The defending NFC champion Atlanta Falcons went across the country and upset the NFC West champion Los Angeles Rams to set up a showdown with the Eagles next Saturday night in the Divisional Round at Lincoln Financial Field (4:35 p.m. on NBC).
This will be the fourth playoff matchup between these two teams and the first since the Eagles won the 2004 NFC Championship at the Linc to advance to Super Bowl XXXIX.
Philadelphia also beat Atlanta in the 2002 Divisional Round at the Vet. The Eagles lost in Atlanta to the Falcons 14-13 in the Wild Card Round way back in 1978, which was Dick Vermeil's first playoff game as a head coach.
The Eagles last faced the Falcons in a November 2016 regular-season matchup and won by a score of 24-15. Atlanta boasted the highest-scoring offense in the league last season, but was held to its fewest points by the Eagles. Quarterback Matt Ryan, who hails from Exton, Pennsylvania and played his high school ball at Philadelphia's Penn Charter, won NFL MVP honors but completed just 18 of 33 passes for 267 yards that day with a touchdown and an interception for a season-low 78.7 passer rating.
