First Chicago, now Philadelphia. The Green Bay Packers battered a helpless opponent for a second week in a row, this time blowing out the Eagles, 53-20, on a frigid evening in Lambeau Field.
The Eagles held Green Bay to a field goal on its opening possession, but that was one of the last times they'd stop the Packers. Green Bay scored touchdowns on its next three drives, turning the game into a 30-3 blowout by the two-minute warning of the first half. Aaron Rodgers, who threw six first-half touchdowns in Week 10's 55-14 drubbing of the Bears, tossed three scores and 341 yards against the Eagles and finished the game watching Matt Flynn from the sidelines.
The Eagles offense, meanwhile, was worthless. They punted or turned the ball over on eight of their first 11 drives and didn't find the end zone until midway through the third quarter. Mark Sanchez went 26-of-44 for 346 yards with two picks and two garbage-time touchdowns.
Here's what we learned from the game.
1) Philly can't stop the big play.
I wrote in the game preview that the Eagles defense, which came into Sunday having allowed more receptions of at least 25 yards than all but three other NFL teams, had to keep the Packers from making big plays. It took them all of three snaps to allow one.
Rodgers hit Jordy Nelson for a 64-yard reception on the opening drive of the game and the Packers were off to the races. They ended up with seven passes of 20 yards or more (they had five in the first half for a second straight week) and had two more flagged for defensive pass interference. Green Bay absolutely abused the Eagles secondary, particularly Bradley Fletcher, who was routinely beat by Nelson. Nelson, who added a 27-yard touchdown, and Randall Cobb both went over 100 yards receiving.
And although they didn't come against the defense, you can throw Donnie Jones' 50-yard punt return touchdown, Julius Peppers' 52-yard pick-six and Casey Hayward's 49-yard scoop-and-score into the big plays heap.
2) The Packers' defensive resurgence is real.
The Green Bay defense looked like an entirely new group last week against Chicago, but that performance came with a pair of asterisks: 1) it was against the imploding Bears and 2) a huge, early lead gave the defense the luxury of playing against a one-dimensional offense.
You can erase at least one of those asterisks after the Eagles game. While an early lead once again helped the run defense, holding Chip Kelly's squad to 20 points is an undeniably significant achievement. The pass rush battered Sanchez with constant pressure, the front seven bottled up LeSean McCoy for 3.8 yards per carry and the D forced four turnovers.
If Rodgers and Co. continues to get the defensive support we've seen the last two weeks, the Packers have to be seen as Super Bowl contender.
3) The Sanchez comeback has been delayed.
I think most of us not wearing Jets green were secretly rooting for Sanchez to succeed with the Eagles. After all of those years being bashed in New York, it would be kind of cool to see him become the hero in Philly -- and if nothing else, it would provide endless Jets schadenfreude. But the ugly game against Green Bay doesn't bode well for his sustained success.
Before this gets too eulogistic, though, it's not as if this game is the end of Sanchez. Last week's 332-yard, two-touchdown outing against Carolina proved what he can do when he gets help from his offense, something that didn't happen against Green Bay. Nick Foles is likely out at least another three or four weeks, which gives Sanchez plenty of time to turn things back around.
★★★