Eagles Will Probably Face Packers in Playoffs

As a wise man once said, “there’s reason to believe maybe this year will be better than the last.” For Philadelphia sports fans, 2024 was rough. The Eagles scored nine points in a playoff rout in Tampa. The Flyers missed the playoffs again. The Sixers lost to the Knicks in the playoffs. And the coup de grace was the World Series bound Phillies losing to the f#cking Mets. Could 2025 be worse? Dare we even stick around to find out? Of course we will. Because we’re masochists.

In the email today:

• 🧀 Eagles Will Probably Face Packers in Playoffs

• 👎️ Sixers' NoCal Mini Sweep Sign of Serious Defects

• 🗓️ Flyers Suffer Schedule Loss in Sin City

  • 📆 This Day in Philly Sports History

  • 📊 Poll

  • 🔗 Links

  • 📺 Coming Up

The Eagles are locked in as the NFC’s second seed in this year’s NFL playoffs, regardless of the outcome of their game against the Giants on Sunday.

A two seed used to earn a team a first-round bye. But ever since 2020, when the league expanded to a 14-team playoff format (seven teams in each conference), the second seed in each conference hosts the seventh seed in the first round.

In all likelihood, that means the Birds are in line for a rematch of their Week One game against the Green Bay Packers.

The Washington Commanders are the only other possible first round opponent for the Eagles. But that pairing would necessitate both 1) the Packers beating the Bears (ok, easy enough), and 2) the Cowboys beating the Commanders (not likely).

That’s a tough draw for the Birds. Barring a huge upset by the Bears (who are 10.5 point underdogs), the Packers are set to improve to 12-5 this week. Green Bay is talented on both sides of the ball and regarded by oddsmakers as the fourth-best NFC squad.

On one hand, a team with Super Bowl aspirations should be able to beat anyone in their path. On the other hand, it sure would be nice for the Eagles to warm up against a team like, say, the Denver Broncos (who are 9-7 and currently hold the seventh seed in the AFC).

Vegas has already assigned point spreads to likely postseason games, with the Birds favored by three in a hypothetical battle against the Pack. Traditionally, that’s the point spread assigned in the home team’s favor when two teams are evenly matched.

The Eagles would be a bigger favorite over Washington if things break in that direction. Despite the Commanders’ wild comeback win over the Jalen Hurts-less Birds on December 22, we’d expect the Eagles to be favored by at least a touchdown in that scenario.

Again, it’s highly unlikely that the Commanders will travel to the Linc in round one. But it’s not impossible.

Go Cowboys????

Ugh, sorry, we just threw up in our mouths a little bit. Eagles-Packers will be just fine.

If you’ve ever owned an old car, you know the drill.

When it runs right, you love it. You’re comfortable with it. You know what it will do. But as time goes on, the “it runs right” days start to dwindle.

The reasons why the car won’t run right can be as simple and stupid as “it’s cold outside” or “it rained last night” or “I put 87 octane in instead of 92.”

The Sixers played without Joel Embiid on Wednesday night in Sacramento and blew a late lead to the Kings. At least Embiid would be available against Golden State last night, right? You’d rather have him play against Steph Curry! So, how’d that turn out?

And it wasn’t really that close.

The Warriors made seven three-pointers in the first quarter (many of them unguarded) en route to a 17-point first quarter advantage that they never seriously considered giving back.

Perhaps most troubling for the Sixers, especially while the game was still in doubt, was the Warriors’ score distribution.

This wasn’t a “Curry is making everything so we’re cooked” game. The Warriors shot 57% from the field as a team in the first half, with five different players tallying nine or more points. They finished the first half with 13 made threes. You can’t live like that.

Separately, this loss to the Warriors exposed how shallow the Sixers’ roster really is.

So this is where we are with the Sixers as 2025 dawns.

When Embiid and Tyrese Maxey score, like, 30+ apiece, and Paul George isn’t actively sucking, and someone like Guerschon Yabusele chips in with double digits, the Sixers can beat anyone.

Unfortunately, there aren’t that many nights where Embiid, Maxey and George play together, much less play together well.

Nights like last night, the engine never turns over, and you sit in the driveway missing the increasingly few sunny days when the car runs right.

The Flyers played in Las Vegas last night. Janet Jackson plays there tonight. You only get this sort of knowledge at On Pattison.

Anyway, the Orange and Black stuffed the Sharks in a locker in San Jose to celebrate New Year’s Eve. Last night’s Vegas appearance was the fifth game of a six-game road trip that will end in, of all places, Toronto on Sunday night.

Another thing worth mentioning is that Vegas (the hockey team, not the city) is really good this season, atop the Pacific Division.

So, uh, yeah.

Tyson Foerster had the Flyers’ first tally, which allowed the Flyers to carry a slim lead to the first intermission. But Vegas took control with three goals in the second period and another one early in the third to grab the game with both hands.

Flyers’ goaltender Aleksei Kolosov was pedestrian as has been his level lately, although one suspects if he had played in San Jose instead of Samuel Ersson, he might have gotten the shutout win instead of the nondescript loss last night.

With Ersson injured (again), many people are saying that the old adage is true — if you have three goaltenders, you have no goaltenders at all.

Speaking of schedule losses, the Atlantic Division leaders wait for the Flyers on Sunday.

📆 This Day in Philly Sports History

On January 3, 1973, one of the best nicknames in sports was born.

📊 Poll

Results from Tuesday:

🔗 Links

• ⬆️ If you can’t get excited for Notre Dame/Penn State and Texas/Ohio State, you just don’t like college football.

• 🎙️Maybe you’re surprised at how it (reportedly) ended for Howard Eskin at WIP.

• 🗽 The 2,000 rushing yards weren’t the only thing the Giants miss about Saquon.

• 🐍 The Union introduced someone named Bradley Carnell to replace Jim Curtin.

📺 Coming Up

Games before our next send.

Saturday, January 4, 2025

• Sixers at Nets, 6:00 p.m. (NBC Sports Philadelphia)

Sunday, January 5, 2025

• Giants at Eagles, 1:00 p.m. (FOX)

• Flyers at Maple Leafs, 7:00 p.m. (NBC Sports Philadelphia)

Thanks for reading. See you Monday.

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