GREEN BAY, Wis. — Jaelan Phillips finished his live post-game interview and saw someone waving at him from the stands. At first, Phillips thought it was a Philadelphia Eagles fan wearing his new jersey. Then he recognized his uncle. And his father. They’d flown to Chicago, roadtripped three hours to Lambeau Field and watched Phillips begin an era he is still trying to define.
Surreal. Unbelievable. Insane. Phillips used all those words. But the edge rusher’s actions spoke louder — didn’t they? How about this moment? One-score lead. Fourth-and-1. Ninety seconds left to play. Phillips drove a Green Bay Packers tight end backward, latched onto running back Josh Jacobs with his long left arm and wrenched Jacobs downward. The whistles blew on the 4-yard loss, but not before the football popped loose. Safety Reed Blankenship recovered the fumble at Green Bay’s 39. Cornerback Adoree’ Jackson dramatically fell on his back like a celebratory starfish.
“Game over,” Jackson said he thought while staring at the night sky.
Not quite. A three-and-out by Philadelphia’s offense required one more stop of its defense. It obliged. Packers kicker Brandon McManus attempted a last-second, 64-yard field goal that fluttered and fell nowhere close.
Eagles 10, Packers 7.
And there in the aftermath stood Phillips, the game-ender the Eagles needed on defense. Who could miss him? At 6-5, 263 pounds, Phillips has at least two inches and/or 20 pounds on anyone else in an edge-rusher room decimated by injuries. Who could block him? He’d tormented the backfield along with a reinforced defensive front that limited a Packers offense that entered Monday night tied for the NFL’s fifth-most yards per play (5.9) to a season low (4.0).
Who could believe it? Hardly Phillips himself. He’d spent part of the pregame taking time to feel his gratitude. Seven days before, he’d still been with the Miami Dolphins. Then came the trade. He’d called it the “greatest thing that’s happened to me.” Why? For what Phillips proved possible in his first game with an Eagles team that now leads the NFC at 7-2, his first game at Lambeau Field, his first win as a factor within defensive coordinator Vic Fangio’s system. Fangio, who’d coached Phillips in Miami in 2023, gave Phillips nothing but a firm handshake before his disruptive debut — on Monday Night Football, no less.
“What better stage to do it on?” Phillips said.
Plenty else happened on that stage — and not all of it good. An Eagles offense at times obstinate with its run-heavy approach froze up on a frigid night. Jalen Hurts lost a fumble on a promising opening drive, then the Eagles punted five times on drives that gained an average of 8.6 yards, mustered just 10 points and two explosive plays, and turned the ball over on downs twice. Hurts had a chance to end the game on fourth-and-6 with 33 seconds left, but his deep ball to A.J. Brown fell incomplete in tight coverage.
Scoreless at halftime, it was the sort of game appreciated by the classic coaches the Packers memorialized in bronze on their steps. Curly Lambeau. Vince Lombardi. And the men after their old-school hearts. Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said he addressed his players after the game and said, “Hey, sometimes they’re ugly.” Fangio, 67, interjected, “I didn’t think there was anything ugly about that.”
Grimy. Nasty. Pick a word.
“That was a dogfight,” Sirianni said.
Jaelan Phillips (50) and the Eagles defense held Packers quarterback Jordan Love to a season-low in passing yards Monday night. (Mark Hoffman/ Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
The sort of game in which the Eagles offense needed to grind out a 3-0 lead before Hurts struck Barkley on a third-and-7 throw in which Barkley spun around a defender for a 41-yard gain. On the next play, Hurts threw a jump ball that DeVonta Smith came down with for a 36-yard touchdown and a two-score lead that was insurmountable in Monday night’s conditions.
It was the sort of game in which the Eagles defense needed to buy its offense time. The defense has often afforded the Eagles this distinct luxury. A talent-laden offense has sputtered far too suddenly and far too frequently under first-time offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo. Any hold the Eagles have on the NFC’s No. 1 seed can be easily ascribed to its defensive stability. It is not a new leverage point for this regime. The 2024 Eagles won the franchise’s second Super Bowl with a conservative, run-oriented offensive approach that complemented the team’s top-rated defense.
But the Eagles expected to evolve — and needed to, given their defensive departures in the offseason. Their inconsistent play as a passing team under Patullo, paired with sudden setbacks in the run game and untimely penalties, has required the defense to close out the majority of their games this season. The Eagles held the Dallas Cowboys scoreless in the second half of their Week 1 win. They plagued Patrick Mahomes the following week in Kansas City, a road win in which the Eagles were outgained 294-216. Jordan Davis sealed a Week 3 victory over the Los Angeles Rams with a game-winning blocked field goal. Philadelphia’s season-high 427 total yards fueled a 38-20 win over the New York Giants in Week 8, its only win of more than seven points.
Another defensive-oriented win for the Eagles after a Week 9 bye begs the question of how sustainable this style of play can be. Can the Eagles defense continue to hold its opponents at bay until its offense figures out how to strike? The Phillips trade strengthened the Eagles for that possibility. They lacked a dominant dual-threat edge rusher after Josh Sweat’s departure in free agency. The slew of injuries also weakened the rush of their defensive front. Nolan Smith’s Monday return from injured reserve, paired with Phillips’ debut, created a consistent threat the 2025 Eagles hadn’t yet fielded.
A defensive front that prides itself on cohesion sacked Jordan Love three times and held Jacobs to 3.5 yards per carry. On the opening drive, Phillips helped flush Love deeper into the pocket, where he was sacked by Jalyx Hunt for an 11-yard loss that eventually led to a punt. The Packers failed to score on their first seven drives. They reached the red zone just once — their only touchdown. They only crossed the Eagles’ 40 one other time, a two-minute drill before halftime, and linebacker Nakobe Dean, in a two-play sequence, blitzed on both plays and forced Love to lose a fumble while trying to throw the ball away.
An energized defense danced, joked and celebrated on the field. Defensive tackle Jalen Carter said they’ve talked about having more fun with the game. After Love’s fumble, the entire defense ran to the opposite end zone to do a coordinated celebration, but cornerback Quinyon Mitchell took the football and spiked the hell out of it — twice.
Why the second spike?
“I don’t know,” Mitchell grinned. “We were just turned up, bro. We were just playing as a unit all day, man. It was just getting after it.”
The @Eagles get the stop on 4th down!
PHIvsGB on ESPN/ABC
Stream on @NFLPlus and ESPN App pic.twitter.com/STft4uZ2Lb— NFL (@NFL) November 11, 2025
The Eagles held Love to a season-low 176 passing yards. They limited Jacobs to 74 rushing yards. Since Week 7, their opponents have averaged 86.3 rushing yards per game — fifth-fewest in the NFL. The defensive front reinforced by Phillips and Smith flummoxed Love on a penultimate drive with a series of stunts that frequently struck the quarterback. Smith and Carter both hit Love on that drive, forcing incomplete passes before the eventual fourth-down stop.
“We didn’t have to cover for too long,” Mitchell said.
Phillips said “there’s a lot of meat on the bone” in describing the defensive front. His next practice with the Eagles will be his fourth.
“It seemed like he fit right in,” Hurts said.
Old and the new. Beyond Phillips and Smith, Brandon Graham made his debut in a limited role along the edge after returning from retirement. The 37-year-old is supplying much-needed depth along the edge due to the position group’s injuries. Graham also serves as a mentor for players like Phillips and Smith.
“We need him,” Graham said. “And I’m happy that he’s on our team.”