Dallas Goedert threw a stiff arm at a Packers defender, followed by another hit, and then delivered one final blow to the face before charging toward the end zone.
Goedert wasn’t going to be stopped — and neither were the Philadelphia Eagles in a game where they welcomed back Jalen Hurts and defeated Green Bay.
Hurts threw two touchdown passes in his first game back after a late-season concussion. Goedert broke three tackles on a tough touchdown catch, and the Eagles relied on their top-ranked defense to secure a 22-10 wild-card playoff win on Sunday night.
Hurts passed for 131 yards, but he played confidently after a three-week break due to his concussion in December. He began the game strong with six straight completions and helped the Eagles hold off the Packers with a 24-yard touchdown pass to Goedert in the third quarter. That play will be remembered in the franchise’s playoff history as Goedert powered through Carrington Valentine on his way to the score.
“That was a really fun play. It might be my favorite touchdown of my career,” Goedert said. “I had one guy to beat and I was able to do that. I’m not ready to go home, and I was going to do whatever it took to help the team get the ‘W.’”
Philadelphia’s defense took care of the rest.
The Eagles recovered a fumble on the opening kickoff, leading to Hurts’ first touchdown pass just three plays later. The defense intercepted Jordan Love twice in the first half. Holding a 19-10 lead in the fourth quarter, the Eagles forced a turnover on downs when Green Bay faced a fourth-and-3 on its own 41-yard line with five minutes remaining.
Quinyon Mitchell sealed the win with one last interception of Love at 1:51 left in the game. The NFC East champions will host a divisional round game next Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field against the winner of Monday night’s wild-card game between Minnesota and the Los Angeles Rams in Arizona.
Hurts said the Eagles need to “find our rhythm earlier in the game.”
“I think it’s been an odd year in a sense of how choppy it’s been, and obviously me kind of being on leave the last couple weeks or so,” Hurts said. “Being back and just getting into that rhythm and leaving it all out there right now, that’s what it’s about.”
Barkley, who led the NFL in rushing with 2,005 yards, had 119 yards in his Eagles postseason debut.
“A year ago, I put out a tweet when I was on my couch watching playoff football that I gotta find a way to get back in it,” said Barkley, who spent his first six NFL seasons with the New York Giants. “So I’m just happy to be here. And shoutout to my teammates and, most importantly, we move on. And we get another home game, so that’s good.”
The Eagles even had time for some light reading as wide receiver A.J. Brown flipped through the pages of “Inner Excellence” by Jim Murphy while sitting on the bench. Brown had one catch for 10 yards.
Love threw for 212 yards but was intercepted three times and sacked twice while playing with a sore right elbow, which he injured in the regular-season finale against Chicago.
“That was their goal to take away the run, and they did a good job of that,” Love said. “It just comes down to executing and making plays out there, and it just wasn’t good enough.”
Josh Jacobs ran for 81 yards and a touchdown — and delivered a tough blow to Green Bay’s defense with a 31-yard run in the third quarter. He broke one tackle, had his jersey stretched by another defender, and dragged two more Eagles to the 1-yard line. Jacobs scored on the next play to make it 16-10.
Aided by an unnecessary roughness penalty on Green Bay, Hurts moved the Eagles close enough for Jake Elliott to kick a 30-yard field goal for a 19-10 lead. Elliott needed the short kick for a confidence boost after he missed an extra point on Goedert’s touchdown.
Elliott, who struggled with long kicks this season, added a 32-yard field goal in the fourth quarter and a 31-yarder in the first quarter.
The Eagles had Lincoln Financial Field rocking, from the moment the public address announcer welcomed Hurts back to the lineup to the recovered fumble moments later.
Green Bay’s Keisean Nixon fumbled the ball after being hit by Oren Burks, and Jeremiah Trotter Jr. recovered at the Packers’ 28-yard line. Hurts quickly connected with Jahan Dotson for an 11-yard touchdown.
Darius Slay made a spectacular interception, and All-Pro linebacker Zack Baun added another for Philadelphia. The Eagles didn’t score off those picks, but they kept the Packers from scoring.
“They got good players,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said of the Eagles’ defense. “Even when we were running the quick game, they were triggering and coming downhill and smacking us in the back too many times. They played better than us, bottom line.”
Brandon McManus, who missed a 38-yard attempt earlier, hit one from 26 yards to make it 10-3 in the third quarter.
Hurts silenced any concerns about his health by completing his first six passes for 39 yards, including the touchdown to Dotson. However, he missed his next seven passes heading into halftime. He didn’t complete another pass until late in the third quarter but finished strong, completing seven of his final eight passes, including the touchdown to Goedert.
“I don’t think we had the game we wanted to have on offense,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said. “Jalen did a lot of good things. Jalen is a winner. He wins. No one can argue that.”
Certainly not in Philadelphia on Sunday night.
