They have the best chance of any underdog
Finally, the NFC is up. The Green Bay Packers are on the road to take on the Philadelphia Eagles.
The Packers are the enigma of the conference. They were swept by the Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions. Against the NFC West, the Packers won each game convincingly.
They’ve relied heavily on Josh Jacobs and for good measure. Matt LaFleur is one of the most innovative coaches in the NFL. Green Bay loves running mid and wide zone, and that’s an area the Eagles struggle to defend. I’d imagine LaFleur will use Jacobs early and often to stay in a positive game script.
But the Packers success on the ground has taken Jordan Love out of rhythm. And without Christian Watson, Love’s yards per attempt dips almost two yards. It’ll be interesting to see how LaFleur forces the Eagles to defend the entire field without his speedy deep threat.
Jalen Hurts plays his first meaningful game in nearly a month. It’s reasonable to expect him to be rusty in his first game back from a concussion. The problem for the Packers is they struggle to win as pass rushers 1-on-1.
Every quarterback is affected by pressure, but Hurts falls to a bottom-five-ish quarterback statistically when pressured. Green Bay has the resources to stop the Eagles ground game unlike most teams.
Post-bye, the Packers are fifth in rushing success rate allowed. They’re the best in the NFL at defending the run from heavy formations, so if I’m Philadelphia, I spread Green Bay out, force them to bring in more defensive backs, and force them to tackle Saquon Barkley.
This game could have a dozen different results, and neither would be surprising. I’ll take the better head coach against a rusty quarterback and count on the Packers from last year’s playoffs to show up. I’d expect Green Bay to give the Eagles more problems than whoever Philadelphia faces next week.