As Tanner McKee and the Eagles' reserves were leading one more charge for a Week 18 win over the Giants and a franchise-best 14-3 record, the starters stood and watched cheering from the Lincoln Financial Field sidelines while also awaiting their opponent for the Wild Card round of the NFL playoffs in a week's time.
It'll be the seventh-seeded Green Bay Packers, who they saw and beat all the way back in Week 1 in Brazil, on Sunday at 4:30 p.m. right back here in South Philly.
The Eagles will be ready, and so will the city.
"Pretty rowdy," tight end Grant Calcaterra said of what he's expecting. "I'd imagine pretty rowdy, yeah. I'm excited about it."
The playoff run is on, the Super Bowl hopes are on the line…
"It's do or die time," center Cam Jurgens said. "Win or lose, win or go home, time to dive in. I feel like a lot of stuff has changed. I feel like it's been a year since we played [the Packers] last in Brazil – my God. Yeah, reset, and get ready for this postseason."
Here's what a few Eagles said about the playoffs and the Green Bay matchup going in after this past Sunday's regular-season close-out of the Giants…
Defensive tackle Jordan Davis: "I'm expecting a hard game. It's the playoffs at the end of the day. We know what they're about. We've seen them already. They're a good team that we played the first time, went out and made sure that we were on our Ps and Qs because the game was close, too, but at the end of the day, it's the playoff mindset. It's a new season going into next week, have to treat it as such."
Wide receiver Jahan Dotson: "We have the guys. Our roster is extremely talented top to bottom. Guys that you might not see on the day-to-day making plays, but it's a 'next man up' mentality on this team. One guy goes down, we hold ourselves to a standard and we gotta uphold that standard no matter who's in there."
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Head coach Nick Sirianni: "I told them what the schedule is tomorrow, but today was for the guys who played good in this game…Obviously very cool that [Jeffrey Lurie] won his 300th game as the owner of this football team, recognized him, recognized a couple guys that played really well, and that's what this was about, was we can get to the Packers tomorrow. We want to enjoy this one, so again, schedule and then recognize the efforts that took to win this game today."
But there is that Week 1 tape sitting there to dive back into once it is time to start preparing. Will it help?
Sirianni: "Both teams are different from that day 'til now, but yeah, no doubt. We'll use that. We'll use everything."
Jurgens: "For sure, just to see what we did, what worked, what didn't work, and how much they've changed since then."
Linebacker Zack Baun: "I don't know. I haven't been in this position in a while, so I'm excited to take a look at it and see."
A consistent message that ran through the locker room, though: The Packers aren't that same team the Eagles played in Brazil, but at the same time, neither are the Eagles.
Jurgens: "It's always tough that first game. You don't know what they're gonna come out. I feel like midway through the year, we started to find a good run identity. We changed a little bit in that aspect."
Baun: "Everyone makes their adjustments throughout the season, tries to figure out who they are as a team – as a defense, as an offense. You throw in wrinkles here and there and you see what sticks. We've changed and I know they have, too."
Dotson, who was acquired by the Eagles right before the start of the season: "It was very early into the season for me, very early. I think I was like five days into the playbook. It was kinda new to me, but I've settled in now and I'm excited for the opportunity. It's my first time in the playoffs, so I can't wait."
Calcaterra: "They've evolved as a team and we have as well. So it'll be important to not only look at that game, but their games more recently and see what kind of team they are now."
But either way, the Eagles will be ready for Jordan Love, Josh Jacobs, and Green Bay.
Bring on the Packers.
Davis: "We're definitely confident that we're going in there, we're gonna play a physical game, and at the end of the day, scheme is gonna take care of scheme, physicality is gonna take care of physicality and we're just gonna see where the chips lie."
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