Eagles will face Packers in wild-card round of NFL playoffs after win over Giants caps a 14-3 regular season

With the regular season in the books following a 20-13 victory over the New York Giants, the Eagles’ wild-card matchup is set. The No. 2-seeded Eagles (14-3) will take on the No. 7-seeded Green Bay Packers (11-6) on Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field to kick off the postseason.

In the Packers’ 24-22 loss to the Chicago Bears that solidified their seeding, quarterback Jordan Love went down with an elbow injury in the second quarter and did not return to action. Coach Matt LaFleur said after the game that Love was “good to go” back into the game, but that he was held out as a precaution. Receiver Christian Watson was carted off with a noncontact knee injury in the second and was later ruled out, casting uncertainty around his availability in the wild-card game.

The Eagles last faced the Packers in the season opener in São Paulo, Brazil, pulling off a 34-29 victory over the NFC North team. Saquon Barkley made a statement in his Eagles debut with three total touchdowns, two rushing and one receiving. That game was the only nondivisional loss for the 11-6 Packers, as they went on to lose all four of their games against the Minnesota Vikings and the Detroit Lions and the Week 18 game against the Bears.

“Both teams are different from that day till now, no doubt,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said of the Week 1 matchup. “You’ll use that. You use everything. That’s something that when we go play a team that we played the previous year, we’ll use that, too. So that’s from year to year. Of course, we’ll use that. They’ll use that. We understand that. It’s a really good team. Really well-coached.”

The Packers and the Eagles are no strangers in the postseason. The two franchises have met in the playoffs three times dating back to 1933. Most recently, the Packers defeated the Eagles in the 2010 wild-card round on their way to winning Super Bowl XLV. The Eagles have the 2-1 all-time edge in the postseason.

In a loaded NFC North, the Packers continued to build on last season’s success, which ended in the divisional round of the playoffs. Love has been steady in his second year as the starter, tied for eighth in the league in passing touchdowns (25) going into Sunday’s slate of games. Josh Jacobs, the 26-year-old running back the Packers added in free agency, finished the season ranked third in the league in rushing yards behind Barkley and Baltimore Ravens tailback Derrick Henry.

Meanwhile, all eyes are on the health of Jalen Hurts going into the upcoming week of practice. The fourth-year starting quarterback sustained a concussion in Week 16 against the Washington Commanders and has not practiced since exiting that game. Sirianni confirmed after the game against the Giants that Hurts was present at the Eagles’ walk-through on Saturday as he is “progressing” through the protocol.

Early in his first NFL start, McKee picked where he left off last week when he saw his first regular-season action against the Dallas Cowboys. The 2023 sixth-rounder out of Stanford was poised and confident in the pocket for most of the afternoon, completing 27 passes on 41 attempts for 269 yards and two touchdowns.

The Eagles got out to a fast start on their opening possession thanks to the connection between McKee and tight end Dallas Goedert, who made his return to action after spending the last four weeks on injured reserve with a knee issue. On the first Eagles play of the day at their own 48-yard line after the defense forced a turnover on downs on the Giants’ opening possession, McKee completed a 16-yard pass to Goedert on a play-action rollout. One play later, McKee found Goedert again on an out-breaking route for a gain of 17 yards to the red zone.

» READ MORE: Eagles grades: Tanner McKee answers call vs. Giants; Nick Sirianni gets backups to play tough, smart football

Goedert’s efforts set up a play-action touchdown pass to rookie receiver Ainias Smith, the first of his NFL career, to put the Eagles up, 7-0. With most of the starters resting, McKee only had the luxury of Goedert in his receiving corps for the first two series. The 30-year-old tight end finished the day with four receptions for 55 yards.

Jahan Dotson, the team’s third receiver behind A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, made his most substantial impact in an Eagles uniform against the Giants. The 24-year-old receiver hauled in a season-high seven receptions for 94 yards, including a 19-yarder over the middle of the field late in the third quarter to land the Eagles deep in New York territory. That play led to EJ Jenkins’ 7-yard touchdown catch, marking the first of the tight end’s career.

The Eagles had a few shaky moments on offense that contributed to their three punts on the afternoon. Behind a backup offensive line, McKee took a pair of sacks, one from Giants outside linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux in the third quarter and another split between Thibodeaux and defensive lineman Elijah Garcia in the fourth. McKee nearly threw an interception late in the second quarter on a pass intended for Dotson with Giants cornerback Dru Phillips and safety Dane Belton nearby. Still, the 6-foot-6, 231-pound quarterback was satisfied with his overall performance in the win.

“I just felt like I showed that I have confidence in myself to go out and operate, run the offense,” McKee said. “And, I feel like, for me, it just showed that my preparation has been working, and my preparation has helped me just get to how the offense was run today. And obviously, there’s a ton of things that we can change; we’re going to go back and watch film, and there’s a lot of things that, different checks or progression, or something that I did wrong. So obviously, for me, it was a growing opportunity, which was great.”

The Eagles defense, which featured backups and a couple of regular contributors such as Jordan Davis, prevented the Drew Lock-led Giants from generating explosive plays until the fourth quarter. On third-and-8 from the Eagles’ 45, top Giants receiver Malik Nabers beat Eli Ricks off the line of scrimmage and hauled in a deep shot outside of the numbers from Lock. The rookie walked the tightrope down the right sideline to stay in bounds before somersaulting into the end zone.

His touchdown pulled the Giants within seven points, as the Eagles led, 17-10. But the defense held strong on the next Giants possession. Despite the Giants starting the drive at the Eagles’ 38-yard line following a backed-up punt from the 15 and a 25-yard return from Ihmir Smith-Marsette, the defense limited them to a field goal.

The Eagles were up, 17-13, with 7 minutes, 21 seconds remaining in the game and they did not give up the ball until 47 seconds were left on the clock. A 16-play, 36-yard, 6:34 drive that ended with a Jake Elliott field goal to put Philadelphia up, 20-13, ate up the clock and limited the Giants’ likelihood of a comeback. Sydney Brown made the game-sealing interception with 24 seconds left.

“That’s what we always go for,” Brown said. “We always go for the ball, right? But it was a great effort all around. The linebackers playing their [butts] off. A lot of credit to them. A lot of credit to the D-linemen for making plays.”

Elliott’s shaky season continued early in the season finale. On the Eagles’ second possession of the game — a 14-play, 60-yard drive — the group sputtered at the Giants’ 21-yard line and settled for a field-goal attempt. The 29-year-old kicker missed the 39-yard try wide left, keeping the Eagles up, 7-0.

The miss marked Elliott’s eighth overall this season and his first between 30 and 40 yards. Eight field-goal misses total is a career worst for Elliott, who hadn’t missed more than five in a single season until this year. The majority of Elliott’s unsuccessful field-goal attempts have come from beyond 50 yards this year (one made and six missed).

Although Elliott missed his first kick of the day, he rebounded as the game continued, making a 24-yard field goal in the second quarter, a 32-yarder in the fourth, and nailing all three of his extra-point attempts.

“We didn’t lose any faith in him,” Sirianni said. “He went out and ripped two that we needed right after that. So, it happens in this game.”