Wild Card Weekend: Come On, Vamonos
The Commanders upset the Buccaneers, the Ravens and Bills brace for a rematch, the Eagles clobber the Packers and Dora the Explorer trolls the Texans.
In this wild-about-Wild-Card-Weekend edition of Walkthrough:
Jayden Daniels engineers a fourth-quarter victory for the Commanders, because he is unaware of any other kind.
The Philadelphia Eagles bust out some Buddy Ryan-era tactics and bludgeon the Green Bay Packers into submission.
The Buffalo Bills overcome an early challenge by their most fearsome rivals (the Buffalo Bills) to romp the Denver Broncos.
Derek Stingley and the Houston Texans defense go brrrrrr.
Lamar Jackson hollers “STFU” to his naysayers.
Justin Herbert hollers “Merry Belated Christmas!” to his naysayers.
Russell Wilson, George Pickens and the Steelers prepare for a three-way divorce.
Dora the Explorer gets mad as hell and isn’t gonna take it anymore.
And much more!
Let’s get right into this weekend’s action. And stay tuned for an exciting Too Deep Zone announcement at halftime of this Walkthrough!
Philadelphia Eagles 22, Green Bay Packers 10
What Happened
In the politically-incorrect olden times, Iggles fans might have dubbed Sunday’s win a “Body Bag Game.”
The Eagles defense forced three first half turnovers. The first, a fumble on the opening kickoff, led to a short drive capped by a touchdown pass to Jahan Decoy Dotson. The Packers defense, however, blitzed Jalen Hurts and the Eagles offense to a standstill on other series. The Eagles led just 10-0 at halftime.
One by one, key Packers offensive players got knocked out of the game. Left guard Elgton Jenkins suffered a stinger. Romeo Doubs entered concussion protocol, which he only left a few weeks ago. Jayden Reed took a wicked shot over the middle and hobbled off the field. The Packers, who lost Christian Watson to a torn ACL in the season finale, were running out of wide receivers.
Jordan Love did his best to manufacture some offense while throwing to the likes of Bo Melton, Dontayvion Wicks and Malik Heath. Josh Jacobs helped by rumbling 32 yards at the end of the third quarter to set up his own touchdown plunge to start the fourth. But Hurts, Saquon Barkley and the Eagles had already downshifted into clock-milking mode.
The Packers’ last real chance to win fell short midway through the fourth quarter when Jalen Carter and Nolan Smith stuffed Emanuel Wilson on third-and-three, then Heath failed to keep both feet in bounds on a short fourth-down catch. Quinyon Mitchell intercepted a Love pass to Melton to punctuate the Eagles win.
What It Means for the Eagles
The Eagles defense looked ready to take on anyone, from next week’s opponent to the Lions to the Bills/Chiefs/Ravens. They swarmed to the ball, applied pressure, blanketed receivers and delivered plenty of clean, rugged hits. Even Packers highlights, like Jacobs’ rumble, looked like individual heroics against a horde of unblocked defenders.
As for the Eagles offense, Hurts played down to his worst instincts after finally acknowledging Dotson’s existence on the opening drive. Hurts held the ball too long, scrambled predictably to his right, threw the ball away too often and would have ignored a UFO landing if it occurred over the short middle of the field.