Adrian Fedkiw
The Green Bay Packers showed signs of life Monday night while the Philadelphia Eagles appear to be on life support.
Aaron Rodgers threw for 313 yards and two touchdowns and the Packers beat the Eagles 27-13 at Lincoln Financial Field.
Philadelphia’s defense had no answer for Rodgers and the Packers’ offensive attack on third down. They converted 10-of-14 attempts. The Eagles also couldn’t generate much pressure against Rodgers. The defense had posted 3.5 sacks and 9.5 points allowed per game in their four home games coming in, but they didn’t sack Rodgers once. Not only does he have the quickest release in the NFL, he was getting the ball out lightning fast last night, he was also eluding pressure in the pocket and escaping it effortlessly when it actually did come.
Here’s the problem, when the front seven can’t get consistent heat on the quarterback, the lowly cornerback trio of Leodis McKelvin, Nolan Carroll and Jalen Mills get exposed.
The way to beat the Packers is to keep Rodgers off the field, but Green Bay held the ball for 35-plus minutes and four of its eight drives went for 10-plus plays. And you can basically take two of those series away because one was a kneeldown right before the half and the other came in the victory formation at the end of the game.
The storyline coming in was if Nelson Agholor would play and he wound up being inactive. But his replacements, Paul Turner and Bryce Treggs, combined for one catch and that was an 11-yard reception by Treggs. My hopes for the undrafted rookies weren’t as high as many others coming into this game. These guys weren’t picked in the NFL Draft for a reason. Grant it, Turner’s opportunities were limited, but I expected it considering he and Carson Wentz haven’t had a lot of practice time together. Treggs on the other hand is a one-trick pony, he runs fast and goes deep.
Eagles head coach Doug Pederson has a lot of questions to answer, his play-calling was horrendous.
Dorial Green-Beckham caught four passes for 50 yards on the opening drive, yet wasn’t targeted much after that. Sure, Packers defensive coordinator Dom Capers made adjustments, but to basically stay away from him after that was mind-boggling. We also didn’t see as much of the two-to-three tight end sets as recent weeks, which is another head-scratcher because the trio of Zach Ertz, Trey Burton and Brent Celek are the strength of the team offensively. And how about that awful 36 to 18 pass-to-run ratio? The Eagles ran for over 200 yards against the Atlanta Falcons two weeks ago and put up 4.35 yards per carry against the Seattle Seahawks, one of the best run defenses in the NFL, last week. Yes, the Eagles were shorthanded along the offensive line with Halapoulivaati Vaitai’s injury at right tackle and Brandon Brooks’ stint in the hospital put even more of a damper on things, but for Wendell Smallwood to only get nine carries is ridiculous. Running the football and draining clock is a perfect way to keep Rodgers off the field, Pederson elected to stray away from it despite the success of it the last two weeks.
Carson Wentz was 24-of-36, but threw a costly interception on this overthrow to Ertz along the left seam.
Carson Wentz throws an interception which stops an #Eagles drive which was building momentum. https://t.co/uaPk2aeWhf
— Philly Influencer (@PHL_Influencer) November 29, 2016
Besides that pick, the rookie was fine and ran a lot more than his previous games. He took off four times for 33 yards and scored a touchdown on Philadelphia’s opening possession, answering Green Bay’s touchdown on the first drive of the game.
#Eagles tie it up as Carson Wentz does it himself with the dive at the goal line. 7-7. #PHIvsGB #FlyEaglesFly https://t.co/3APv9SOsNg
— Philly Influencer (@PHL_Influencer) November 29, 2016
Rodgers flipped a 12-yard score to Davante Adams for Green Bay’s 7-0 start. Adams finished with 113 yards and two touchdowns on five receptions.
#Packers cap off the opening drive of the game with a touchdown. Green Bay leads 7-0. #Eagles #PHIvsGB https://t.co/msWqchTKXe
— Philly Influencer (@PHL_Influencer) November 29, 2016
The Packers went back ahead on their first play of the second quarter when Rodgers tossed a beautiful pass to Adams in the back right corner of the end zone, making it 14-7.
A great catch, but an even better throw from Aaron Rodgers puts the Packers back up 14-7. #PHIvsGB https://t.co/YX7TLVgHDp
— Philly Influencer (@PHL_Influencer) November 29, 2016
Caleb Sturgis split the uprights from 48 yards out right before the break to pull the Eagles within 14-10.
Caleb Sturgis connects on a 48-yarder to make it 14-10 at the half. https://t.co/d0PKMnYsLO
— Philly Influencer (@PHL_Influencer) November 29, 2016
Mason Crosby and Sturgis traded field goals in the third quarter before Aaron Ripkowski’s 1-yard TD plunge early in the fourth gave Green Bay its first double-digit margin at 24-13. The Packers then ran 17 plays and took 8:21 off the clock on their next series before Crosby’s 32-yarder capped the scoring. Green Bay began that drive with 10:18 to go in the game.