PHILADEPHI, PA (WTAQ) – On a night where Aaron Rodgers had to exit the game in the third quarter with a painful rib injury, the Green Bay Packers have all but exited the 2022 playoff race as the Philadelphia Eagles overpowered the Pack 40-33 at Lincoln Financial Field before 68,879 fans and a national Football Night in America television audience. The loss drops the Packers to 4-8 with five games remaining and the bigger question might be how many of those games will Rodgers play? Already dealing with a fractured thumb, Rodgers took a couple of hits in the first half that left him in serious pain, with trouble breathing and rotating his upper body to make throws. It was reported as an oblique injury but afterwards, Rodgers said it was his ribs. A scan at the stadium was inconclusive and another exam will take place in Green Bay on Monday. After playing two series into the third quarter, Rodgers jogged into the locker room and would not return. He finished throwing a pair of touchdown passes along with two interceptions, giving way to Jordan Love who connected with Christian Watson on a 63 yard touchdown catch and run that brought Green Bay to within 37-30 with nine minutes remaining. Both teams added field goals down the stretch and when Philadelphia recovered an onside kick with just over a minute to play, they were able to run out the clock.
The Eagles also ran all over the Green Bay defense to the tune of an embarrassing 363 yards, and even 300 from quarterback Jalen Hurts and running back Miles Sanders. Hurts set an Eagles franchise record with 157 yards on 17 carries, he gained 100 yards on the ground before the first quarter was over. Sanders added 143 with a pair of touchdowns. The team averaged 7.4 yards on their whopping 49 rush attempts, matching the total number of offensive snaps for Green Bay. It was the first time since 1978 that a Green Bay defense gave up more than 100 rushing yards from two players. Tony Dorsett and Robert Newhouse were the last to accomplish the feat in a 42-14 romp at Milwaukee County Stadium.
Hurts set the tone immediately by converting a pair of third downs on the opening series with scampers of 24 and 28 yards to set up a four yard touchdown run from Kenneth Gainwell.
On Rodgers second pass attempt for Allen Lazard, Darius Slay deflected the ball high into the air and it was pulled down by Josiah Scott at the Packer 29. Three plays later, Sanders broke a pair of tackles off left guard for a 15 yard scoring run and a 13-0 lead just six minutes into the game. Jake Elliott’s extra point was pushed wide right.
Keisean Nixon, who muffed the first kickoff and gained only 11 yards, made amends by taking the next one back for 38 yards. Rodgers connected with Aaron Jones on a screen pass for 30 and then A.J. Dillon found a big hole and powered his way to a 20 yard touchdown run to get Green Bay on the board with 6:40 left in the opening period.
A gamble by Eagles Head Coach Nick Sirianni backfired when he went for it on 4th and 1 at his own 37 but Jason Kelce’s snap never got into the hands of Hurts and while the fumble was recovered by Sanders, the Packers stopped the play. Five plays later, Rodgers threw a perfect ball to Randall Cobb who beat Scott for an 11 yard touchdown and Green Bay had it’s only lead of the night at 14-13.
Hurts would strike again, breaking free from the pocket with a wide open field down the right sideline for a 42 yard gain, giving him 102 yards on just 6 carries in the opening quarter and on the first snap of the second, Sanders plowed in from the 2 to put Philly back in front 20-14.
Green Bay got a couple of strong runs from A.J. Dillon and a 17 yard catch from Robert Tonyan to reach the Philadelphia 28 when Rodgers got picked off for the second time, his 9th interception of the year. Trying to hit Tyler Davis on a crossing route, backup safety Reed Blankenship, playing for NFL interception leader C.J. Gardner-Johnson who left earlier with a shoulder injury, jumped the route at the 18.
The Packer defense got the ball right back when Rudy Ford stripped Quez Watkins after a short catch and Quay Walker picked up the loose ball with open field in front of him. He was able to return the fumble 63 yards to the Philly 13. After an Aaron Jones 13 yard touchdown run came off the board on a questionable Elgton Jenkins holding call, Rodgers and Jones still connected on a 23 yard touchdown pass. Mason Crosby however, pushed his extra point wide right keeping the game tied at 20.
After the only three and out from the defense forced a punt, Rodgers got sacked twice in three plays and it’s believed it was here when the injury occurred.
