time, television; Saquon Barkley is headed to the NFL playoffs

PHILADELPHIA — The Eagles had an advantage in becoming the NFC’s second-best team: They could use the regular-season finale as a week’s rest for nearly all of their starters and especially their key players.

As the Eagles face the Green Bay Packers in the Wild Card round of the NFL playoffs on Sunday, they should be well-rested and have an extra week to heal their bumps and bruises. This should be an advantage over the Packers, who not only played their starters but also saw two of them suffer injuries.

Quarterback Jordan Love suffered an elbow injury but was cleared to play. Wide receiver Christian Watson tore his ACL and will not play again this season.

That’s not the case with the Eagles. Quarterback Jalen Hurts was able to recover from a concussion he suffered against Washington on December 22nd. Running back Saquon Barkley got a much-needed breather after rushing for 2,005 yards this season.

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And wide receiver AJ Brown, who has been dealing with a knee injury since mid-December, was able to develop a recovery plan that would get him ready for the playoffs rather than playing through the injury in the regular season.

“It was very valuable,” Brown said. “I tried to maximize the time so it was good for me. But I’ll just go according to our plan.”

Sure, Barkley had no chance of tying the all-time single-season rushing record set by Eric Dickerson in 1984 with 2,105 yards. But Barkley had 345 runs this season, breaking his personal high of 295 in 2022.

“Anytime you can rest and let your body recover a little bit, it definitely helps,” Barkley said. “But it’s a good thing because we were able to put ourselves in a position to rest and prepare for this run. The focus is on Green Bay and the week of preparation we’ve had. I think we’ve had a great week of preparation so far.”

On the other hand, rust could be a factor.

Finally, Hurts hadn’t played a full game in four weeks, until the Steelers game on December 15th. He hadn’t practiced at all for two weeks while in the NFL’s concussion protocol before returning last Wednesday. Since then, both Brown and DeVonta Smith have missed a day of practice – Brown on Thursday as part of his knee treatment program and Smith on Friday because of a stiff back.

Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said he isn’t worried about potential rust.

“They have a lot of reps together,” Sirianni said of Hurts and the receivers. “Before the last few weeks we did a lot of reps together. So that’s not my concern. And I just feel like we’re in a good position for this game.”

As for Barkley, this is only his second playoff appearance in his seventh season, the first six he spent with the Giants. That happened in 2022, when the Giants won their Wild Card game in Minnesota and were beaten 38-7 by the Eagles the following week.

Barkley signed with the Eagles as a free agent last March and then said he was busy training for a long playoff run.

“I took a break from the season because I knew I probably wasn’t ready for this moment,” Barkley said, reflecting on 2022. “I used this entire offseason to prepare for this season, but also for the playoffs, when the most important thing is to stay fresh and healthy.

This part happened. Now it’s up to the Eagles to move forward from there.

Date: Sunday, January 12th
Time: 4:30 p.m
Where: Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia

Betting line: Eagle -5
Over-Under: 45.5
Money line: Eagles minus 250 (bet $250 to win $100) and Packers plus 210 (bet $100 to win $210).

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