Packers at Eagles winners and losers

The Eagles lost to the Packers 27-13 on Monday Night Football. It was bad.

Winners

The Packers

Green Bay won, convincingly, to snap their road losing streak, snap the Eagles home winning streak, and improve their playoff chances. Both teams desperately needed a win, and the Packers were the only team that played like it.

Hands

There were no drops until late in the 3rd quarter. Baby steps!

Caleb Sturgis

A 48 and a 50 yard field goal after missing a 44 yarder two weeks ago (no attempts last week) and having a 40 yarder blocked the week before. Confidence restored.

Wendell Smallwood

Smallwood looked like a good change of pace back, showing burst and vision. That's kind of a backhanded compliment for a guy who started, but in the context of a 5th round rookie behind a patchwork OL, he had a nice game.

Losers

Eagles playoff chances

The Eagles aren't eliminated, but with 6 losses it's hard to see them making the playoffs. Winning out to get to 10-6 would be a hell of a finish, but 10-6 might not get a team into the playoffs on record alone this year. Five teams are ahead of them for the Wild Card.

Doug Pederson’s challenge

Even though he won it, Pederson challenging a complete pass for 2 yards on 1st down is one of the worst challenges of the season. This challenge by Mike Tomlin is probably the worst, but Pederson’s is charging up the field for a podium finish like it’s Max Verstappen. At least Tomlin was hoping to get the ball.

Pass catchers

Good hands aside, and with the caveat that Jordan Matthews missed a large portion of the game with an ankle injury... against the worst pass defense they will face all year, Eagles pass catchers had a terrible game. Dorial Green-Beckham led the team with 82 yards but was nearly invisible for the second half. Bryce Treggs and Paul Turner did nothing, and Zach Ertz once again had no yards after the catch against a Packers defense that couldn’t stop tight ends coming into this game. It’s hard to imagine that Nelson Agholor would have made any kind of a difference. You’re only as strong as your weakest link, and Eagles receivers are one of the weakest links in the league.

Jim Schwartz

Schwartz has had some great games this season. And he's had some clunkers. Monday night was one. Yeah, it's Aaron Rodgers, and he's still great. But this defense kept Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown out of the end zone, and gave the top scoring Falcons offense their worst game of the season. They’d been tested before. Rodgers made them look silly, dropping pin point passes for his third best passer rating this season and had the Packers looking like a team storming to the playoffs rather than a 4-6 team.

The Packers came out and consistently moved the chains with short passes, and Schwartz and his defense couldn't do anything about it. His line again did little against an elusive QB behind a struggling offensive line, incapable of containing and frustrating Russell Wilson and now Aaron Rodgers. And they got sliced in the secondary, Rodgers is the only QB to throw for over 300 yards against the Eagles this season. Green Bay was 10 of 14 on third down, Green Bay scored on 5 of 6 meaningful possessions (not counting the end of half kneels), with drives of 5:09, 7:48, 6:28 and 8:21. Jim Schwartz got out coached by Mike McCarthy, who’s probably on the hot seat, the Packers beat the Eagles at their own game.

Officials

Yeah, no need for full time officials. Everything is fine!