The Green Bay Packers face the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday in the Wild Card round. The Eagles are the clear favorites in the matchup, but the Packers are looking to pull off another postseason upset as a 7th seed.
Repeating a postseason victory as a 7th seed will surely be difficult, especially against Philadelphia, who is one of the best teams in the NFL.
The Keys To A Wild Card Victory
The Philadelphia Eagles are 14-3 for a reason, and everyone knows it. Their top ranked defense gives opposing quarterbacks troubles, and Jordan Love has to be able to step up.
Take advantage of zone coverage: Philly is very successful when they play man coverage, and Green Bay has to be aggressive in zone coverage. Although standout receiver Christian Watson is out, guys like Jayden Reed, Dontayvion Wicks and Romeo Doubs have to rise to the occasion.
Contain Saquon Barkley: Barkley torched the Packers for 3 total touchdowns in week one. Just in the second half of games this season, he has allocated 1,245 yards and averaged 6.9 yards per attempt. Green Bay has to slow down Barkley in order to have a chance in this game. They’ve had a solid run defense all season, but the First Team All-Pro running back is tough to slow down.
Don’t turn the ball over: Jordan Love has struggled with interceptions over the course of his career thus far. A costly pick to Reed Blankenship was a massive turnover in the week one loss to Philadelphia. Fumbles have also plagued the Packers at times this season, so it cannot happen.
Take away the ball: Philadelphia isn’t immune to turnovers themselves. Jalen Hurts only has 5 interceptions this season, but he threw 2 of them against Green Bay in the season opener. Ball hawk Xavier McKinney can come up huge against the Eagles on Sunday to cause disruption.
Survive the Eagles’ brutal o-line: It will simply be a difficult task getting past the dominant offensive line of Philadelphia. If the Packers can get any kind of pressure on Jalen Hurts or Saquon Barkley, they have a real shot of advancing to the Divisional round. Win the one on one battles inside and stuff the middle.
