Here are some takeaways from the Eagles’ win – their eighth straight win at Lincoln Financial Field…

1. The Eagles open the game with a bang – and a TD

Special teams can change a game, right? You hear that all the time, and late Sunday afternoon with 40 degrees and light winds, that’s exactly what happened. The Eagles won the coin toss and elected to defer, giving Green Bay the opening kickoff. Jake Elliott kicked to dangerous Keisean Nixon, who deposited the ball into the end zone from 1 yard out. Oren Burks slammed Nixon at the 27-yard line, forcing the ball loose, and Jeremiah Trotter Jr. was there to wrestle the football away in a scrum. Eagles football, Green Bay 28 yard line.

“I turned around, was already cheering and saw that Trotter was there too,” said Burks. “It was just the flow of the game, so I just tried to make a big play.”

“That was just the attitude. Nobody is going to give you anything in the playoffs, you have to go and get it. I feel like the play from the jump is just an example of what it takes to take the ball away.”

Saquon Barkley ran left and spun away from defenders for a 16-yard gain to the 12-yard line on the game’s first play from scrimmage. On first down, he ran to the left again and gained 1 yard. On second-and-9 from the 11-yard line, quarterback Jalen Hurts had a direct pass dropback, had plenty of time as the Eagles fended off a four-man pass rush, and drilled a pass to a wide-open Jahan Dotson in the back Part of the end zone as Philadelphia took an early lead.

Jake Elliott made the PAT and the Eagles jumped out to a 7-0 lead right away and earned a win out of the gate.

2. The defense plays a great game

The Eagles are the NFL’s No. 1 defense for a reason. And in this game they showed everything. Philadelphia received three passes from Jordan Love – one from Darius “Big Play” Slay, one from Zack Baun and, near the end of the game, one from Quinyon Mitchell, his first in the NFL after a great regular season by the top draft pick.

Philadelphia held Green Bay to 107 rushing yards, limited Love – who was sacked twice and was under intense pressure – and took away the football three times. Green Bay lost two offensive linemen and two wide receivers (they were already without deep threat Christian Watson, who was sidelined with a knee injury), and the Eagles stuffed them into the trash until the end of the game.

Great performance from a defense that lost linebacker Nakobe Dean to a knee injury in the first half. He was replaced by Burks, who had four tackles. Nolan Smith was outstanding with both quarterback sacks and great tackling (head coach Nick Sirianni presented that Smith had a game ball in the locker room after the win), dominating the interior of the defensive line and Jacobs rushing for more than 1,300 yards during this season he only had 81 yards and one touchdown on 18 carries.

“Playing an explosive, good, balanced offense and holding them to 10 points is really important, especially in the playoffs,” Baun said. “Obviously it wasn’t a clean game for any of us linebackers, I know that for a fact, but holding a team like that to 10 points gives us confidence.”

3. QB Jalen Hurts shows some rust but efficiently manages a game-winner

This wasn’t any old Jalen Hurts, who hadn’t played in three weeks after suffering a concussion in the loss at Washington. He started quickly out of the gates, completing his first six passes, including the touchdown to Dotson, his first as an Eagle. He played smart, he recognized that giveaways would have been problematic, and he did it right: 13 of 21 passes for 161 yards and two touchdowns. A passer rating of 111.4. He also gained 36 yards on 6 carries while the Eagles worked hard to gain 169 rushing yards – Saquon Barkley collected 119 yards on 25 carries.

“At the end of the day, we just want to impose our will and style of playing, and I think we know we’re capable of a lot of different things, but we just have to find our rhythm and go out there and ultimately make it happen. ” Hurts said. “It’s all about winning. You know that’s the only thing when you get to the point we’re at. So it’s about finding ways to win.”