Zack Baun and the Eagles defense save the day as Jalen Hurts struggles

Only Jordan Love knows for certain what he saw when he dropped back on first down late in the second quarter, with the Green Bay Packers down 10 points but already inside Eagles territory and still on the move. There was no receiver in the middle of the field who was open, but Love threw the ball to the middle of the field anyway. The only player in position to catch the pass was linebacker Zack Baun, which was surprising only if you haven’t been watching Baun play linebacker for the Eagles this season.

Baun intercepted Love’s inexplicable pass, returning it 15 yards, snuffing out a Green Bay scoring threat — the most important play by a defense that was the NFL’s best and needed to be at its best Sunday for the Eagles to win, 22-10.

"That was one of the best plays I’ve seen in a long time by a linebacker,“ said Eagles cornerback Darius Slay, who was in coverage behind Baun on the play. ”He was throwing at my dude. I was going to be a bang-bang play, so I’d try to break it up. But to see him come into the picture like ‘Pew-pew,’ I said, ‘Oooooooh.’

“The vision of him, just playing off of his guy because he had a dude in front of him. Just being a ballplayer, you know what I’m saying? ‘Cause a guy could have said, ‘Naw, I’m just looking at my guy and guarding my guy.’ But he was actually like, ‘I’m guarding my guy. Let me see what the quarterback’s doing.’ And he came off his dude and made a play. That’s big-time, man. Not a lot of linebackers can do that.”

Baun’s moment of brilliance stood out in a game that otherwise was as enjoyable as having someone close a door on your fingers: too many penalties, too many mistakes, a couple of quarterbacks, in Love and Jalen Hurts, who missed too many throws and made too many poor decisions. The Eagles’ saving grace, as it has been since mid-October, was their defense. The unit that gave up the fewest yards and second-fewest points in the league during the regular season showed just one weakness against the Packers: a relative inability to tackle running back Josh Jacobs. And given that the 5-foot-10, 223-pound Jacobs had rushed for 1,329 yards and 15 touchdowns this season, there was only so much shame in that flaw. The Eagles forced four turnovers, intercepted Love three times, sacked him twice, and held the Packers to their lowest point total of the season, and Baun was at the center of it all, with seven tackles and his timely pick.

» READ MORE: Saquon Barkley, Zack Baun named first-team AP All-Pro

“By no means was it a clean game by any of us,” he said, “but to hold a team like that to 10 points gives us confidence.”

He had begun his remarkable season with a remarkable game in São Paulo, Brazil, against the Packers: 15 tackles, two sacks of Love, two hits on Love. After four years as mostly a special-teamer with the New Orleans, after signing a one-year, $3.5 million contract with the Eagles in the offseason, after never having played inside linebacker until defensive coordinator Vic Fangio trusted his eyes and experience and moved him there in training camp, Baun is the consummate representation of the Eagles’ success. Fangio and player-personnel chief Howie Roseman collaborated to create an All-Pro inside linebacker pretty much out of thin air, and it should lead to a financial windfall for Baun in free agency.

“Yeahhh, man,” Slay said. “I hope it’s us, but somebody going to pay that man big bucks.”

First things first: Baun will likely have to raise his level of play next week in the divisional round. Nakobe Dean left Sunday’s game with a knee injury and was on crutches when he exited the locker room afterward. Oren Burks has filled in capably before, and while the burden on Baun will be greater for Dean’s absence, he has given no indication that he can’t handle it.

“What you see with Zack is just a guy that’s tough, physical, loves football, great work ethic,” Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni had said Friday. “Those guys [who] have all that usually have an opportunity to reach their ceiling, and he just keeps getting better. So I don’t think we know what his ceiling is. You know, he keeps getting better with every rep that he gets on the inside at linebacker — very versatile, the different things that he can do. He’s worked really hard at that.”

It’s difficult to find a game this season when Baun and his teammates had to work harder than Sunday’s. The Eagles offense was that sluggish. Whether he was still feeling the effects of his Dec. 22 concussion or not, Hurts was spotty at best; after completing his first six passes, he struggled against the Packers’ pass rush and fell back into the hesitancy that caused so much consternation for his receivers a few weeks ago.

The only reason to think that the Eagles can reach the Super Bowl with Hurts playing like he did Sunday is their defense, and had Baun not snared that Love pass just before halftime, had the Packers scored there to cut the Eagles’ lead to three before the break, who knows what might have happened in the second half? No Zack Baun on Sunday, no Zack Baun this season, and how different would everything be for the Eagles? “You don’t put any limits on players,” Fangio said. “If you put limits on them, you’ll get limited production. Take them to the ceiling that they can go to.” He’s playing like he hasn’t reached his yet. It’s as good a reason as any to think the Eagles can still reach theirs.