The Philadelphia Eagles are through to the NFC Championship Game after beating the Los Angeles Rams in the snow!
Things got a little too close for comfort at the end, yes, but this was a very legitimate win. Sean McVay and Matthew Stafford were 5-1 in the playoffs — including a Super Bowl win — together prior to this Divisional Round matchup. Their sole postseason defeat was a one-point road loss to the Detroit Lions last season.
The Birds are now one home win over the Washington Commanders away from going back to the Super Bowl. And two more wins away from lifting their second Vince Lombardi Trophy.
Hard not to be excited!
Time to hand out some winners, losers, and IDKs.
Also, check out my appearance on The Ringer’s Philly Special postgame podcast with Sheil Kapadia and Cliffy Two Socks:
WINNERS
SAQUON BARKLEY
Just a very special football player.
26 carries for 205 yards (7.9 average) and two rushing touchdowns.
Add in four catches for 27 receiving yards and Barkley had 232 total yards from scrimmage.
Barkley’s 62-yard touchdown run erased the Rams’ only lead of the game. And he made it extra awesome by slowing down a little to taunt Jared Verse as he entered the end zone.
Barkley’s 78-yard touchdown run really should’ve been the close out moment. The Eagles’ defense ruined that by allowing a quick Rams touchdown drive.
But the Eagles won and now Barkley gets a chance to work his magic for at least one more week and potentially all the way to a Super Bowl win.
He’s unstoppable.
JALEN CARTER
What a beast.
Despite nearly playing the entire game, Carter had enough gas in the tank for a season-saving sequence at the end of this game.
In an effort to prevent a game-winning touchdown, Carter sacked Matthew Stafford to turn 3rd-and-2 at the plus 13-yard line into 4th-and-11. And then he pressured Stafford into an incompletion on fourth down for a game-sealing turnover on downs.
Clutch.
And overall dominant.
Carter logged a team-high seven pressures, five total tackles, three solo tackles, three quarterback hits (half of the Eagles’ team total), two sacks, two TFLs, one pass deflection, and one huge forced fumble that allowed the offense to take over at the plus 10-yard line.
And Carter did this despite being double-teamed on 26 of his 49 pass rushes.
He is a star.
VIC FANGIO
The Eagles’ defense allowed just 20 offensive points in this game. They forced two turnovers that directly led to six points, which was the exact difference in the final score.
The Eagles’ defense has allowed 30 offensive points through two playoff games thus far. They’ve forced six giveaways.
All told, Fangio is more than pulling his weight.
Now, this obviously wasn’t a flawless performance against the Rams.
That 10-play, 70-yard touchdown drive to cut it to a six-point game with 2:48 to play just can’t happen as quickly as it did. The Rams only took 1:48 off the clock without even using any timeouts.
The defense also made it too close for comfort at the end by allowing the Rams to drive all the way to the plus 13-yard line before Carter called game.
The Rams finished with 402 total yards, which is the third-most allowed by the Eagles this season.
That said, the Birds deserve credit for coming up with multiple clutch third down stops. And they got a bit unlucky with some dropped picks.
Also, it wasn’t like the Rams’ offensive success always came easily. The Eagles’ defense largely made them work for their production by converting on difficult throws/catches. Via NFL Pro:
Stafford threw just 29.5% of his passes to open receivers, his 2nd-lowest in a game this season. Stafford was able to complete 15 of his 31 passes to receivers with less than three yards of separation for 260 yards & 2 touchdowns, the 3rd-most yards by any quarterback in a game this season. Stafford was pressured on 40.0% of his dropbacks, his 3rd-highest rate faced in a game this season (including playoffs) and was sacked 5 times.
NOLAN SMITH
Smith ranked second to Carter in pressures generated with six on 39 pass rush snaps. That’s a pretty good rate.
Smith also had a strip-sack for an Eagles recovery at the plus 38-yard line.
In back-to-back weeks, Smith has generated three sacks while going up against Zach Tom and Rob Havenstein. It’s not like he’s merely taking advantage of weak competition; those are good right tackles.
Only one player has more sacks than him this postseason: Will Anderson with 3.5.
Smith’s evolution this season continues to be very impressive.
Also, cool move by Smith to hold up a Nakobe Dean jersey while running out of the tunnel.
ZACK BAUN
Baun absolutely took over on the Rams’ drive following an Eagles field goal to go up four points early in the fourth quarter.
Baun turned 2nd-and-6 into 3rd-and-9 with a TFL. The Rams converted there … but then Baun had a second down deflection to bring up another third down. And that 3rd-and-10 resulted in Smith’s strip-sack, which Baun recovered.
He’s just so good and impactful on a weekly basis.
