Outside linebacker Jaelan Phillips made a major impact in his Philadelphia Eagles debut, helping his new club to a 10-7 road win against the Green Bay Packers on Monday night.
Phillips paced all Eagles edge players with 52 snaps and racked up 7 pressures, 6 tackles, 2 quarterback hits and a fumble recovery. His stuff on fourth-and-1 with 1:30 remaining led to a Josh Jacobs fumble that sealed the win.
“This whole week, we’ve been telling him we trust him. When we get out there, we’re all as one,” Eagles defensive tackle Jalen Carter said. “He came out, showed out. He got the fumble, he got some pressures, and he had a hell of a game.”
Phillips was acquired from the Miami Dolphins for a third-round pick last week ahead of the trade deadline. He called it “literally the greatest thing that has happened to me in my whole life, probably.” That feeling of gratitude stayed with him for his trip to Green Bay.
“This is the first time in a while that I got a little emotional before a game. This stage — it’s my first time in Lambeau — and walking out of that tunnel, it doesn’t get better than that,” Phillips said. “I felt amazing energy from the guys. There is just an air of confidence, and everybody played together. We had a great game, obviously, super gritty.”
The defense held Jordan Love to 176 yards on 20-of-36 passing while sacking him three times and registering eight quarterback hits. The Packers were held scoreless through three quarters for just the third time under Matt LaFleur.
Philadelphia needed a pass-rush boost, particularly on the outside. Coming into the game, Za’Darius Smith, who retired last month, still led all Eagles edge players with 1.5 sacks. General manager Howie Roseman got aggressive and made the move for Phillips and helped convince Brandon Graham to come out of retirement. The Eagles also got Nolan Smith Jr. (triceps) back from injury.
It’s now looking like a formidable group. Smith had a sack and two quarterback hits, Jalyx Hunt (sack, 2 TFL) made some noise and Phillips didn’t take long to acclimate to his new environment.
“We need him,” Graham said, “and I’m happy that he’s on our team.”
