Brandon McManus’ 64-yard game-tying field goal attempt sailed wide left as the Philadelphia Eagles knocked the Green Bay Packers to the seven seed in the NFC playoff picture in a 10-7 finish Nov. 10 in Green Bay.
The Packers loss to the Eagles in an ugly Monday night game drops the team out of first place in the NFC North and places Philadelphia firmly as the top seed in the NFC playoff picture.
While losing its second game in a row at home is not the ideal path, something more concerning is the play of the offense for the Packers. In the game, the Packers totaled just 261 yards.
Quarterback Jordan Love completed 20-of-36 passing for 176 yards and had his second straight game without throwing a touchdown. Without Tucker Kraft in the game, it was Christian Watson who led the Packers in receiving yards, catching two passes for 45 yards. Dontayvion Wicks added 33 yards on four receptions, while Josh Jacobs led the team in receptions with five for 33 yards.
Jacobs also led the team in rushing, taking 21 carries for 74 yards and one touchdown.
“We wanted to try to establish the run game and try to build off of that, and I thought there were some moments where we did a decent job, but ultimately it wasn’t enough,” said coach Matt LaFleur, on his offensive game plan against Philadelphia. “It seemed to me that when we got into some of those critical moments, it wasn’t necessarily first and second down. It was more the money downs, like third down and fourth down, where we just malfunctioned.”
On the night, the Packers converted just five of 13 attempts on third down and one of three attempts on fourth down.
Green Bay’s defense once came to play in this game, as the Packers held the Eagles’ potent offensive attack to just 10 points on 294 total yards.
“We stepped up. We hopped back into our adjustments, and this was a better offensive line than last week, and we made our adjustments and said we aren’t going to lose that way again, and I think that was an important adjustment,” said Packers linebacker Micah Parsons, on Green Bay’s run defense against Philadelphia. “So I am happy we got better in that aspect, which helped with the score.”
The Packers have held four teams to fewer than 17 points this season. Green Bay is 1-3 in those games.
Jalen Hurts finished the game completing 15-of-26 passes for 183 yards and one touchdown.
DeVonta Smith was the leading receiver for the Eagles, catching four balls for 69 yards and the touchdown. Dallas Goedert added 43 yards on four receptions, while A.J. Brown was held to just 13 yards on two receptions.
In the run game, the Packers contained Saquon Barkley, who finished last season with 2,005 rushing yards, to just 60 yards on 22 carries. The Eagles as a team totaled just 111 yards on the ground, a far cry from a combined 313 rushing yards the Eagles had in two games against the Packers last season.
After a scoreless first half, the Eagles opened the scoring in the third quarter by way of a Jake Elliott 39-yard field goal.
On Green Bay’s ensuing drive, the Packers marched down to the Eagles’ 41-yard line facing a fourth-and-9. Given the inconsistency and injury to McManus, Green elected to try and convert the fourth down. Love’s pass to Bo Melton was dropped, and the Packers turned the ball over on downs.
After the teams traded punts on the next two drives, Philadelphia put the ball into the end zone for the first time. Starting at its own 20-yard line, Philadelphia rode the back of Barkley — including a 41-yard catch-and-run from Barkley to work down to the Packers’ 36-yard line. That’s when Hurts connected with Smith on a leaping 36-yard touchdown to go up 10-0.
Green Bay immediately responded with a touchdown drive of its own. Starting at its own 25-yard line, the Packers worked down to the Eagles’ 6-yard line — thanks, in part, to a 10-yard reception from Melton, a 10-yard reception from Wicks and a pass interference penalty. The drive capped off with Jacobs plunging in a 6-yard touchdown run.
From there, Green Bay forced Philadelphia to punt, getting the ball back at its own 10-yard line with 2:18 left in the game. On the back of a 25-yard completion to Watson, Green Bay worked down to a fourth-and-1 from its own 44-yard line with 1:30 remaining. On the ensuing play, Green Bay elected to run a dive out of shotgun, which got bottled up, causing Jacobs to fumble and forcing the Packers to turn the ball over on downs.
“I thought fourth-and-half yard — or whatever it was, fourth-and-a yard — you have to be able to convert in those situations, and we did earlier in the game and just didn’t get it done,” said LaFleur. “That is extremely disappointing.”
Green Bay got the ball back with 27 seconds left in the game after forcing the Eagles to turn the ball over on downs. They worked down to the Philadelphia 46-yard line, thanks to an 18-yard reception from Melton. That’s when they opted for McManus to attempt the game-winning kick, which sailed left.
Green Bay now sits at 5-3-1 on the season, good for third in the NFC North.
The Packers get a chance to rebound next week as the team travels to New York to take on the 2-8 New York Giants, who fired head coach Brian Daboll earlier this week.