C.J. GARDNER-JOHNSON
CJGJ wasn’t perfect but he did come up with a really big TFL on 3rd-and-2 at the plus 11-yard line that had the Rams settle for a 30-yard field goal attempt to cut the Eagles’ lead to three points. Preventing LA from retaking the lead there felt important.
CJGJ’s also made a habit of those run-stuffing plays this season.
JOSH SWEAT
Sweat had a TFL that turned 3rd-and-1 into a 4th-and-3 punt as the Rams were trying to drive for either a lead or a game-tying field goal attempt.
Sweat also had some pretty good lines after the game:
OREN BURKS
There was thought that the Eagles might rotate Burks and Jeremiah Trotter Jr. to replace Nakobe Dean. But that was not the case with Burks playing 68 of 71 defensive snaps.
For backup linebacker standards, Burks was pretty good. He had a team-high four stops, which include two TFLs. He also had a big third down pass deflection to force a punt and one quarterback hit.
There are plenty of Eagles starting linebackers over the years who’ve been worse than Burks, who is a backup. While he wasn’t perfect, his play suggests the defense might be able to survive Dean’s absence.
ISAIAH RODGERS
Rodgers had to play most of the game with Quinyon Mitchell getting banged up on the Rams’ first drive.
The numbers weren’t exactly pretty. According to NFL Pro, he was targeted 10 times and allowed five receptions for 106 yards.
But there was some bad luck in there. He had the ball in his hands for a pick that got wrestled away by Demarcus Robinson for a 48-yard gain. Outside of that somewhat fluky play, he allowed four receptions for 58 yards. You’ll take that from a backup cornerback.
Also, Rodgers did a great job of recovering Carter’s forced fumble and advancing the ball to the plus 10-yard line. He had a nice spin move on that return.
MORO OJOMO
Ojomo logged his first career sack in this game. That play contributed to a Rams three-and-out in the fourth quarter.
JALYX HUNT
Hunt showed great hustle to take down Stafford for a coverage sack and force a Rams red zone field goal that tied the game instead of allowing LA to take the lead.
DALLAS GOEDERT
Goedert caught all four of his targets for 56 yards. He would’ve had five catches for 75 yards if Mekhi Becton didn’t unnecessarily commit an ineligible man downfield penalty.
Goedert’s looked pretty good since returning from injured reserve. Over the last three weeks, his 16 targets have resulted in 12 catches for 158 yards and one touchdown.
Keep feeding him!
KENNY GAINWELL
Gainwell only played six offensive snaps but he picked up two first downs with one run and one catch. He also had a 44-yard kick return.
Gainwell as RB1 was not a great thing. But Gainwell as RB2 works.
BRADEN MANN
Despite challenging weather conditions, Mann had some very good holds for Jake Elliott on less than perfect Rick Lovato long snaps.
Mann also had four punts for 199 yards (49.8 average), a long of 57, and two that were downed inside the 20.
The last time the Eagles were making a Super Bowl push, their punter was a liability. Now they have a credible option there.
NICK SIRIANNI
There are things to quibble about, such as his questionable end of half approach.
But the Eagles continue to win with Sirianni as their head coach. They’re up to two NFC Championship Game appearances in four seasons with him at the helm.
Sirianni will likely need to ramp up his aggression against Dan Quinn, which is something we’ll talk more about this week. But credit to him for going for it on 4th-and-4 at the plus 32-yard line. I totally thought he was only sending the offense out to try to draw the defense offside. But the Eagles actually went for it and got it, which ultimately helped to set up a successful 37-yard field goal attempt.
HOWIE ROSEMAN
Though he’s had his misses (see: Bryce Huff, who was active but played zero snaps … and Devin White), the hits obviously outweigh them. The Eagles’ overall talent is a big driver of their success. And it sure seems like Roseman has improved as a drafter. Dallas Cowboys fans would kill to have Howie as their GM.
JEFFREY LURIE
Can’t take good ownership for granted.
LOSERS
A.J. BROWN
Not often that Brown makes the “losers” section. But his team-high seven targets resulted in just two catches for 14 yards.
In fairness, both of those went for first downs. And the 4th-and-4 catch was very clutch.
His mistakes were costly, though.
Brown dropped a perfectly placed pass for a would-be first down on a drive where the Eagles instead went three-and-out. He also dropped a potential deep touchdown catch.
It’s hard to believe Brown’s hands are now an issue after he’s been so good at catching the ball for so long. Via NFL Pro:
A.J. Brown dropped 2 of his 7 targets, snapping his streak of 116 targets without a drop dating back to Week 16, 2023. Brown’s streak was the third-longest active streak among wide receivers entering today.
But this was a bad game for Brown, who’s been targeted 10 times in the playoffs for three receptions and 24 receiving yards. The Eagles gotta get him going.
