This Sunday (27), on Sunday Night Football of week 12 of the NFL regular season, Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers faced off at Lincoln Financial Field, home of the Eagles. Packed with nine wins in the season and only one loss, the Philadelphia team, last week, won at the very end of the Indianapolis Colts and shot with the best record in the NFL. While the Packers have only won one of their last six games, they saw the Minnesota Vikings storm into the lead in the NFC North with a wide lead. In today’s match, the home team won by 40 to 33.
Pointed out by many as favorites to win this match, the Eagles consolidated this favoritism in the first offensive campaign, mainly due to the ground game, where the runs by Jalen Hurts and Kenneth Gainwell helped to put the home team in the endzone, with the four-yard run by their own Gainwell to score the first points of the match, 7 to 0 Eagles. In the following campaign and the first of the Packers of the game, the situation improved even more for the Philadelphia team, with Aaron Rodgers being intercepted at the 30-yard line of the defensive field by Isiah Scott. Taking advantage of the turnover, Miles Sanders ran 15 yards down the left side of the field and entered the end zone, extending the home team’s lead to 13-0.
Still without demonstrating its offensive power in the match, the Packers’ attack woke up in the middle of the first quarter. Mainly, with running backs Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon moving the chains and entering the end zone with Dillon’s 20-yard run, cutting the Eagles’ lead by 13 to 7. Seizing the touchdown, Green Bay’s defense gained a new morale in the game and stopped the home team on a fourth down, implying a turnover on downs in the defensive field. Short fielded on offense, Rodgers capitalized on the takeaway with an 11-yard touchdown pass to Randall Cobb, putting the Packers ahead 14-13.
However, this advantage was short-lived and the Eagles’ ground game again hurt Green Bay’s defense, when Miles Sanders ran two yards and entered the endzone, turning the game over for the Eagles, 20 to 14.
At the beginning of the second quarter, the turnovers were remarkable in the continuation of the game. First, it was Rodgers’ second interception of the game in the offensive field and in the following campaign, AJ Brown suffered the fumble in the redzone, recovered and returned by Quay Walker to the 13-yard line of the Packers’ offensive field. Taking advantage of the turnovers, Rodgers got out of the pocket and hit a beautiful 23-yard pass for Aaron Jones to jump and receive in the endzone, 20-20 after Mason Crosby missed the extra point.
Still at the very end of the first half, with 2 min and 16 seconds to end the second quarter, Hurts still had time to conduct an offensive campaign, which ended with the reception of 30 yards for Queez Watkins to put the Eagles once again in front of the scoreboard , 27 to 20.
Unlike the first half, the third quarter was not full of scores. But one thing maintained its constancy, Hurts’ connection to AJ Brown and that’s exactly how the only touchdown of this quarter came out, with a six-yard aerial connection to Brown in the endzone, 34 to 20. In the remainder of this period, the two teams orchestrated long campaigns of more than five minutes, but only managed to capitalize on field goals. For Green Bay, Crosby connected for 29 yards and the Eagles’ Elliot converted for 31 yards. Ending the third quarter at 37 to 23 for Philadelphia.
Starting the fourth quarter, Aaron Rodgers was injured with a right thumb injury and Jordan Love, backup quarterback, had to take over the starting passer position. Even though he was a reserve for Rodgers the entire season, Love in his first campaign, managed to put the Packers in the game with a pass to Christian Watson to gain 63 yards and enter the endzone, 37 to 30. Even with the opposing score, Jake Elliot, in the campaign next, he cemented the Eagles’ triumph with a 54-yard field goal, 40-30.
The Packers even managed to reduce the score to one possession, with Crosby’s kick from 33 yards, 40 to 33, but it was not enough to hinder the Eagles to reach their tenth victory of the season. The Packers, on the other hand, are down to their eighth loss of the season and are moving further away from the playoff race.
