Jaelan Phillips' productive Eagles debut paces dominant defense in 10-7 win over Packers
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Brandon McManus’ attempt at a game-tying, 64-yard field goal as time expired fell several yards short.
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Jaelan Phillips could sense the different mentality that a defending champion exudes as soon as the Philadelphia Eagles added him at the trade deadline.
Phillips wasted no time doing his part to contribute to the Eagles’ title defense.
In his first game with the Eagles since they acquired him from the Miami Dolphins, Phillips made two of the biggest plays of the game to help Philadelphia outlast the Green Bay Packers 10-7 on Monday night.
“The biggest thing I noticed was just no panic,” Phillips said. “The whole entire time, there was just utmost confidence on both sides of the ball. It felt really good to be in that environment.”
Phillips recovered a fumble by Jordan Love to thwart a Green Bay scoring opportunity in the final minute of the first half and helped make a fourth-and-1 stop late in the fourth quarter.
“He loves football,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said. “He loves working. You could just see it, the way he was running around in practice. His motor is constantly, constantly running.”
Jalen Hurts threw a 36-yard pass to DeVonta Smith with 10:35 remaining for Philadelphia’s only touchdown, giving the Eagles a 10-0 lead. Green Bay’s lone touchdown came on Josh Jacobs’ 6-yard run with 5:49 left.
Brandon McManus’ attempt at a game-tying, 64-yard field goal as time expired fell several yards short.
“We knew it was going to be a four-quarter fistfight,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said. “I thought our defense was outstanding, and unfortunately, just too many mistakes offensively to overcome it.”
Green Bay’s second straight loss dropped the Packers (5-3-1) to third place in the NFC North, behind Detroit and Chicago. The Packers, who had the NFC’s best record before their 16-13 loss to Carolina on Nov. 2, would have the conference’s seventh and final playoff seed if the regular season ended now.
A defensive struggle that featured the first halftime tie of the season had a serious lack of big plays until the Eagles (7-2) delivered a one-two punch early in the fourth quarter.