JARED VERSE
Look, Verse had a strong game with two sacks and three TFLs. He’s a pretty good player who’s probably going to win Defensive Rookie of the Year.
But he didn’t get the last laugh in this one. The Eagles fans that he “hates” so much did.
SEAN MCVAY
Nick Sirianni owns him: 3-0.
Vic Fangio owns him: 3-0.
McVay has long been a coward and the Eagles benefited from his conservative decisions in this game.
I DON’T KNOWS
JALEN HURTS
BGN’s John Stolnis already did a good job of fleshing out the Hurts discourse, so, make sure to check that out.
I’ll just say there was good and bad.
The good
- Correlation isn’t causation but it’s hard to deny the Eagles simply win a lot with Hurts starting and finishing the game.
- Hurts deserves credit for toughing out his injury and not missing a snap.
- Hurts started the game strong by going 3/3 for 25 passing yards before ripping off a 44-yard touchdown run. Special play that not just any QB is capable of making. Especially the part where he used his strength to break through a tackle.
- Hurts technically did not turn the ball over (though a safety is effectively a giveaway).
- Hurts made a really good tight window throw to A.J. Brown on a 4th-and-4 in the fourth quarter.
- Hurts would’ve had more passing yardage if not for DeVonta Smith getting lit up by a Rams defender who committed unnecessary roughness and two Brown drops (one for a first down and one that might’ve been a TD or at least close to it).
The bad
- 65 net passing yards just isn’t very ideal. You can say the conditions weren’t ripe for throwing the ball effectively but the Rams had 291 net passing yards.
- Hurts completed just one of his four attempts that went over 10 air yards. Not all his fault this week but the Eagles lacking big plays in the passing game continues to be a common theme.
- Hurts took some pretty bad sacks. Not all seven were on him. But some of them were. Including the one that resulted in a safety that trimmed the Eagles’ lead over the Rams to one point. I agree the Eagles should’ve been running it in that situation but Hurts should still be able to at least get the ball to Goedert’s feet for an incompletion instead of taking that sack.
It’s impossible to say the Eagles CAN’T win with a limited passing game … because they clearly can! And they might just do it all the way to a Super Bowl win.
So, I’m not going to harp on the struggles too much other than to point out there’s room for improvement.
I don’t know if Hurts will improve, especially now that a knee injury might limit his movement.
But I’m not going to count him out.
THE EAGLES’ OFFENSIVE LINE
The Eagles’ offensive line paved the way for historical success on the ground: 34 carries, 285 yards, 3 TD.
But there were clearly some issues in pass protection. Again, not all of Hurts’ sacks were the QB’s fault.
The field conditions probably weren’t doing the Eagles’ pass protection unit any favors. And part of the Rams’ pass rush success is just about tipping your cap to a good defensive line.
But the Eagles are probably going to need to be better in the trenches to win the Super Bowl.
JAKE ELLIOTT
He made all three field goal attempts in less than ideal conditions. 44 yards, 23 yards, and 37 yards.
But he missed two extra points that certainly loomed large in the end.
And he’s now up to 12 misses this season alone after missing 11 kicks over the previous three years combined.
DARIUS SLAY
I debated putting Slay in the “winners” section. He did have three passes defensed, which was big.
But there is this:
Slay was targeted 16 times, the most by any player in a postseason game in the Next Gen Stats era (since 2016). Slay allowed 9 receptions for 129 yards across those 16 targets.
Just like the first meeting, the Rams weren’t scared to go after him. And that’s with Mitchell missing most of this game. You’d think they would’ve made more of an effort to go after Rodgers.
It’s not like Slay was in terrible position; he had some real close losses where the Rams made great catches. And the field conditions weren’t working in his favor. Not trying to crush him but this wasn’t exactly a lockdown performance for CB1 standards.
Also, the Slay dropped pick on Stafford’s first pass attempt was a pretty big missed opportunity. The Linc would’ve been going absolutely ballistic if he was able to catch that and give the Eagles a chance to go up two possessions. Instead, the Rams went on a long touchdown drive to take the lead. Slay’s gotta make that Big Play.
QUINYON MITCHELL
Based on what Mitchell said after the win and what we’ve seen reported about his shoulder injury, it sounds like the rookie standout might be able to play in the NFC Championship Game.
But sometimes players have a tendency to undersell the severity of their injuries. And it remains to be seen if Mitchell might struggle playing at less than 100%.
Mitchell’s status will be especially worth monitoring on the injury report this week.
CLIFFY TWO SOCKS
Some are saying that the “Cliff Curse” is over since the Eagles won with Cliff in the building. I’m not so sure. Listen to The Ringer’s Philly Special Eagles-Rams postgame podcast episode for a longer conversation on this very serious topic.