The Eagles were able to work a two minute drive converting a 4th and 1 near midfield which set up Hurts’ 30 yard touchdown pass to Watkins who beat Rasul Douglas on the play with :13 left in the half for a 27-20 advantage. By intermission, Philadelphia had racked up 295 total yards with 183 on the ground. Hurts became the first player in NFL history to both rush and pass for 125 or more yards in a half.
Despite a season long 52 yard kickoff return by Nixon, another sack of Rodgers to open the third quarter forced a punt and Philadelphia went right back to work, breaking runs of 21 and 28 yards on an 86 yard drive capped by Hurts hitting A.J. Brown on an out route that got the better of Douglas again from 6 yards out for a 34-20 lead.
Despite wincing in pain and nearly doubling over on every snap, Rodgers was able to drive the Packers 64 yards but the offense stalled inside the 10 and they settled for a 29 yard Crosby field goal to cut the deficit to 11. The Packers announced that Rodgers was questionable to return because of an oblique injury.
Elliot’s 31 yard field goal early in the 4th quarter pushed the advantage back to 14 and during the drive, Rodgers exited to the locker room.
Jordan Love came on and completed three straight passes for a first down at the 37. On the next snap, he hit a crossing Watson in stride at about the 45 yard line and the rookie turned on his speed to the left sideline and raced in for a 63 yard touchdown, his sixth in the last three games and the Packers had life again, down 37-30 with 9 minutes to play.
The Joe Barry coordinated defense could not get off the field. The Eagles covered 43 yards in 10 plays, 9 of them runs to set up Elliott’s 54 yard field goal with 2:16 left.
Nixon bettered his last kickoff return by a yard, racing 53 yards to the Packer 47. Love hit Watson for 15, Allen Lazard for 17 and a third down pass to Cobb in the end zone hit his hands before it got jarred loose so Crosby punched in a 33 yard field goal with just 1:08 remaining.
The onside kick was recovered by the Eagles to squelch the improbable rally.
While the Packers did some impressive things on offense, totaling 342 yards on just 49 plays, they converted only 1 of 7 third down plays and had the pair of costly turnovers. The Eagles meanwhile, ran 79 offensive plays, finishing with an even 500 yards of offense, controlling the clock for 35:34. The moved the chains on 8 of 15 third down snaps and were two of three on fourth down.
Afterwards, Matt LaFleur said it was another disappointing result, especially on defense, where he counted up 15 missed tackles (it looked like a lot more), and missed opportunities with the first half turnovers. He lauded the toughness of Rodgers to try and continue playing despite the discomfort and he wasn’t shocked to see Love deliver when given his opportunity. The defensive effort was unsightly but said we win as a team and lose as a team.
Rodgers was quick to point out it was not an oblique but rather a rib injury. He said if an examination shows nothing broken and the pain subsides, he plans to play next Sunday in Chicago. It may not be if, but when the Packers are eliminated from playoff consideration, Rodgers said he will be open to the conversation of having Love finish out the year. As for Love, he completed 6 of 9 passes for 113 yards and the touchdown to Watson and said he was prepared to play and his mindset was not to just finish it out, but try to win it. He nearly pulled it off.
The defense, an underachieving unit all year, got pushed around by a physical Eagles offensive line and while they sacked Hurts twice, one from just acquired edge rusher Justin Hollins, the open field created whiffs from many and the holes were just too big to slow down the Philly ground game. Safety Darnell Savage was actually benched to begin the game with Ford starting at his safety position and Nixon manning the slot. Savage would get in one play, in the dime package on the first series, but when he missed tackled on Hurts who broke loose for the first of many big runs, he injured his ankle and would not return.
The Packer inactive players were De’Vondre Campbell, missing a fourth straight game with a bruised kneecap, Shemar Jean-Charles, Jonathan Abram, Rasheed Walker, Romeo Doubs and Jonathan Ford.
Green Bay has now lost seven of it’s last 8 games since the 3-1 start turned south on the trip to London. A date with the Bears at Solider Field is next before the Packers finally get their bye weekend. They’ll finish with three of the last four at home, hosting the Los Angeles Rams on Monday, December 19, play Christmas Day in Miami and wrapping it up with the Vikings and Lions at Lambeau in January. By then, the cold, hard reality of a forgettable season will really take hold.
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