January 12, 2025
The Philadelphia Eagles closed the regular season with a 14-3 record and an NFC East title. They finished as the NFC's 2 seed, and are hosting the 7 seed Green Bay Packers in the Wild Card Round of the NFL playoffs.
In Week 18, the Eagles had the luxury of resting starters in a meaningless game, and should be fresh for their first playoff matchup. The Packers are also relatively healthy for this time of year, but they will be without their best cornerback, Jaire Alexander, and their most dangerous deep threat, Christian Watson. You can find the Eagles-Packers inactives report here.
As we noted in our Eagles-Packers preview when the Eagles have the ball, the Packers have a good run defense, so the Birds won't be able to solely rely on Saquon Barkley to win them this game. Jalen Hurts will have to prove that he isn't rusty, though he should have some favorable matchups with A.J. Brwon ad DeVonta Smith against the Packers' cornerbacks.
When the Packers have the ball, they love to run it early and often with Josh Jacobs. The Eagles will have to slow the Packers' run game, thus limiting the effectiveness of their big-play play-action game. They must also capitalize on Jordan Love's propensity for putting the ball in harm's way.
The Eagles are 5.5-point favorites heading into this matchup. Here are our staff writer picks.
Feel free to discuss the game in the comments section below.
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