Eagles Have Clean Injury Report Ahead of NFC Championship Game
PHILADELPHIA – It’s been six months since the Eagles opened training camp at the end of July, and here they are now, getting ready to play the biggest game of the season with everybody available.
There are bumps to manage and bruises to treat, such as quarterback Jalen Hurts’ shoulder, right tackle Lane Johnson’s groin, and slot cornerback Avonte Maddox’s toe, but it’s all hands-on deck for Sunday’s NFC Championship Game.
There isn’t a single Eagles player with a status report for the game against the San Francisco 49ers at Lincoln Financial Field.
That means, Johnson will continue to play through a groin tear that will require surgery after the season ends, Maddox will play for the first time since Christmas Eve in Dallas, and Hurts will answer the call once again.
Meanwhile, the 49ers list quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo (foot) out and RB Elijah Mitchell (groin) and cornerback Ambry Thomas (ankle) as questionable.
“Extremely excited,” said Sanders on Friday, about the looming title game. “That might be an understatement, but I’m just trying to live in the moment. Stuff like this doesn’t come around a lot. Everybody knows how hard it is to win in this league, so just taking it all in, blessed, not taking it for granted.”
It’s a rather remarkable feat that every single Eagles player is ready to go, considering the grind the NFL season has become, even more so since adding a 17th regular-season game two years ago.
“Yeah, it’s like week 40 to me,” said Sanders. “It’s a long season, but it’s fun getting to this point and when you get to this point you understand how much work it takes. We’ve been putting in work all year, all year round, since last year really. I think we’re prepared for this moment.”
The Eagles lost some layers along the way – Dallas Goedert and Chauncey Gardner-Johnson for five games, Jordan Davis for four games, Jordan Mailata for two games – but they all returned and are healthy.
“We know this is a physically and mentally tough team,” said head coach Nick Sirianni of his players. “We have shown that. These guys have shown that for their entire careers. In my two years here, I've seen that with our guys of how physically and mentally tough they are.
"I say physically because you see that. You see them block well. You see them tackle well. You see them get off blocks well. You see them come after the football or protect the football with physicality and with toughness.
“So we know we're physically tough because they just keep showing it. It's not just something that we say we are. We see our guys do it over and over and over again.”
Sirianni also addressed the mental toughness required to stay focused for such a long time.
“The grind of what you go through in the season, and just sticking true to the process over and over again no matter how many weeks into this you are, how short you are into it, how long you're into it, just that mental grind, and I know all of our players have been through different things in their lives that have prepared them not only for life ahead but also football games, and through some of the things that we have all been through,” he said.
The Eagles have done their best not to make the game any better than it is, in practice and approach.
“Our practices have been practice,” said Hurts. “Just go out there and attack it, like every other week.”
They have been asked all week about the 49ers and how great their defense is and how tough their offense is to defend.
“It’s the NFC Championship Game, two of the best teams in the NFC are going at it,” said Sanders. “We expect this to be our best challenge and we expect for us to be their best challenge. It’s going to be a great game, physical game.”
And everyone on the Eagles is ready to play it.
Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglesmaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.
