Philly Leader

The Philadelphia Eagles advanced to the Divisional Round after defeating the Green Bay Packers 22-10 in the NFL Wild Card Round. The Eagles, seeded second, capitalized on four takeaways from their special teams and defense.

"That's a great football team, and the reason it was hard, and the reason it didn't look perfect – we have a lot to clean up, is one, it's never perfect, but that's a good football team," said Head Coach Nick Sirianni following the victory.

In the first quarter, Oren Burks forced a fumble on Keisean Nixon during the opening kickoff return. Jeremiah Trotter Jr. recovered at Green Bay's 28-yard line. "I turned around and I was already celebrating and saw that Trotter got on it as well," Burks stated. Jalen Hurts then connected with Jahan Dotson for a touchdown pass. "It was a great job by him just staying alive and working the back of the end zone," Hurts remarked.

Nolan Smith sacked Jordan Love for an 11-yard loss later in the quarter. Jake Elliott added a 31-yard field goal to extend Philadelphia's lead to 10-0.

Darius Slay intercepted Love early in the second quarter, marking his first playoff interception in his career. However, he left with an elbow injury but returned before halftime. Zack Baun also intercepted Love before halftime. "Just trusting my cover responsibility and kind of playing free within the system to steal a backside dig," Baun commented.

In the third quarter, Brandon McManus scored Green Bay's first points with a field goal after penalties moved them into scoring range. Hurts then found DeVonta Smith for significant yardage before Dallas Goedert scored another touchdown for Philadelphia.

Josh Jacobs ran for Green Bay's only touchdown early in the fourth quarter. Elliott secured two more field goals to finalize Philadelphia's score at 22 points.

Smith earned praise from Sirianni after recording his second sack of Love late in the game: "Nolan has just continued to get better." Quinyon Mitchell sealed Philadelphia’s win with an interception in the end zone near game's end.

"It felt good... Just tried to stay the course and compete," Mitchell reflected on his first career interception.