2022 Week 12 Game Recap: Eagles 40, Packers 33 (By Ross Jacobs)
The Eagles jumped out to a quick 13-0 lead and it looked like another Philadelphia beatdown was in order, but then the Packers got two quick scores with good field position after stuffing a Philly 4th down conversion and an interception. Philly retook the lead and the Packers again tied it up again, then the Eagles scored again to take a 7 point lead into the half.
In the 3rd quarter the Eagles just continued to pound the Packer defense and pulled away to a 14 point lead. Aaron Rodgers got hurt in the 4th quarter and Jordan Love entered and promptly hit a long catch and run pass to Christian Watson to pull the game within one score again but the Eagles slammed the door shut with another drive and FG. Green Bay drove once more for a field goal but failed to recover the onside kick.
It was technically a close game on the scoreboard and the Packers theoretically had chances to tie or win the game, but it really wasn't close watching these two teams on the field. Almost all of the Packer scores came off of turnovers that gave them great field position. When they had to drive the length of the field they were completely unable to do it outside of the one play where Watson just outran the defense. The Eagles took every punch and just swung back even harder.
Philly isn't a perfect team, the defense is starting to show some cracks, but they are a mentally tough team with a lot of confidence right now and an offense that is very hard to slow down because Jalen Hurts can attack in so many different ways. They remind me of the 2009 Saints...elite offense and a defense that can be scored on but tends to come up with turnovers at critical moments. They are absolutely a Super Bowl contender but it would greatly benefit them to get the #1 seed in the playoffs to avoid an extra game and grab home field advantage. They'll have to be on their game every week to stay ahead of Dallas.
The Packers are in free fall mode and I don't think a change is coming. The offense just isn't going anywhere and the defense is a travesty despite all the talent they have on that side of the ball. How last year's top 10 defense has gotten this bad so quickly is a mystery but they can't stop the run to save their lives.
Now Rodgers has injured ribs to go along with his thumb injury but I don't think he'll shut it down until the Packers are totally eliminated from the playoffs. It's an idiotic decision but since when does anyone in the NFL make the correct decision? What is there to play for? This team isn't climbing back into the playoffs so it's in everyone's best interest for Rodgers to sit, get surgery on his hand, and figure out where he wants to play next year and the team can get a look at Love to see if they want to stick with him in 2023. Like I said though that probably won't happen until they are completely out of the playoffs in a few weeks.
The GB schedule is relatively easy the rest of the way, so it's possible we could see GB climb back to 8 or 9 wins. They should get to 7 at least. If they really want to go to the playoffs they'll probably need to win out and that seems like a real long shot with how poorly they've been playing.
Fantasy Player Notes:
– It does sound like Rodgers is going to play this week and it's a good matchup with a very banged up Chicago secondary. If there's a time for Rodgers to have a big week this is it. Depending on what else you have on your roster I'd probably just throw him out there and hope for the best. You see what Mike White did to them.
I can't get a real bead on Love yet. During the 2021 preseason he looked fantastic, a whole new QB, cool, calm, collected, throwing darts all over the field, then in the 2022 preseason he looked like utter crap again. In his brief time against the Eagles he again looked quite solid...so which is it? I don't know yet. I need to see more before I can make a call. My best guess is he won't be a disaster, probably a mix of some solid play mixed with a few head scratchers and misfires, like a slightly better Trevor Lawrence maybe? We'll see. If he shows enough then they'll probably roll with him next year unless they swap Rodgers for Carr. Again best guess is Love is the Packers QB in 2023 and the team trades Rodgers for a bunch of draft picks and a few players, but it's a wild guess right now.
– We're still not to the AJ Dillon backfield takeover but I absolutely believe it's still coming whether this season or next. Dillon and Jones were rotating series here although both were on the field a lot together. It was like the team planned to feature one or the other every other drive and refused to use both at the same time. Odd. Dillon was the far more effective of the two and repeatedly gashed the Philly defense for chunk runs. If they weren't constantly struggling to keep up with the Eagle offense maybe they could have gotten him a few more carries. For now Jones is still an up and down RB2 and Dillon is an RB3 but that could change very quickly...or not at all.
– Several weeks ago against the Bills I watched Christian Watson catch one quick screen pass against the Bills before leaving the game with an injury and I saw enough in that one play to proclaim that a Watson breakout was imminent...ta da! He's the #1 WR here now no questions asked.
Allen Lazard is an underrated player but he just cannot do the things Watson does, very few receivers can. Watson is still so raw and learning but you see the damage he can do with just a simple slant pass. He made one cut, caught an easy pass over the middle, and just totally outran everyone on the defense to the endzone. That's the kind of thing that Randy Moss used to do. Rodgers still hasn't leaned completely into it yet...Watson lead in targets here but several of those came with Love at QB. Rodgers is picking his spots and not forcing it to Watson but with the season on the line I think they start going more and more to the rookie. We are still just barely scratching the surface of what Watson can do so these last 5 games could be very special.
– Absolutely nothing has changed with the Eagles. Hurts is going to get his numbers every week because defenses are forced to either sell out to stop his running or let DeVonta Smith and AJ Brown destroy them deep. Smith and Brown will ebb and flow for fantasy based on what the defense chooses to do. They will mostly have WR2 days but mix in a few nuclear games as well. This team really wants to run the ball when at all possible but they can throw it as needed too. And when Philly is allowed to run at will, Miles Sanders can always have a monster day like he did here. He was barely touched all day because the offensive line was blowing Green Bay off the ball with ease. He's a RB1.5, will mostly have days where he gets 15 carries or so for about 75 yards but the TDs are coming this year unlike last year (8 this year so far vs 0 last year) so it's giving him some value.
Snap Counts of Interest:
77 = Brown
74 = Smith
66 = Watkins
64 = Stoll
43 = Sanders
49 = Lazard
45 = Watson
22 = Cobb
25 = Tonyan
35 = Jones
21 = Dillon
