Eagles grades: An opportunistic defense wore down the Packers in a wild-card win

Instant grades on the Eagles’ performance in a 22-10 win over the Packers:

Jalen Hurts, overall, didn’t have his best outing, but he shook off any rust from missed time due to a concussion, and helped manage the Eagles to victory. He completed 13 of 21 passes for 131 yards and two touchdowns. He had no turnovers.

Hurts didn’t shy from running and had five carries for 37 yards before the final kneel-down.

He opened 6-for-6 passing but ran into a wall in the second quarter. Give credit to the Packers defense. It did a good job of disguising its coverages, but Hurts also held the ball too long on several occasions.

He shook off the cobwebs in the third quarter when plays with quick reads were dialed up to give Eagles receivers a chance to pick up yards after the catch.

Hurts did a great job of standing in the pocket — for 6.75 seconds, per Next Gen Stats — until receiver Jahan Dotson broke free in the back of the end zone for the Eagles’ first touchdown.

Saquon Barkley didn’t post his normal numbers, but he grinded out 119 yards on 25 carries against a very good run defense. The Packers often had an extra man in the box, but Barkley wasn’t dismayed.

He rushed nine times for 58 yards in the first half, with a bunch of the yards coming after contact.

Kenneth Gainwell finished with three rushes for 14 yards. He converted a third-and-3 in the first quarter with a 6-yard run.

Fullback Khari Blasingame, who was called up from the practice squad, was the lead blocker on an early short Barkley gain.

The passing game wasn’t especially sharp, but the full-time return of tight end Dallas Goedert buoyed Hurts and the offense. He demolished Packers cornerback Carrington Valentine with a couple of stiff arms on his way to a 24-yard touchdown reception in the third quarter. A drive later, Goedert pulled in a one-hander for 10 yards.

Goedert did have a false start on a fourth-down gamble late in the second quarter. The penalty forced the Eagles to punt instead.

DeVonta Smith was the most targeted receiver, catching 4 of 4 passes for 55 yards. His 28-yard catch on a crossing route off a play-action bootleg got the offense going late in the third quarter.

Smith had an illegal shift penalty in the second quarter that negated a Hurts first-down scramble. He also took a holding penalty in the fourth quarter.

Receiver A.J. Brown played through a knee injury and had one of his quieter games. He made a catch from his knees on his first target, but that was as far as it went for him on the stat sheet. Dotson’s touchdown was his first in an Eagles uniform. It was his only catch of the game.

No. 2 tight end Grant Calcaterra had one catch for 4 yards and did a lot of the run-blocking dirty work with Goedert.

Hurts wasn’t necessarily under a lot of pressure, but the Eagles’ O-line had some up-and-down moments in pass protection. The unit had more to do in the run game and went into four-minute early in the fourth quarter as the Eagles wore the Packers defense down.

Left tackle Jordan Mailata and left guard Landon Dickerson were blowing dudes up in the run game early on. Center Cam Jurgens pulled and had the lead block on a Barkley counter run in the third quarter. He and right guard Mekhi Becton had some solid combo blocks. And the same could have been said for Becton and right tackle Lane Johnson.

Johnson kept dangerous edge rusher Rashan Gary in check for most of the day, but tackled him to the ground for a hold in the fourth quarter.

The Eagles’ front did a standout job — as did the entire defense — in corralling Josh Jacobs, especially in the first half. The Packers running back was held to just 2.5 yards a carry on his first 10 totes. Jacobs had more success in the second half, and broke off a 31-yard run, but he was held under the century mark.

In terms of the pass rush, the Eagles pressured quarterback Jordan Love. Outside linebacker Nolan Smith led the way with two sacks. His first sack came when he tripped up Love after beating Packers right tackle Zach Tom on an inside move. As a run defender, Smith dropped Jacobs after a short run in the first quarter.

Defensive tackle Jalen Carter saw a lot of double teams slide his way. But he hit Love in the second quarter and forced an errant throw, and batted a pass to the ground in the third quarter.

Defensive tackle Milton Williams had an early pressure that forced Love out of the pocket. He was stout against the run, as well.

Outside linebacker Josh Sweat didn’t put up big numbers, but he had a few pressures. Defensive end Jalyx Hunt played ahead of Bryce Huff and had a run stop near the line late in the third quarter. Huff barely saw the field, if at all.

Defensive tackle Moro Ojomo drew a couple of holding penalties on Packers backup guard Travis Glover, who replaced the injured Elgton Jenkins in the first quarter.

