Eagles news: Brandon Graham's status; injury updates on Jalen Hurts; Birds-Rams drew big numbers on NBC
The Eagles will host the Washington Commanders in the NFC championship game on Sunday.
The Eagles will host the Washington Commanders in the NFC championship game at the Linc on Sunday at 3 p.m. on Fox. The winner will move on to Super Bowl LIX.
Nick Sirianni didn't offer much of an update on injuries to Jalen Hurts or rookie defensive back Quinyon Mitchell Monday.
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Brandon Graham's status heading into NFC championship game
One big question heading into Sunday’s NFC championship game — will Brandon Graham be available to play?
Speaking on 94.1 WIP’s morning show Tuesday, Graham didn’t say outright he wouldn’t be available for Sunday’s game. But he strongly suggested if the Eagles move forward to the Super Bowl, you could see him suited up on the sideline.
“Let’s get there,” Graham said. “Let’s go win this week. And then, you know, we’ll see something.
unCovering the Birds: A tale of two Jalens
With all due respect to the quarterback, maybe we should be spending more time talking about the other Jalen on the Eagles’ roster. For as up and down a performance as Jalen Hurts endured in the Eagles’ divisional-round win over the LA Rams, Jalen Carter proved an indomitable force, especially in crunch time. It’s hard to imagine his team surviving the nail-biter without him. In just his second year, Carter is becoming known as one of the top interior defensive linemen in the NFL. Should he be getting even more love? Jeff McLane puts the rising star’s season into context, and examines one of the most underrated aspects of his game.
Plus, with Hurts and the passing attack continuing to struggle in the postseason, Jeff asks around to see if he can get a better sense of what the Eagles can do to right the ship.
And be sure to check out the latest installment of “Pick Six." This week, Jeff talks to Eagles defensive tackle Jordan Davis, who explains the origins of his "DJ Oreo" nickname and the inspiration behind some of his dance moves.
» READ MORE: unCovering the Birds: Divisional Round vs. Rams
Eagles-Rams snow game draws big audience on NBC
The Eagles snowy win against the Los Angeles Rams predictably drew a massive television audience, but not quite as massive as last year.
The divisional round playoff game average 37.8 million viewers on NBC, Peacock, and the company’s other digital properties, NBC announced. The audience peaked at 6 p.m., averaging 47.5 million viewers, who tuned to watch Matthew Stafford come up short in a last-minute comeback attempt.
While a big number, it was down from last year’s divisional round game between the Detroit Lions and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, which drew 40.4 million viewers. Still, NBC says Eagles-Rams was the fourth-most watched divisional playoff game they’ve aired, dating back to 1988.
Vic Fangio has high praise for Darius Slay, Commanders QB Jayden Daniels
Cowboys interviewing other candidates beyond Eagles OC Kellen Moore
The Dallas Cowboys are looking beyond Eagles offensive coordinator Kellen Moore to fill their vacant head coaching position.
Dallas is expected to interview current Cowboys offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer for the job, according to the NFL Network’s Ian Rapport and Jane Slater.
Moore interviewed Friday with Dallas, where he spent three seasons player before joining the coaching staff, ultimately becoming the team's offensive coordinator. Moore also completed an interview with the Jacksonville Jaguars on Friday and the New Orleans Saints on Saturday.
Will Jalen Hurts practice on Wednesday?
While Jalen Hurts is expected to play in Sunday's NFC championship game, how healthy he will be remains an open question.
Speaking on 94.1 WIP's morning show Tuesday, head coach Nick Sirianni didn't offer any updates about the health of his quarterback or even if he's expected to practice Wednesday.
"We'll see tomorrow where he is," Sirianni said.
Nick Sirianni has faith in kicker Jake Elliott
Despite missing three extra points the past two days, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni has faith in kicker Jake Elliott heading into Sunday's NFC championship game.
"He's 6-for-6 in the playoffs on field goals in adverse conditions," Sirianni said when asked about replacing Elliott on 94.1 WIP's morning show Tuesday. "I got a lot of faith in Jake, and I know he's clutch when we need him to be clutch."
Across the league, kickers were successful making 50-plus yard field goals 70% of the time this season, according to an Inquirer analysis of NFL data. Elliott’s career success rate kicking long field goal was 70% entering this season (26 of 38), but dipped down to just 14% this year.
Eagles-Commanders NFC championship tickets go on sale this morning
Tickets for the NFC championship game between the Eagles and Commanders will go on sale on Tuesday, Jan. 21 at 10 a.m on Ticketmaster. There is a four-ticket limit per household, and tickets will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Tickets will sell out fast, so if you miss out, they will also be available on the secondary market through platforms like StubHub and TickPick. Currently, the cheapest tickets on those platforms are about $600.
— Gabriela Carroll
Howie Roseman's draft success
There are typically a couple of common threads between the teams that make it this far into the postseason.
Franchise quarterbacks are the obvious one, as are opportunistic defenses or highly rated play-callers. For the Eagles, a multiyear stretch of hitting on premium draft picks stands out as one of the major factors you’ll often see as well.
In the last three years, Eagles general manager Howie Roseman formed a nucleus that now consists of Jalen Carter, Cam Jurgens, Quinyon Mitchell, Nolan Smith, Cooper DeJean, and Jordan Davis. The year before that, he took DeVonta Smith, Landon Dickerson, and Milton Williams with successive picks.
Eagles injury report: Jalen Hurts, Quinyon Mitchell
Nick Sirianni has kept injury updates close to the vest all season, so he wasn’t going to change course during his day-after press conference Monday as the Eagles started preparations for the Washington Commanders ahead of the NFC championship game Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field.
That means there was no update from the head coach on where things stand with quarterback Jalen Hurts and rookie cornerback Quinyon Mitchell — the former suffering what appeared to be a knee injury late in the third quarter that limited his mobility, and the latter leaving in the first quarter with a shoulder injury.
Both players said after the game that they expected to be fine for the Eagles’ next game.
NFL playoff schedule
After 281 games, the 2024 NFL season comes down to just three remaining match-ups.
While the Eagles will host the Washington Commanders in the NFC Championship game, the Buffalo Bills look to defeat Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship game.
The winners will face off in Super Bowl LIX, which is being played at the Superdome in New Orleans.