The Philadelphia Eagles move on after defeating the Los Angeles Rams 28-22 at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday in the Divisional Round of the playoffs.
Philadelphia advances to the NFC Championship Game, which will take place next Sunday(3 P.M. ET) against the Commanders at Lincoln Financial Field.
Let’s take a moment to appreciate Philly’s ‘Big 3’ and their outstanding performances on Sunday:
-Saquon Barkley played like the real MVP on Sunday. He finished the game with a franchise- playoff-record 205 yards with two touchdowns on 26 carries (7.9 avg.). He combined for 140 yards on his two rushing touchdowns (62 and 78 yards). In the first matchup between the Eagles and Rams, Barkley ran for 255 yards, including two 70-plus yard touchdown runs(72, 70). The Eagles needed Barkley to have those home run scampers on Sunday, and he did.
-Jalen Carter is a monster, and he’s a beast. Carter recorded a career-high-tying two sacks, including a sack on Rams QB Matthew Stafford on third-and-2 with 1:14 remaining in the fourth quarter, and on the next play, his pressure forced Stafford to throw an incompletion on fourth down. In addition, he forced a Kyren Williams fumble that was returned to the Rams’ 10-yard line by Isaiah Rodgers.
Like Barkley, the Eagles don’t win without Carter, who finished the game with five tackles, two sacks, two tackles for loss, aforced fumble, and three quarterback hits.
-Despite two missed extra points, which almost cost the Eagles. Jake Elliott made three clutch field goals for Philadelphia(44, 23 and 37). The snow made those kicks pretty tricky, but he found a way to get the job done.
Honorable Mention:
-Zack Baun had another strong game for the Eagles. He had six tackles, one tackle for loss, and a fumble recovery.
-The offensive line opened holes for Barkley and helped Jalen Hurts have a 44-yard touchdown run on the opening possession. After rushing 311 yards against the Rams in the regular season, the Eagles had 285 yards on the ground on Sunday. That was due to the stellar play of the offensive line.
End of the Day:
The Eagles survive the Rams, a Hurts’ leg injury, and the elements to advance to the NFC Championship Game against the Commanders. Philadelphia split the season series between the two teams, but when healthy, the Eagles are more talented. If the Eagles are healthy, they should win this game, but Jayden Daniels is playing some special football right now, and he’ll need to be that if the Commanders want to advance.
Back to Hurts, we don’t know how healthy Hurts(15/20, 128 yards, 70 yards rushing, TD) will be next Sunday. He was clearly limited after the injury but gutted his way through. Hurts did say he was confident that he would play next week. We’ll find out how bad or not so bad the injury was at some point next week.
One more thing…
Philadelphia has reached the second-most conference championship games (eight) in the NFL since 2001, trailing only New England (13). In addition, the club leads the league with six hosted championship games since 2002 (next closest have three in that span).
The Eagles are one of three NFL teams with at least three conference championship appearances since 2017, joining Kansas City (seven) and San Francisco (four).
Nick Sirianni has guided Philadelphia to the NFC Championship Game for the second time in three seasons (also 2022). He is just the second head coach in franchise history to direct the Eagles to multiple conference championship appearances, joining Andy Reid (2001-04, ‘08).
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