Fangio didn’t use his five-man base front much, but when he did defensive tackle Jordan Davis was able to eat up space against the run.

The unit was dealt a blow when Nakobe Dean left and didn’t return because of a knee injury. Zack Baun held down the middle again, though, and was outstanding again. He intercepted Love just before the half. He hung underneath below a hook route and snagged his second pick of the season.

» READ MORE: Zack Baun and the Eagles defense save the day as Jalen Hurts struggles

Dean had an opportunity to bring Love down on a third-down scramble and force a likely field-goal attempt. But he missed the open-field tackle and the Packers converted on fourth-and-1.

Dean was physical in run defense from the jump and notched a tackle for loss on Jacobs in the second quarter. Later in the drive, he snuffed out a screen for another tackle in the backfield. But Dean hurt his knee on the play and had to be carted inside for a game-ending injury.

Oren Burks took his place. He wasn’t the only Eagles defender who failed to bring Jayden Reed down on a 20-yard catch-and-run in the second quarter, but he was the first guy to miss.

He was in man coverage when Jacobs converted a short third down in the third quarter. Burks had a tough time running with Jacobs on a few other completions to the running back.

Love had his moments in the pass game, but they rarely came at the expense of the cornerbacks. Darius Slay might have lost a half-step, but when Love tested him on a deep ball to receiver Dontayvion Wicks, Slay ran step for step with him and turned back for an interception. He left for a period with an elbow injury, but was fitted with a compressive sleeve and returned.

Quinyon Mitchell played near-flawless coverage for most of the game and finally notched his first NFL interception on Love’s desperation heave at the end of the game. A third-down pass interference penalty by Mitchell advanced the Packers to the Eagles’ 9-yard line. But the defense held — again — and forced a field goal. He chipped in as a run defender and had several stops on the edge.

Cooper DeJean had a tough assignment vs. Reed, but he helped limit the slot receiver to just four catches. Isaiah Rodgers took Slay’s spot when he left in the second quarter. Love tested him a fade pass into the end zone and he had a breakup even though a Packers penalty negated the play.

Aside from maybe Smith, Reed Blankenship was maybe the MVP on defense. He was all over the field and finished with a team-high 11 tackles. He was often great in run support and stood up a blocker that forced Jacobs to fumble (the Packers recovered) in the third quarter. He decked Reed after a catch in the third quarter and the receiver hobbled off.

He left in the third quarter and was replaced by Avonte Maddox for a couple of plays.

C.J. Gardner-Johnson had a relatively quiet game. He had a Love overthrow glance off his hand on the Packers' first series.

It was all hands on deck. Jake Elliott, to no surprise, handled kickoffs after Braden Mann’s late-season, cold weather struggles. Three of his six kicks were touchbacks.

The Eagles also upgraded their cover units with Nolan Smith, out there on kickoffs, for instance. But it was Burks who came flying out of the gates. He jolted Keisean Nixon on his opening return and forced a fumble that Jeremiah Trotter Jr. recovered. The Packers wanted a flag for a helmet-to-helmet hit. After the Eagles scored a touchdown off the turnover, Burks drew a Packers hold on the next kickoff, too.

As a kicker, Elliott connected on 32-, 31-, and 30-yard field goals, but he also missed one of two extra points.

The punt cover unit had a couple of mistakes in the second quarter when Blasingame false-started and Reed picked up 20 yards when he got the right corner on the return.

Mann averaged 39.4 net yards on five punts. He boomed a 63-yard punt early in the third quarter. His first punt rolled into the end zone for a touchback.

Nick Sirianni has his team into the divisional round of the playoffs after a tough, defensive effort. The Eagles struggled offensively, but the run game offset passing woes. Sirianni’s game management was solid. A failed fake Tush Push early in the fourth quarter didn’t hurt as the Eagles converted on fourth down.

Offensive coordinator Kellen Moore had some questionable play calls in the first half. But he was much better after the break. With Hurts and the passing game struggling for a long stretch, he dialed up three successive throws in which the quarterback was able to get the ball out quickly in the third quarter.

The third-down run-pass option call that turned into Hurts throwing a screen to Barkley wasn’t necessary since the Packers had yet to get pressure. A drive later, he rode the ground game into the red zone, but the offense stalled when he had his quarterback drop three times and Green Bay got pressure off blitzes.

A coward’s draw on third-and-19 made sense, but on third-and-12?

Vic Fangio helmed a defensive unit that held the Packers to just 10 points and forced two field-goal attempts in the red zone. His Eagles defense intercepted Love three times.