The pivotal plays from the Eagles' bizarre, frustrating win over the Packers

The Eagles' defense had to stand strong all game, because their offense forced them to.

By Nick Tricome
PhillyVoice Staff

Jeff Hanisch/Imagn Images

Dallas Goedert makes a big catch for what was a highly dormant Eagles offense until late.

The Eagles made it, as much they seemingly tried not to. 

It was ugly, once again, with Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley, and an offense that mostly struggled to move the ball getting paired with a baffling decision to go for it on fourth down with the lead and only seconds left while in Green Bay territory.

The defense, which stood tall all game behind the continually ascending Quinyon Mitchell and newcomer Jaelan Phillips, did everything it needed to do. 

Still, Monday night at Lambeau Field came down to a 64-yard field goal attempt that Brandon McManus had to shank as time expired.

The Eagles beat the Packers, 10-7. They're 7-2. It's hard to feel immediately happy about it with the way it ended. Here's the why and how...

Too tough to tell

The Packers did it first. With the night's first possession and facing a 4th and 1, Jordan Love and the Green Bay offense ran a QB sneak for the first down, but with arguable early movement on the left side of the line. 

The Eagles had their turn right after from taking the ball on a punt. With a 3rd and 1, Jalen Hurts and the Philly offense lined up for their patented "Tush Push"/"Brotherly Shove" and got the yardage they needed, but much like the Packers, while having also gotten away with a very arguable false start at the line. 

Hurts fumbled to end that possession, and the Eagles and Packers fell into a scoreless stalemate through the first half.

This scenario, though, you can almost feel how it'll feed into the larger "Tush Push" debate, and the claim that it's just too tough for the referees to officiate, thus furthering the drive to finally ban it. 

Nationally, it'll occupy sports talk again. Locally, Philly fans will be annoyed again. 

At the actual root of it: The refs are missing false starts right in front of them. It might not be the "Tush Push" that's the real problem here.

A loss they can't afford

Neither the Eagles nor the Packers were moving much of anywhere as defensive stop after defensive stop went on to define the first half. 

Once something notable did happen for the Eagles on offense though, it was for the worse. 

Late in the first half, Lane Johnson got his leg rolled up on in the pileup during a Saquon Barkley run, went down, and was slow to get back to his feet. 

The veteran right tackle got up after being tended to by team trainers, but limped off the field and into the medical tent, which was followed by a trip over to the tunnel and then, as the ESPN broadcast showed, a ride on the cart back to the locker room. 

Fred Johnson subbed in for Lane Johnson, the latter of which was ruled questionable to return with an ankle injury.

Lane Johnson came back out from halftime, still in uniform and with his helmet on, but stayed on the sideline until late in the fourth quarter, when the Eagles were barely ahead, 10-7.

Health was a big point of emphasis for the Birds coming back from the bye, but then quickly, they were hurt at a spot they could ill-afford to be.

Hold it right there

The Packers were given favorable field position late in the first half thanks to a shanked punt from Braden Mann – his second straight – and looked set to break the 0-0 tie with at least a field goal as they marched down to the Philadelphia 27 with just over 30 seconds left. 

But Jaelan Phillips, in his Eagles debut, seemed all over the field, and Nakobe Dean, on this drive especially, was making tackle after tackle to contain.

With the Packers knocking on the door, Dean came up with another to turn the tables.

Dean got into the backfield and wrapped up Jordan Love. Love, trying to get his arms free to get a desperation pass out, lost control of the ball in the process as it bounced loose for a fumble. 

Phillips fell on it to continue his energetic night, and the Eagles took the ball back to at least keep the game scoreless, which did after a few final attempts to push the ball forward didn't really go anywhere.

To the Eagles' benefit, though, the ball was coming back to them after halftime. 

First on the board

The Eagles came back from the intermission and looked to have their offense starting warm up a bit. 

Jalen Hurts hit Dallas Goedert over the middle for a 22-yard completion into Packers territory, and then Philly worked some medium yardage gains through another completion to Goedert, and runs by Barkley and Hurts.

They hit a wall once they were within the Green Bay red zone, but made it far enough for Jake Elliott to kick in a 39-yard field goal for the game's first lead, 3-0.

Draw a Blank

The Packers drove back into the fringes of Eagles territory, and now that they were down, were maybe getting a bit impatient. 

Quinyon Mitchell, who had already made a big third-down pass breakup right at the start, put enough of a blanket on Romeo Doubs to force another third-down incompletion for a 4th and 9. Love and the Packers' offense stayed out to go for it.

Love took the snap and fired left to Bo Melton, but the receiver bobbled the ball, and Reed Blankenship barreling down for contact ensured that it hit the ground to force the turnover on downs.

The Eagles' defense held strong again.

And they would continue to do so on in to the fourth quarter, when Mitchell broke up yet another pass over the middle to Doubs on 2nd and 11. 

The Eagles' pass rush forced Love out of the pocket and to throw it away on the ensuing third down, which kept the Packers' offense still stuck in the mud, too, and punting it back.

Wake up

Eventually, someone was going to have to find a break. Luckily for the Eagles, it was them – finally. 

It didn't look it at first, though. 

The touchback on the Green Bay punt initially appeared a disaster after the Packers got downfield to bat it out of the end zone, with an Eagle fielding it in a panic and getting brought down at the goal line. 

The refs gathered and did rule it a touchback, but then the Philadelphia offense went nowhere on the next two plays to be left with a third and long. 

Then Hurts took the snap, looked to see nothing downfield, and turned to his left to see Barkley all alone. 

Hurts got the pass to his running back, he went taking off for the first down marker, and then with Carrington Valentine standing in his way, Barkley spun right by him to keep running for a 41-yard gain.

The Eagles were in business. Valentine, of Dallas Goedert stiff arm fame, got left in the dust again.

And then Hurts launched a pass downfield for DeVonta Smith. He came down with it in the end zone for a 36-yard completion and a 10-0 Eagles lead.

The offense, dormant all game, was alive now.

Package deal

So were the Packers, though, with the benefit of a costly pass interference call charged to rookie Jihaad Campbell, which brought the Green Bay offense in close enough for Josh Jacobs to power through for a touchdown soon after.

The Packers drew it back to a three-point game, and a battle looking to come down to the wire.

What?

The Eagles' offense went back to not doing themselves any favors. 

A big 16-yard catch by Smith on third down moved the chains, and the Eagles chipped away to drain three-and-a-half minutes of clock to 2:25 left in regulation, but a delay of game on third down just inside of Green Bay territory sent the punt team out and left the defense in need of one more stop. 

They worked the Packers down to a likely do-or-die 4th and 1 with 1:30 left. 

Love handed it off to Jacobs, the running back peeled right, but had nowhere else to go but backwards, and ended up losing the ball. 

Phillips, the newcomer from Miami, made the tackle. Blankenship recovered the ball, and even though there was a flag, it was from an illegal formation by the Packers.

Hurts and the offense took over at the Green Bay 39. That should've been it. 

It wasn't. They went for a deep ball to A.J. Brown on fourth down that was broken up, which gave the Packers one more chance on a long 64-yard field goal shot. 

It took a woefully failed and highly anticlimactic kick from McManus to finally bring the game to a close and get the Eagles to a win. 

There were some odd decisions made at the end there.

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