9% run |
The Packers employ Josh Jacobs, who led the NFL with 1653 rushing yards in 2022, when he played for the Raiders. He had a heavy workload, with 340 carries and 37 receptions (377 touches) that season. He sputtered in 2023, when he rushed 233 times for 805 yards (3.5 yards per carry).
Jacobs signed with the Packers this offseason, and he has had an impact on their offense, finishing sixth in the NFL in rushing. The NFL's 1000-yard rushers in 2024:
| Player | Rush | Yards | YPC | TD |
| Saquon Barkley, Eagles | 345 | 2005 | 5.8 | 13 |
| Derrick Henry, Ravens | 325 | 1921 | 5.9 | 16 |
| Bijan Robinson, Falcons | 304 | 1456 | 4.8 | 14 |
| Jonathan Taylor, Colts | 303 | 1431 | 4.7 | 11 |
| Jahmyr Gibbs, Lions | 250 | 1412 | 5.6 | 16 |
| Josh Jacobs, Packers | 301 | 1329 | 4.4 | 15 |
| Kyren Williams, Rams | 316 | 1299 | 4.1 | 14 |
| Chuba Hubbard, Panthers | 250 | 1195 | 4.8 | 10 |
| Aaron Jones, Vikings | 255 | 1138 | 4.4 | 5 |
| Bucky Irving, Buccaneers | 207 | 1122 | 5.4 | 8 |
| James Conner, Cardinals | 236 | 1094 | 4.6 | 8 |
| Rico Dowdle, Cowboys | 235 | 1079 | 4.6 | 2 |
| Tony Pollard, Titans | 260 | 1079 | 4.2 | 5 |
| Najee Harris, Steelers | 263 | 1043 | 4.0 | 6 |
| Joe Mixon, Texans | 245 | 1016 | 4.1 | 11 |
| James Cook, Bills | 207 | 1009 | 4.9 | 16 |
From the above list, the Eagles faced Derrick Henry, Bijan Robinson, Kyren Williams, Chuba Hubbard, Bucky Irving, Rico Dowdle, Najee Harris, and, or course, Jacobs himself this season. So, you know, they've faced a bunch of good backs this year.
Jacobs is a powerful, patient runner with good vision, but he is not as explosive as guys like Barkley or Henry. Jacobs averaged a pedestrian 4.4 yards per carry, and he had 7 rushes of 20+ yards, tying him for 12th in the NFL along with Jalen Hurts and Jayden Daniels. He's not going to backwards hurdle guys, but he breaks tackles and will usually fall forward.
Jacobs had a good game against the Eagles Week 1, rushing 16 times for 84 yards. The Eagles will be tasked with stopping Jacobs on early downs, and in short yardage situations.
The Packers had 59 pass plays of 20+ yards, which was fourth-best in the NFL. Here's who made those plays for the Packers:
| Player | 20+ yard receptions |
| Jayden Reed | 15 |
| Christian Watson | 12 |
| Tucker Kraft | 11 |
| Romeo Doubs | 8 |
| Josh Jacobs | 5 |
| Dontayvion Wicks | 4 |
| 4 players | 1 each |
The Eagles allowed 35 pass plays of 20+ yards, fewest in the NFL.
The Packers got a couple of big plays from Jayden Reed Week 1 against the Eagles. Jordan Love connected with him on a 70-yard TD catch-and-run on a coverage bust.
That's a great step up and throw by Love, by the way.
Reed also ran through the Eagles' defense on a jet sweep:
The Packers don't have a star receiver, but they have a lot of guys who can make plays. Their receiving leaders:
| Player | Rec | Yards | YPC | TD |
| Jayden Reed | 55 | 857 | 15.6 | 6 |
| Christian Watson | 29 | 620 | 21.4 | 2 |
| Romeo Doubs | 46 | 601 | 13.1 | 4 |
| Dontayvion Wicks | 39 | 415 | 10.6 | 5 |
| Josh Jacobs | 36 | 342 | 9.5 | 1 |
Note the high yards per reception by Reed and especially Watson.
Unfortunately for the Packers, Watson tore an ACL last week against the Bears, and his season is over. Watson's absence should limit the Packers' big-play ability to some degree.
Jordan Love is a very talented quarterback and he's going to be a starter in the NFL for a long time. But in addition to the impressive plays that he makes, he also makes a lot of dumb throws. For example, this is how the Packers' season ended last year in San Francisco:
In Week 1, Love threw what should have been a gift pick-six to Nakobe Dean, but Dean dropped it.
Count on Love to make a big mistake or two in this matchup. And if he does, the Eagles cannot waste those opportunities.
| LT | LG | C | RG | RT |
| Rasheed Walker | Elgton Jenkins | Josh Myers | Sean Rhyan | Zach Tom |
"They have got a really good line," Vic Fangio said on Tuesday. "I think their five offensive linemen have been in there for every play."
#FeastinMeter™️: Six turkey legs. 🍗🍗🍗🍗🍗🍗
Nixon is a two-time First-Team All-Pro kick return (2022 and 2023) who also led the NFL in return yards those two seasons. He had a big game against the Eagles in 2022, with kick returns of 38, 52, and 53 yards. Note that these kicks are five yards deep into the end zone.
"Elite speed, great vision," Michael Clay said of Nixon. "He's a little bit similar to Turpin. If you look at his kickoff returns, he kind of lulls you to sleep in that first 10 to 12 yards. It looks like he's kind of jogging and then he hits that burst. So, for us, we have to really minimize the space he has in the running lanes, get off blocks. Great block destruction and come to the party right there, like we did on the one with Turpin that he got tackled at the 26. You know, being able to eliminate those big spaces right there.
"But he is a fantastic kickoff return guy. I think he's a two-time All-Pro kickoff returner. But he lulls you to sleep and he has that burst, and if you get out-leveraged, we tell the guys, ‘If you're head up, you're pretty much out of position.’ So, we don't want to get head up. We want to keep this leveraged out and get off blocks and make a secure tackle with him."
The Eagles' kick coverage units have been shaky at times this season, and they helped contribute to their loss to the Commanders. Probably best if Jake Elliott or Braden Mann (likely Elliott) are are able to produce touchbacks.
MORE: What's the Eagles' best path to the Super Bowl?
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