The Green Bay Packers do not hold the Philadelphia Eagles in their hearts and the situation is not about to change.
In a defensive clash that was strange to say the least in its late development, the Eagles signed a fourth consecutive victory over their opponents in the North division of the National with a 10-7 win on Monday evening.
The Eagles eliminated the Packers during the last playoff run. During the off-season, a wave of protest arose to ban the play nicknamed “tush push” (fraternal push) which allows the Eagles to often obtain the missing yard on a down, and the Packers returned to discussions among teams wishing to see this play banned.
Finally, the fraternal push went to the vote and was not excluded from the game book. It stood to reason that the first such opportunity in Monday’s game at Lambeau Field would result in controversy.
In the first quarter, the Eagles positioned themselves in this formation and they got the missing yard for the first down. On the restarts, however, we noticed that several linemen left too early, but the officials did not notice anything. Obviously, frustration was present in the Packers camp.
Nothing to diminish it, at the start of the second quarter, Jordan Love attempted the quarterback sneak, but this time, the officials awarded a penalty to the Packers which prevented them from continuing this streak.
Frustration could also stem from the fact that neither team scored a point in the first half.
After an Eagles field goal in the third quarter, Philly’s offense came back in the fourth.
Jalen Hurts handed it to Saquon Barkley and the latter made a nice move in front of a defensive player by pivoting and then running 41 yards. On the next play, Hurts continued this flight to join DeVonta Smith in the end zone and the receiver completed the beautiful catch by jumping for a major on a 36-yard play. The Eagles took control 10-0.
This middle finger seemed to whip the Packers offense who responded when he returned to the field. Josh Jacobs brought his team within just three points when he crossed into the end zone after a 6-yard run. He thus ended an offensive sequence of 11 plays and 75 yards crossed in 4 minutes and 46 seconds with a touchdown.
The Eagles offensive unit was not able to get enough time on the clock afterward. Instead of running, the Eagles tried to be aggressive, but two incomplete passes allowed the Packers to regain possession with more than two minutes left and two timeouts on their clock.
Love was able to advance the chains on a third try thanks to a precise 25-yard pass to Christian Watson.
The Packers then had to rush their play to convert a fourth down and a yard, but Philly’s defense stood up. Arriving following a trade with the Miami Dolphins before the deadline this week, Jaelan Phillips joined forces with Reed Blankenship to lose the ball to Josh Jacobs and give it back to the Eagles.
Philly was unable to run out the seconds on the clock and Nick Sirianni played boldly by keeping the offense on the field for a fourth down and more than five yards to go into Packers territory. Limited to 13 yards on two catches upon his return to the game, AJ Brown was the target on a long pass from Hurts, but without success.
The Packers had a final chance to tie the score at the end of the game with a 64-yard field goal attempt, but Brandon McManus missed.
It’s another low-scoring loss for the Packers after losing 16-13 to the Carolina Panthers in their last meeting.
“I’ve said it before, if you limit good teams to just 10 points, you should win the game in my opinion. We didn’t do enough offensively,” said Packers head coach Matt LaFleur after the defeat.
Love finished the game with 176 yards and completed only 20 of 36 passes. It wasn’t much better for Hurts with 183 yards to his name.
The most productive offensive player was Josh Jacobs with 107 yards, including 74 on the ground. Barkley, for his part, obtained 60 yards on 22 carries and 41 yards per reception.
The Eagles (7-2) will face the Detroit Lions this Sunday while the Packers (5-3-1) have a meeting with the New York Giants.
