Here are some takeaways from the Eagles’ victory – their eighth straight win at Lincoln Financial Field …

1. Eagles open the game with a bang – and a TD

Special teams can change a game, right? You hear that all the time, and on Sunday late afternoon in 40-degree, low-wind conditions, that’s exactly what happened. The Eagles won the coin toss and elected to defer, so Green Bay received the opening kickoff. Jake Elliott kicked off to the dangerous Keisean Nixon, who brought the ball out from 1 yard deep in the end zone. Oren Burks popped Nixon at the 27-yard line, forcing the ball loose, and Jeremiah Trotter, Jr. was there to wrestle the football away in a scrum. Eagles football, Green Bay 28-yard line.

“I turned around and I was already celebrating and saw that Trotter got on it as well,” Burks said. “It was just kind of in the flow of the game, so, just tried to make a big play.

“That was just the mindset. In the playoffs, nobody’s going to give you anything, you have to go and take it. I feel like that play from the jump just exemplifies what it’s going to take to take the ball away.”

Saquon Barkley ran left, spinning away from defenders, for a 16-yard gain to the 12-yard line on the game’s first play from scrimmage. He ran again on the left side on first down, gaining 1 yard. On second-and-9 from the 11-yard line, quarterback Jalen Hurts had a straight dropback to pass, had a lot of time as the Eagles blocked a four-man pass rush, and drilled a pass to a wide-open Jahan Dotson in the back of the end zone as Philadelphia took an early lead.

Jake Elliott drilled the PAT and the Eagles had a 7-0 lead right off the bat in a wire-to-wire victory.

2. Defense pitches a terrific game

The Eagles have the No. 1-ranked defense in the NFL for a reason. And in this game, they showed every bit of it. Philadelphia picked off three Jordan Love passes – one by Darius “Big Play” Slay, one by Zack Baun, and, late in the game, one by Quinyon Mitchell, his first in the NFL, after a terrific regular season by the top draft pick.

Philadelphia held Green Bay to 107 rushing yards, limited Love – who was sacked twice and under pressure a lot, and took the football away three times. Green Bay lost two offensive linemen and two wide receivers (they were already without deep threat Christian Watson, out with a knee injury) and the Eagles stuffed them until some late-game garbage yards.

Great performance by a defense that lost linebacker Nakobe Dean to a knee injury in the first half. He was replaced by Burks, who had four tackles. Nolan Smith was outstanding with both quarterback sacks and great tackling (Head Coach Nick Sirianni presented Smith was a game ball in the locker room after the win), the interior of the defensive line dominated, and Jacobs, who rushed for more than 1,300 yards during the season, had only 81 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries.

“To play an explosive, good offense, balanced offense like that and hold them to 10 points is really big, especially in the playoffs,” Baun said. “Obviously, by no means was it a clean game by any of us linebackers, I know for sure, but to hold a team like that to 10 points gives us confidence.”

3. QB Jalen Hurts shows some rust, but efficiently produces a winning effort

This wasn’t vintage Jalen Hurts, who had not played for three weeks after suffering a concussion in the loss at Washington. He opened fast out of the gates, completing his first six passes, including the touchdown to Dotson, his first as an Eagle. He played smart, he recognized that giveaways would have been problematic, and he did it right: 13 of 21 passing for 161 yards and two touchdowns. A passer rating of 111.4. He also gained 36 yards on 6 runs as the Eagles worked hard to gain 169 rushing yards – Saquon Barkley picked up 119 yards on 25 carries.

“Ultimately, just kind of want to impose your will and style to play, and I think we know we’re capable of doing a number of different things, but we just have to find our rhythm and go out there and ultimately, execute,” Hurts said. “It’s all about winning. You know that’s the only thing when you’ve got to the point where we are. So it’s about finding ways to win.”