The 93rd season of Philadelphia Eagles football gets underway with a Week One matchup against the Green Bay Packers in San Paolo, Brazil, South America. The first week of any NFL season is typically the most difficult to predict as an offseason of shuffling in the NFL landscape can take some time for contenders and pretenders to separate themselves.
Entering the 2024 NFL season, Philadelphia and Green Bay both expect to be contenders once the calendar flips to the NFL Playoff season arrives in 2025. Before playoff dreams begin, NFL squads must navigate 17 grueling games in a race for the best record and an opportunity at glory.
Both the Eagles and the Packers have flown south in preparation for a different kind of football fight in South America on Friday evening. Here are three keys to the game for Philadelphia to travel back to Philly with an unblemished record in 2024.
In November 2022, the Eagles hosted the Packers on Sunday Night Football at Lincoln Financial Field. Philly’s running attack was unstoppable running for over 300 yards between Jalen Hurts and Miles Sanders. Hurts led the rushing attack 157 yards and fumbled once in the contest. Throwing the pigskin, Jalen Hurts finished 16-for-28 with 153 yards and two touchdowns.
Hurts finding space through the air might prove difficult against a Green Bay that ranked in the top 10 in passing touchdowns allowed last season. Green Bay allowed 21 passing touchdowns in 2023, while the Houston Texans led the NFL allowing only 17 via the air avenue. Green Bay strengthened the defensive unit by adding safety Xavier McKinney in free agency this offseason.
All summer there have been reports about the quality of Jalen Hurts play this preseason passing the football. If the Eagles’ fifth-year QB can put up a similar 150+ yards and two touchdowns like the last time he faced the Packers, the Birds migration home will be much more enjoyable following a win in Brazil.
In 74 games in Giants Blue, Saquon Barkley scored 35 rushing touchdowns. Barkley rushed for 1,000 yards three times while just narrowly missing last season with 962 yards in New York. With All-Star caliber talents at wide receiver in A.J. Brown and Devonta Smith lurking in Philly’s offense, NFL defenses will be unable to gameplan nearly as hard to slow down Barkley this season without compromising coverage elsewhere.
In three prior games against Green Bay with the New York Giants, Saquon Barkley averaged 80 yards rushing and 4.5 yards per carry. Barkley also brings receiving talent out of the backfield with an average of 4 catches for 30 yards which has fallen steadily since his rookie season in 2018.
The 27-year-old halfback moves to an organization with a long-standing tradition of focusing on quality play at the line of scrimmage as a focal point. It will be fascinating to see if Barkley can provide a dynamic new element for this offense behind his new feathered friends like Jordan Mialaita.
Even before Devin White was officially ruled out of the Eagles lineup for Friday night, a great deal of focus was going to be placed on the linebacking corp available for Vic Fangio’s first game in Philadelphia. Without the veteran White, the Eagles are thinner and less experienced than they could have been traveling to San Paolo, Brazil for Week One action. The pressure falls on veteran Zack Baun, Nakobe Dean, and maybe even rookie Jeremiah Trotter Jr. to step up at the linebacker position.
The task in front of the defense is slowing down Jordan Love. Last season, Love ranked in the top 10 in the league in passing TDs, passing yards, and TD/INT ratio. The Green Bay quarterback got better as the season rolled on in 2023 with a 70% passing percentage for over 2,100 yards and 18 touchdowns over his final eight games.
With a full season of NFL tape on Love now available, the Eagles defensive coaches will need to devise a game plan that limits the damage Love can cause by slinging the football in South America. Kick-off for Week One action is scheduled for 8:15 pm on 09/06/24 in Brazil.
Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
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