Falcons vs. Eagles: Highlights, game tracker from Divisional Round

The Atlanta Falcons faced the Philadelphia Eagles on Jan. 13 in the Divisional Round of the 2018 NFL Playoffs. Here are highlights from the game.

At this time last year, the Atlanta Falcons had a first-round playoff bye en route to a trip to the Super Bowl. On Saturday, the Falcons, as the NFC’s No. 6 seed, traveled to Philadelphia to face the top-seeded Eagles in the Divisional Round of the playoffs.

Without Carson Wentz, there was an obvious way to win for Philadelphia — but one much different than how they achieved most of their success this season with the second-year quarterback. To win, their defense would have to play a monster game and the offense would have to limit mistakes. Despite a Jay Ajayi fumble on their opening drive, the Eagles held up their end of the bargain early on.

Philadelphia only allowed a field goal in the first quarter, but Nick Foles and the offense couldn’t muster anything. However, they did start a long drive that lasted a good portion of the second quarter. Then, on fourth down, Doug Pederson reached down for his guts and went for it with goal-to-go. LeGarrette Blount rammed it in to take a 6-3 lead, which is where it stayed after a missed extra point.

However, Matt Ryan orchestrated a great answer, ultimately escaping pressure and finding Devonta Freeman for the touchdown. A late push with less than a minute left, though, Foles and the Eagles came up with some magic and kicked a field goal to pull within one point of the Falcons.

It was the Philly defense that truly stepped up after the break. They held strong against everything that the Falcons could throw at them, stopping Ryan, the run game and everything. Meanwhile, Foles and the Eagles offense did enough to push down the field for two field goals, taking a 15-10 lead into the late fourth quarter.

Ryan and the Falcons had one more try at it, though, and made a lot of it. Including a fourth-down conversion to Julio Jones, he drove down the entire field and tried to make something happen. With goal-to-go, however, he couldn’t punch it into the end zone — though the officials may have missed a pass interference call on Jones. That allowed Philly to run out the rest of the clock and secure the win with their backup quarterback at the helm.

Highlights

https://twitter.com/NFL/status/952308915101822976

Next: 2018 NFL Mock Draft: Divisional Round edition

Philadelphia will now be at home next week to face the winner of the Saints and Vikings in the NFC Championship Game. My, oh my.