Playoff football is upon us and the Packers will travel east to take on a familiar opponent. It’s a rematch of the regular season opener against the Eagles, except this time Green Bay is heading to Philadelphia, not Brazil. Per the dope sheet, this is the sixth time the Packers will face an opponent in the playoffs that they played in the regular season opener. Here are six things to keep in mind going into Sunday’s postseason contest. 

1. Flocking to the Postseason 

Despite the rich history of both franchises, this is only the fourth postseason meeting between the Packers and Eagles. The Eagles hold a slight edge in the series at 2-1. Per the dope sheet, the first postseason meeting between the two teams happened in the 1960 NFL Championship. Philadelphia won 17-13, and it was the legendary Vince Lombardi’s only postseason defeat. 

All three of the previous postseason contests were played in Philadelphia and each game was decided by five points or less. Of course, Packers fans will remember Green Bay’s lone postseason victory against the Eagles in 2010 on the way to Super Bowl XLV. 

Per the dope sheet, Green Bay has won their last three Wild Card road games, including that 2010 game in Philly, and all three games have been against NFC East teams (2015 in Washington and 2023 in Dallas). This three-game streak is tied with the Ravens (who are hosting a playoff game of their own this weekend) for the longest road Wild Card streak in that span. 

All-time, the Packers are 11-5 in the Wild Card Round, including a 4-2 record on the road. Head Coach Matt LaFleur has a 67-33 record in the regular season but is 3-4 in the postseason. Eagles Head Coach Nick Sirianni, in his fourth season, is 2-3 in the postseason but boasts a 2-0 record against the Packers. 

2. Birds of a Feather

It was an explosive kickoff to the 2024 regular season when both high-powered offenses met under the lights in Brazil. The Packers lost a close game 34-29 after both teams put up over 400 yards of offense. Jordan Love threw for 260 yards with two touchdowns and one pick for a passer rating of 83.0. Jalen Hurts threw for 278 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions for a rating of 80.3. Love’s longest pass was 70 yards, and Hurts’ longest pass was 67 yards. Fireworks galore. 

This time, though, both quarterbacks are questionable with injury designations, though both are expected to play on Sunday. Love is dealing with an injury to his throwing elbow suffered in Week 18 that’s made him limited in practice, and Hurts is back practicing and working his way through the concussion protocol. 

Both quarterbacks started 15 games this season. Hurts threw for 2,903 yards with 18 touchdowns and five interceptions. He had a completion percentage of 68.7%, averaged 193.5 yards per game, and took 38 sacks, finishing the regular season with a passer rating of 103.7. Hurts also added 14 rushing touchdowns to his season totals. 

In Love’s 15 games, he threw for 3,389 yards with 25 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. He completed 63.1% of passes and averaged 225.9 yards per game, taking only 14 sacks all year. He finished the regular season with a passer rating of 96.7. 

The Eagles and Packers have the seventh and eighth ranked offenses in points for, respectively, averaging a tick over 27 points per game each. Both quarterbacks, and offenses, have big-play ability at any moment. This one could come down to the quarterback performances on Sunday. 

3. Saquon In a Million

In his first season with the Eagles, Saquon Barkley carved his name into the record books. He had the most productive season of his career and eclipsed 2,000 rushing yards, finishing the season with 345 attempts for 2,005 yards and 13 touchdowns. He averaged 5.8 yards per carry and a whopping 125.3 yards per game. 

This will be only the third playoff game of Barkley’s career, having played in two games for the Giants back in 2022. He’ll have fresh legs, too, after sitting out Week 18 in preparation for Sunday’s contest. 

The Eagles rank first in the NFL in rushing attempts (621), second in rushing yards (3,048), and second in rushing touchdowns with 29 this season. The team is fifth in the league averaging 4.9 yards per carry on the ground. 

In the Week 1 matchup against the Packers, Barkley finished the day with 132 scrimmage yards and three touchdowns, two rushing with one receiving. He averaged 4.5 yards per carry on the ground and 11.5 yards per catch through the air. 

The Packers defense ranks 10th in rushing attempts allowed (426) and rushing touchdowns (13), seventh in rushing yards allowed (1,689), and third in yards per attempt, allowing an average of only 4.0 yards per carry. It’s a stiff test, but so is everything in the postseason. 

4. Shuffling Secondary

While Xavier McKinney gets the recognition as the biggest impact defender in Green Bay’s secondary, and rightfully so with his eight-interception season, the Packers have been making do with an injury-riddled secondary all season. It feels like every week someone new is lined up at one of the corner or safety spots.

Green Bay’s defense has played well for the most part, allowing the sixth-fewest points in the league and allowing an average of 19.9 points per game. The team is fifth in total yards and third in the league generating interceptions with 17. 

Keisean Nixon has been doing everything asked of him this season, playing 94% of snaps on defense while maintaining his role as Green Bay’s kick returner. He’s allowing a completion percentage of 57.5% and a passer rating of 78.9, compared to the 104.8 he allowed in 2023. 

Carrington Valentine has also been playing some of his best football down the stretch. He’s climbed to 31st out of 116 eligible corners using Pro Football Focus metrics and has two interceptions with one forced fumble in his last four games. 

