Eagles Date And Time Set For Wildcard Opener Vs. Packers

The Philadelphis Eagles went 14-3 in the regular season but had to settle for the No. 2 seed.

Jan 5, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Eagles fans cheer on in a game against the New York Giants at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images / Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

PHILADELPHIA – The second-seeded Eagles will open the playoffs at home on Sunday at 4:30 on FOX against the No. 7 seed Green Bay Packers.

Philly won on Sunday against the New York Giants, 20-13, to reach a franchise-record 14 wins, which was achieved just two years ago when they also went 14-3. That made Nick Sirianni just the second head coach in NFL history to win 14-plus games twice in their first four career years, joining George Seifert (1988, ’90, ’92).

“It's cool,” said Sirianni. “Again, that takes contributions from everybody. We always talk about doing special things, and you have special things to do during the regular season and then the postseason. Winning the division, tying a franchise record, that's cool.”

The Eagles went to the Super Bowl when they won 14 in 2022, but they did so as the No. 1 seed in the NFC, which comes with a bye. As a two seed, they are guaranteed another home game if they beat the Packers.

Philly created its own bye week by resting its starters against the Giants.

“Obviously you always want the bye-week,” said Sirianni. “We didn't get that. …We were able to kind of create our own bye-week, I guess to say, after not having a bye-week since week five, so that's good.

“Any time you can get the guys rest this late in the season, it's like when we take guys out when we have a big lead in a game, you want to take them out to rest them as well because it's a long season. Every game is so, so important. It's huge to be able to do that.”

The Packers will limp in losers of two in a row, including a regular-season finale, 24-22 loss to the Chicago Bears, who had lost 10 straight before beating the Packers at Lambeau Field.

Green Bay is 11-6 and was a disaster inside the NFC North, losing both games to the Lions and Vikings and splitting with the Bears to go 1-5. The Eagles were 5-1 inside the NFC East.

Furthermore, the Eagles were 5-2 against playoff teams. The Packers were 2-5 against playoff teams, including a season-opening 34-29 loss to the Eagles in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Green Bay quarterback Jordan Love suffered an elbow injury in the loss to Chicago and receiver Christian Watson to a knee injury, so their health will need monitored this week.

“They’re going to play tough,” said linebacker Oren Burks, who had a career-high 17 tackles and was drafted by Green Bay in the third round in 2018 and spent the first four years of his career with them.

 “They have a younger team, they’ve been playing really well these last couple years, and those young guys are coming together. They’re explosive. Jordan Love, he’s been playing extremely well these last few years. Obviously, it was a good matchup in Brazil, but excited to get back out there for the playoffs and make a run.”

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