January 05, 2025
Tommy Gilligan/Imagn Images
Jeffrey Lurie picked up his 300th win as the Eagles' owner on Sunday against the Giants.
In Week 18, the Philadelphia Eagles' backups played a meaningless football game against the Giants' starters. The backups won, 20-13!
As always, win, lose, or tie, we hand out 10 awards.
Prior to the start of the game, the Eagles listed 11 inactives:
Other notable players who didn't play included Kenny Pickett, Cam Jurgens, Mekhi Becton, Nolan Smith, Josh Sweat, Quinyon Mitchell, Cooper DeJean, Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, and Reed Blankenship.
Barkley needed 101 rushing yards to pass Eric Dickerson for the all-time single-season rushing record, but the Eagles made the no-brainer decision to rest starters for a playoff run when they are legitimate Super Bowl contenders.
McKee started, and picked up where he left off last Sunday, completing 3 of 3 passes for 48 yards and a TD pass on the Eagles' first drive. At that point in the game, his career numbers were as follows: 6 of 7 for 102 yards, 3 TDs.
McKee cooled off a bit as the game progressed, but he did enough to pick up a win in his first career start, and in my opinion further solidified his argument to be the No. 2 quarterback in 2025. Time permitting, we'll have more on his performance this week.
MORE: McKee keeps Eagles' quarterback factory going in win over Giants
One starter who did play was Dallas Goedert, who was activated off of injured reserve and surprisingly played in the first quarter, making 4 catches for 55 yards. (He also had a drop that killed a promising drive.)
Nick Sirianni said postgame that he wanted to get Goedert some action after sitting out the last month.
Though injury-prone, Goedert is an efficient receiver when healthy, and will give the Eagles' passing game a good third option for their playoff run.
With A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith resting, Dotson finally got some targets! 🎉🥂🍾
He caught 7 passes on 11 targets for 94 yards.
Dotson will likely resume his cardio role next weekend.
With Goedert back, the only truly notable Eagles player on injured reserve is Brandon Graham. Their overall team health this late in the season is reminiscent of the 2022 team that had all of its starters available for the Super Bowl.
MORE: What we learned about the Eagles' backups Week 18
Elliott missed a 39-yard field goal. It was super windy, but that was still Elliott's eighth missed field goal of the season. The Eagles also allowed a fake punt conversion.
The Eagles' special teams have some letdown potential in the playoffs, much like in the Super Bowl against the Chiefs.
• Sydney Brown: Brown picked off Drew Lock to seal the game. He tore an ACL against the Giants in the final regular season game last season.
• Oren Burks: Burks had 17 tackles, and also filled in competently in place of Nakobe Dean Week 17 against the Cowboys.
• Jeremiah Trotter: 11 tackles, at the center of the action all day.
• Jordan Davis: 5 tackles, looked spry.
The Giants played their starters because they're a classy organization that would never tank. They got dominated by backups anyway.
Nick Sirianni said postgame that this win was Jeffrey Lurie's 300th with the Eagles since buying the team in 1994. The team has a 284-214-3 regular season record during Lurie's reign, plus 16 playoff wins, including the team's lone Super Bowl. He cares about winning and has built an organization that attempts to be at the forefront of analytical innovation.
The Eagles as an organization don't get everything right, but when contrasted against a team like the Giants, for example, the difference is often remarkable.
The Eagles' first opponent of the season was the Packers, in Brazil. With their loss to the Bears on Sunday, the Packers clinched the 7 seed and a trip to Philly Wild Card weekend.
Packers quarterback Jordan Love injured his elbow in their loss and did not return, but he should be good to go next weekend.
#Packers coach Matt LaFleur tells reporters that QB Jordan Love (right elbow) was held out as a precaution. He’ll be good to go against the #Eagles. He’s much more unsure about Christian Watson (knee).
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 5, 2025
It's go time.
MORE: Eagles will face Packers in Wild Card round of the playoffs
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