NFL Football

2025-01-12 - Green Bay Packers at Philadelphia Eagles

A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown

Green Bay Packers @ Philadelphia Eagles
United States : NFL Playoff Wild Card Game
Sunday 12th January 2025 - Scheduled 4:30pm
9:30pm (British Time)

Preview

You know it is a loaded NFL Playoff when none of the teams involved have had fewer than ten regular season wins.

The Green Bay Packers (11-6) were desperate to earn one more in Week 18, but they were beaten by NFC North rivals Chicago Bears and that meant they were unable to improve their Seeding.

Make no mistake, the Packers did not want to be the Number 7 Seed and have to open at the Philadelphia Eagles (14-3), but that is their situation and there will be no fear about facing the team that beat them in Sao Paulo in Week 1.

Last season the Number 7 Seeded Green Bay Packers were on the road at the NFC East Champions, but they were able to blowout the Dallas Cowboys in Jordan Love's first Playoff game and so they will head to Philadelphia with some belief in their own ability, even against one of the top teams in the Conference.

The Week 18 loss to the Chicago Bears was a blow, and came at a further cost with Christian Watson suffering an injury that will rule him out for months. That is a big blow for this Offensive unit and the Packers might just be grateful that Jordan Love has been able to practice having suffered an injury which caused him to lose feeling in his fingers.

There is no doubting how important Jordan Love is to the Packers, but this is a game where they will also need to show their strength at the Line of Scrimmage and ensure Josh Jacobs is keeping the team in front of the chains. The Packers Offensive Line have a big task in establishing the run against this Philadelphia Defensive Line, but they are capable of opening up some decent lanes and that will be music to the ears of Jordan Love, especially without his Wide Receiver that is most likely to stretch the field.

Being able to use Jacobs to just help control the clock is key for the Green Bay Packers if they are going to upset the NFC East Champions on the road in the post-season for a second year in a row.

Jordan Love will have plenty of belief in his own ability, but it has been tough to throw against this Philadelphia team all season and there has to be one or two concerns about his elbow, even if not placed on the injury report. At least by running the ball well enough, the Quarter Back will just need to complete some short passes to keep the chains moving and to keep the Eagles thinking on the sidelines.

An injury concern to the Quarter Back is not only something that the Green Bay Packers are dealing with, but it will be the talk of the town in Philadelphia in the lead up to this game.

Jalen Hurts has had a very good season, as have the whole organisation, but he suffered a concussion early in Week 16 and has effectively missed three weeks of action. Some would have liked Hurts to be involved in the Week 18 game, if only to shake off rust, but the Quarter Back was finally cleared from concussion protocol this week and there has to be a concern about how effective he will be.

And so just like the Packers, the Eagles will want to lean on the Offensive Line and a top Running Back in Saquon Barkley to make things easier for their Quarter Back.

However, the one difference is that the Green Bay Defensive Line have played the run really well for much of the season and have been in good shape down the stretch in the regular season. Stopping Saquon Barkley is a different kind of test, but the Packers are coming out of a Division where the likes of Minnesota and Detroit want to run the ball and that kind of experience will give them that belief they can clamp down on the run and force Jalen Hurts to beat them.

Jalen Hurts has quality Receivers to help him, but this is not really a team built to convert third and long spots, while the Green Bay Secondary have also been very effective at playing the pass.

Stopping Philadelphia completely in their own Stadium is going to be near impossible, but the Green Bay Packers do match up pretty well and they have the qualities to keep this one close and competitive.

The Eagles did cover in the win over Green Bay in Sao Paulo, but they were only being asked to lay a single point on that day compared with the much bigger line set for this Wild Card game. As good as Jalen Hurts has been for the Eagles since becoming the starting Quarter Back, it is hard to ignore the 16-20-1 record against the spread when set as a favourite of at least 3 points.

Nick Sirianni has come through difficult moments to retain the Head Coach role with Philadelphia, but Matt LaFleur may be the stronger Coach and has a very impressive 9-2 record against the spread when playing with revenge as the road underdog.

His Green Bay Packers team are also 2-0 against the spread as the road underdog in either the Wild Card or Divisional Round of the Playoffs and the feeling is that Matt LaFleur can find the solutions to make up for the absence of Christian Watson. With a Defensive unit capable of keeping the Eagles around the 20 point mark, the Packers should have enough to cover even if they are beaten.