1/13/25 Hometown Broadcasting Sports Monday
13 January 2025 Sports
Jalen Hurts tossed two touchdown passes in his first game since a late-season concussion, Dallas Goedert threw three stiff-arms on a rugged touchdown catch and the Philadelphia Eagles rode their NFL-best defense to a 22-10 wild-card playoff win over the Green Bay Packers on Sunday night.
Hurts threw for a modest 131 yards but played with no hesitation in his return from a three-week layoff after a concussion in December. He started strong – six straight completions to open the game – and held off the Packers with a 24-yard touchdown pass to Goedert in the third quarter that will be forever stamped on the franchise’s postseason highlight reel.
Philadelphia’s defense handled the rest.
The Eagles turned a recovered fumble on the opening kickoff into Hurts’ first TD pass three plays later and the defense picked off Jordan Love twice in the first half. Holding a 19-10 lead in the fourth, the Eagles forced a turnover on downs when Green Bay had a fourth-and-3 on its own 41 with five minutes left in the game.
Quinyon Mitchell had one final interception of Love with 1:51 left in the game that sealed the win for the NFC East champions, who’ll host a division game next week at the Linc.
The Eagles had the book on the Packers – and had time for some light reading as wide receiver A.J. Brown flipped through the pages of “Inner Excellence” by Jim Murphy while on the bench. Brown had one catch for 10 yards.
Love threw for 212 yards and was intercepted three times as he nursed a sore right elbow that was hurt in the regular-season finale against Chicago,
Josh Jacobs ran for 81 yards and a score – and popped Green Bay’s offense with a 31-yard run in the third where he shook off one tackle, had his jersey stretched to his heel by one defender, plowed one more and dragged two more hapless Eagles to the 1-yard line. Jacobs punched it in for the score on the next play and cut it to 16-10.
Aided by an unnecessary roughness flag on Green Bay, Hurts got the Eagles close enough for Jake Elliott to kick a 30-yard field goal for a 19-10 lead. Elliott needed the short kick for a confidence boost after he missed an extra point on Goedert’s touchdown.
Elliott, who struggled with kicks from 50-plus yards this season, added a 32-yarder in the fourth and a 31-yarder in the first quarter.
Saquon Barkley, who led the NFL in rushing with 2,005 yards, had 119 yards in his Eagles’ postseason debut.
The Eagles had the Linc thumping, from the time the public address announcer put a little relish on his command to, “Welcome back to the Eagles lineup, Jalen Huuurts,” to the recovered fumble moments later.
Green Bay’s Keisean Nixon had the ball knocked loose by Oren Burks and it was recovered by Jeremiah Trotter at the Green Bay 28. Hurts needed only three plays to find Jahan Dotson for an 11-yard touchdown.
Darius Slay went over his shoulder for the cornerback to haul in the ball like an elite receiver for an interception and All-Pro linebacker Zack Baun made it two for the Eagles. The Eagles didn’t score off those picks, but did keep the Packers off the board.
Hurts put all immediate questions about his health to rest when he completed his first six passes for 39 yards, including the TD to Dotson. He then missed his next seven going into the half. He didn’t complete another pass until late in the third quarter, then hit seven of his final eight overall, that included the Goedert TD catch.
Brandon McManus, who missed a 38-yard earlier, hit one from 26 yards to make it 10-3 at halftime.
The Packers lost receivers Romeo Doubs (concussion) and Jayden Reed (shoulder), offensive linemen Elgton Jenkins (stinger) and Josh Myers (left leg) and several defenders to injury.
The Eagles LB Nakobe Dean was ruled out quickly after leaving with a knee injury in the second quarter.
AFC Wild Card (Sun.)
Bills 31 Broncos 7
NFC Wild Card
Commanders 23 Buccaneers 20
NFC Wild Card (Mon.)
Vikings at Rams (Las Vegas)
AFC Wild Card (Sat.)
Houston Texans 32 Los Angeles Chargers 12
Baltimore Ravens 28 Pittsburgh Steelers 14
In the NBA Sunday the Bucks lost on the road to the Knicks 140-106. Giannis Antetokuonmpo led Milwaukee with 24 points and 13 rebounds and Damian Lillard scored 22. Milwaukee drops to 20-17 in the Eastern Conference. The Bucks are back home on Tuesday hosting the Kings.
Men’s College Basketball (Sat.+
Ripon College 74 Illinois College 62-Luke Meinholz led the Red Hawks with 21 points.
#1 U-W Platteville 79 UW-Oshosh 64-Joey LaChappell led the Titans with 30 points.
Women’s College Basketball (Sat.)
Ripon College 88 Illinois College 48-Holie Van Horn led the Red Hawks with 21 points.
UW-Oshkosh 60 UW-Platteville 54\Kaycee Vaile led the Titans with 16 points.
Steven Crowl scored 18 points and John Tonje added 16 for Wisconsin on Friday night to help the Badgers beat Minnesota 80-59 for their fourth win in a row.
Kamari McGee added 15 points, including three 3-pointers, and three steals for Wisconsin (13-3, 3-2 Big Ten).
The Badgers have won eight consecutive games against Minnesota and 17 of the last 19.
Dawson Garcia made two free throws to open the scoring 40 seconds into the second half and give the Gophers a one-point lead but Nolan Winter answered with a 3-pointer 15 seconds later to spark a 13-2 run that culminated when John Blackwell and Crowl made consecutive 3s to give Wisconsin a 43-33 lead.
Garcia and Lu’cye Patterson made back-to-back layups to cut Minnesota’s deficit to six about 6 minutes into the second half. Tonje converted a three-point play and Crowl made a 3-pointer to push the lead into double figures for good and spark a 22-3 run that made it 67-43 when Markus Ilver hit 3-pointers 32 seconds apart.
Minnesota (8-8) is 0-5 in conference play for the first time since the Gopher lost the first 13 Big Ten games in 2015-16.
Garcia led the Gophers with 22 points and 10 rebounds, his fourth double-double this season.
Wisconsin shot 57.7% (15 of 26) from the field, 8 of 15 (53.3%) from 3-point range, in the second half.
Garcia, Patterson and Femi Odukale each hit a 3-pointer to help Minnesota jump to a 15-5 lead about 5 1/2 minutes into the game. The Badgers answered with a 10-0 run, capped by five consecutive points from Crowl, and Tonje hit a 3-pointer with 7:59 left before halftime to give Wisconsin its first lead at 18-17.
The Badgers host Ohio State Tuesday night with the tipoff at 8:00 at the Kohl Center.
High School Basketball (Girls)
(Mon.)
Wautoma at Ripon-Tipoff at 7:15 pm on The Wave.
The Wisconsin Herd, NBA G League affiliate of the Milwaukee Bucks, beat the Osceola Magic 139-118.
Milwaukee Bucks Assignment player Chris Livingston propelled the Herd with a career-high 35 points while AJ Johnson followed with 21 points. Terence Davis posted a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds.
The Osceola Magic top scorers were Javonte Smart with 23 points and Alex Morales with 22 points.
The Herd will hit the road to take on the Westchester Knicks on Wednesday, Jan. 14 with tip-off set for 6:00 p.m. CST.
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