The NFC playoffs have become an NFC East reunion, plus the San Francisco 49ers. The Dallas Cowboys taking out – and possibly retiring Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last night has left us with a situation we haven’t ever seen. After the divisional realignment of 2002, there have never been three teams from the same division that have advanced to the divisional round. Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles were on a bye this weekend, but with the Dallas win following the New York Giants upsetting the Minnesota Vikings, history was made.
This means that for Hurts to make it through to the NFC Championship game, he will once again have to play (and beat) the New York Football Giants.
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Jalen Hurts Time Is Now
The Eagles swept the Giants in the regular season. Due to a quirk in the schedule where Philadelphia didn’t play New York for the first time until Week 14 on December 11, this will be the third time the two franchises meet in a little over a month.
That first game – a convincing 48-22 win for the Eagles on the road – was the win that sealed a playoff spot. The second win – a 22-16 victory in Week 18 – was the one that secured a first-round bye and home-field advantage for the playoffs.
Since the merger, the team that has won the two regular season games against an opponent they then faced again in the playoffs has won 15 of those 24 contests. That is a 62.5% winning percentage, but given that all those games would be played at home against an opponent with a worse record over the season, it might not be as dominant a number as expected.
The health of Hurts will be everything here. He was as good to go as he has been in a month in the first win, the one that the Eagles won by 26 points. In the second, however, he was banged up and unable to use his legs on designed running plays. This hurt the Eagles, especially in the red zone. That they won by just eight points shows how the health of Hurts – and right tackle Lane Johnson – will be crucial in this matchup.
The Giants are dangerous. Saquon Barkley is playing well, but the improvement of quarterback Daniel Jones over the last month of the season is giving their fans hope that an upset is possible at Lincoln Financial Field. The Eagles need Hurts to be at his best to be on the right side of that 62.5% stat.
Always remember folks to bleed Eagles’ green, and Fly Hurts Fly!
