Eagles
Eagles Postgame Report: Eagles Slip By Rams In Divisional Round

For the Eagles, their first drive was about as good as you could hope with a six-play, 74-yard drive that saw the Rams have no defensive answer for anything thrown at them. It was capped off by a 44-yard Jalen Hurts TD run after the Rams were clearly fooled and the lone defender to get anywhere near the QB whiffed and could do nothing more than hold Hurt’s leg for a half second. Jake Elliott came out to ruin the only play on that drive with a missed point after attempt.
The Eagles defense didn’t come out with the same vigor. Darius Slay stepped in front of the first pass and dropped an interception. Then a challenge turned the three-and-out into a first down before the Rams drove all the way down the field and tie the game before their kicker, made the easy PAT that Elliott couldn’t.
The two teams traded three-and-outs before a drive where Barkley housed the ball on a 62-yard run to take the lead back (and Elliott made the most simple of kicks this time around). The defense SHOULD have answered back, but Isaiah Rodgers took what should have been a pick and essentially handed it to the receiver behind him for a 48-yard completion. The defense was able to force a field goal to keep the lead, but it should have been a scoreless drive to get the Eagles offense good field position if not for Rodgers.
The teams exchanged punts and the Eagles appeared to be on the verge of a punt from their own endzone before Barkley gained 16 yards on a screen to move the chains and initiate the final drive of the half. AJ Brown nearly had a 36-yard reception to set the team up on the one-yard line, but he bobbled the ball and the Eagles had to go back to the ground game to move the chains. Jalen Hurts went back to taking matters into his own hands to stand like a statue for the third time in this game and fumble the ball out of field goal range and lose points for the second-straight drive. He forced them to go for a hail mary, where he tried to scramble for a sack, highlighting a half of just 66 yards passing and four sacks for 41 yards, none of which he should have been holding the ball for.
The score unchanging, both teams exchanged three-and-outs as the Eagles once again tried to have Hurts be their catalyst in the snow instead of the league’s top running back. When LA got the ball the second time, they should have had another three-and-out but Isaiah Rodgers stood there watching his man catch a 30-yard pass for to get them in range for a field goal that ultimately tied the game back up.
The Eagles were able to get something going and lucked into a big Goedert reception because the defender on him just fell down. Then, with an impressively easy seven-yard game, Kellen Moore abandoned the run for three straight drop backs (terrible throw into double coverage, ineligible man downfield, sack) since those had been working so well for approximately 0% of the game. Realizing how stupid that was, Moore went to the ground on 3rd and 17. Shockingly, the next NFL head coach didn’t convert there but Elliott was actually able to hit the field goal and get the lead back.
Two drops forced a three-and-out by the Rams, but their punter pinned the Eagles back at their own four-yard line. With a shaken-up QB pinned inside their own 10-yard line, Kellen Moore looked to coach himself out of any head coaching opportunities as he called a single run before dropping back Hurts into the end zone where the QB took a safety instead of throwing the ball away.
A fumble forced by Jalen Carter was picked up and returned to the 10-yard line by Isaiah Rodgers, seeming to setup the Eagles for an easy score. Three Saquon runs later and an overturned touchdown call led to the Eagles being 4th and goal at the one-inch line. On the tush push, Lane Johnson screwed the team with a false start and the team had to settle for a field goal for a four-point lead.
Nolan Smith, despite being held, made the play on the next drive to force the ball loose where Zack Baun could scoop it up for the offense to start at the LA 38-yard line. On 4th and 4, the Eagles converted with a quick slant to AJ Brown for 9 yards. With a total of just four yards on the next three plays, the Eagles once again called on Elliott who was able to make the 37-yarder and push the lead up to seven points.
Behind a big sack from Moro Ojomo and a tipped pass by Oren Burks, the Rams had a three-and-out to setup the Eagles at their own 23-yard line with 4:47 left in the game. One cut from Saquon Barkley and he took it 78 yard to the house to open up the first two-score lead of the game for the Eagles (Elliott missed a second extra point).