The Packers may have something in all three rookie safeties, too. Second-round pick Javon Bullard has taken the majority of his snaps in the slot this season (333) followed by 259 at free safety and 167 in the box. The emergence of fourth-rounder Evan Williams as the team’s preferred free safety (310 snaps) forced Bullard to play closer to the line of scrimmage as the team’s nickel. 

With the injury to Williams, fifth-round pick Kitan Oladapo saw some extended time against Chicago last week opposite McKinney for the first time this season, too. While he didn’t play enough to earn a ranking from PFF, he received an overall defensive grade of 72.9 playing primarily at free safety and registering four total tackles. All three safeties could see major snaps on Sunday, which leads us seamlessly into our fourth point. 

5. Youth Movement 

It’s the same narrative the Packers encountered last year. Per the Elias Sports Bureau, this 2024 Packers team is the second-youngest team (25.72) by weighted age to make the playoffs in the last 45 seasons, behind only the 2023 Packers team (25.58). 

Last season, that young Packers team traveled to Dallas as the NFC’s seventh seed and dominated the No. 2 seeded Dallas Cowboys. Green Bay was averaging 22.5 points per game and ranked 12th in the league in points for. Dallas was the league’s top-scoring offense averaging 29.9 points per game with a top-five defense, allowing an average of only 18.5 points per game. But it didn’t matter. 

The Packers left AT&T Stadium after dropping 48 points in front of 94,000 spectators. Love threw for 272 yards with three touchdowns and posted a passer rating of 157.2, the best of his career. Green Bay’s defense snagged two turnovers and sacked Dak Prescott four times.  

Now, another young team looks to have a similar impact in Philadelphia. The team’s two free agent additions, Josh Jacobs and McKinney, have limited playoff experience between the two of them. Jacobs played in one postseason contest in 2021, a loss against the Bengals, and McKinney was Barkley’s teammate during New York’s postseason run in 2022. He registered two passes defensed, a forced fumble, and a sack in two games before the Giants lost to the Eagles in the Divisional Round. 

The Packers will need contributions from McKinney, Jacobs, and the rest of their young roster to repeat last year’s Wild Card magic. And the good news is, it sounds like reinforcements might be on the way. Williams is back at practice after missing the last three games with a quad injury. Wide receiver Romeo Doubs is also back at practice after missing last week with an illness. And while no single player can mitigate the unfortunate loss of Christian Watson and the role he plays on offense, it’ll be a collective effort from the rest of the receiving core. 

In last season’s game versus Dallas, Doubs went off for 151 yards and a touchdown. In Week 1 this season, Jayden Reed was the focal point of the offense, posting 138 receiving yards with one receiving score and one rushing attempt for 33 yards with a rushing touchdown. That also doesn’t include Jacobs, who set a franchise record last week with a rushing touchdown in his eighth consecutive game. Jacobs has 1,671 scrimmage yards and 16 touchdowns on the season. 

This also doesn’t include any of the rookie safeties mentioned in the previous section, or inside linebacker Edgerrin Cooper who’s having arguably the best season of any Packers rookie. Cooper is PFF’s fourth overall linebacker out of 83 qualifying candidates with a grade of 84.0. He leads the team in tackles for loss with 13 and has 3.5 sacks on the year with one interception, one forced fumble, and four passes defensed. It’ll take all 53, but the young players rising to the occasion will go a long way towards victory on Sunday. 

6. Top Flight Defense

The Eagles are allowing only 17.8 points per game, good for second in the NFL. In fact, the team only allowed more than 20 points five times all season, and three of those games came in the first four weeks. 

Philadelphia’s defense ranks third in third down conversions, allowing a success rate of only 35.5%. In the red zone, the defense ranks fifth, allowing touchdowns only 50% of the time. The team has generated at least one turnover in five straight games with 10 takeaways in the last three contests alone. 

The Eagles are PFF’s top-graded defense for the 2024 season, and it’s no surprise why when you look at the roster. Inside linebacker Zack Baun is PFF’s top-graded linebacker with an elite grade of 90.1. Rookie cornerback Cooper DeJean ranks third out of 116 qualifying corners with a grade of 82.7, including a 90.8 grade in run defense. Some of their highest graded playmakers are depth pieces that don’t have enough snaps to register a position rank, like safety Sydney Brown (89.9), inside linebacker Jeremiah Trotter (84.7), and familiar face Oren Burks (83.0). 

The secondary has given opposing offenses fits all season. Safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson leads the team with six interceptions, followed by Reed Blankenship with four (he snagged one against Love in Week 1). Interestingly, though, no cornerback on the Eagles roster has an interception this year. Darius Slay has 13 passes defensed and rookie Quinyon Mitchell has 12, but it’s a testament to the strength of the defense. The team ranks first in net yards per passing attempt, allowing only 5.1 yards per pass on average. The Eagles are also first in passing yards allowed, giving up only 2,961 yards through 17 games, or an average of 174.2 yards per game. 

When an immovable force meets an unstoppable object, the winner advances to the Divisional Round. Enjoy every second of this playoff ride, Packers fans.