The Rams drove right down the field on their next drive with Stafford completing pass after pass, mostly into the soft coverage of Darius Slay even after Rodgers went out with an injury. The Eagles offense handed the ball right back after just using the Rams timeouts behind a stupid 12-yard loss rollout by Hurts that Moore had no reason at all to call. It game the Rams the chance to win the game.
Cooper DeJean dropped a game-sealing interception and the Rams got a second wind. It was Jalen Carter who stepped up with a big sack on third down where Stafford had to force it and the Eagles took over on downs to end this game.
It will be an NFC East NFC Championship game next Sunday as the Eagles host the Commanders for the right to go to the Super Bowl.
Offensive MVP: Saquon Barkley
The only consistent player in this game, Barkley single-handedly scored two of the Eagles scores in this game while enabling an offense without a passing game to stick in the game. He recorded 205 rushing yards and 27 yards receiving (mostly on screens). He had two touchdowns in this one.
Defensive MVP: Jalen Carter
There are several players in the front seven that could be considered, but Carter stands out a bit with two sacks, a forced fumble, a defensed pass, and five tackles. There was also another reason to celebrate for him: for the first time this season, an offensive lineman was called for holding him on a play where he would have otherwise had another sack to his name.
Game Notes
- Cannot understate the poor hands of the Eagles corners in this one. Darius Slay should have had an interception on the first drive and Isaiah Rodgers turned an interception into a 48-yard completion. Those two plays alone turned what would have been a scoreless first three drives for the Rams into 10 points simply because neither could hold onto a ball that hit them in both hands.
- Jalen Hurts had a big run in the first quarter for a touchdown. He could have had one or two big throws that were bobbled. Other than that, he was entirely ineffective for the first half. His completions were high because he threw at or behind the line and if he wasn’t doing that, he stood around for literally as long as it took to be sacked. He didn’t throw the ball away a single time and lost 41 yards and knocked the teams out of field goal range twice with his decision making abilities on par with a high school QB after the first read. It was something that needed to change (or just have him never attempt another pass) for the second half if the Eagles were to keep any pressure on. His best plays other than the run were actually drops, making for a disappointing first half.
- At least in the second half, you couldn’t really blame Hurts too much (besides not getting rid of the ball on the safety) as his OC saw what wasn’t working and went back to that time after time for no apparent reason, leaving him to get hit and putting the whole offense behind the chains.
- On the filp side, Isaiah Rodgers followed up his first-half screw up by allowing a 30-yard catch on a second play he was there to make and just watched happen, turning what should have been a three-and-out into a scoring drive. That put two of the Rams scores directly on his head alone for being unable to play the ball in any way.
- The defensive line’s depth came in ready to play in this one, with big sacks on meaningful plays by both Moro Ojomo and Jalyx Hunt.
- Interesting to note that the Rams did not seem to go after Kelee Ringo at the times he came into the game.
- Jake Elliott was decent in this one with his not missing a single field goal ultimately being the difference maker that forced the Rams to go for it. That said, he could also have lost the game – the Eagles wouldn’t have been able to lose the game without the Rams successfully recovering an onside kick had he made the two PATs he missed.
- Replacing Nakobe Dean was one of the big issues going into this game. Oren Burks may not have been perfect, but he did play pretty well in this one with some key plays like a tackle for loss to burn an extra minute of clock late and a pass deflection that got his team the ball back. There’s not too much more you could have expected from a backup.
- Kellen Moore spent the week interviewing for future jobs and was so terrible at his current job that he was too dumb to stop calling the same plays that didn’t work and continued to mix them in for negative plays in the second half.
Injury Notes
- Quinyon Mitchell exited later in the first drive of the game and headed to the locker room with a shoulder injury. He was ruled out and did not return.
- Hurts went to the medical tent with an apparent knee injury but did not miss a snap.
- Isaiah Rodgers got injured late in the fourth quarter and was replaced by Kelee Ringo.
Los Angeles Rams @ Philadelphia Eagles – January 19, 2025
Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 |
Rams |
7 | 3 | 5 | 7 |
Eagles |
13 | 0 | 3 | 12 |