Date & Time: Friday, September 6th — 8:15 P.M. EST
Location: Corinthians Arena in São Paulo, Brazil.
Network: Peacock (nationally), NBC10 (only in Philadelphia)
Eagles Injury Report
• Devin White – Ankle (Out)
Packers Injury Report
- N/A as of September 4
Matchup Preview:
Philadelphia opens the season with a home game (of sorts). As both the Eagles and Packers travel to São Paulo, Brazil, in what will be the first game in NFL history that will take place in South America.
This also marks the first time in over 50 years dating back to 1970 that an NFL opening weekend game will be played on a Friday.
For the sixth consecutive season the Packers begin their season on the road. However, this is the first time in those 6 years, that they aren’t matched up with a divisional opponent.
Green Bay comes into the season looking to carry some of the momentum that saw them finish 7-3 down the stretch of last season en-route to an NFC Divisional round appearance in quarterback Jordan Love’s first year as a starter.
Green Bay’s offense, which ranked just inside the top ten as a unit according to PFF, returns almost in its entirety. The exceptions being guard Jon Runyan (signed with the Giants), who the team looked to replace by having 2024 first round selection from Jordan Morgan move inside at guard, and longtime lead back in Aaron Jones who signed with the Vikings.
They were able to replace Jones with the splash signing of Josh Jacobs. As they head into year two of the Love/LaFleur era, the Packers will look to make even greater strides.
Defensively however, is a different story. Most notably with the team parting ways with former defensive coordinator Joe Berry.
The organization opted to hire former Boston College head coach, Jeff Haley. This, along with the signing of safety Xavier McKinney during free agency, and the selection of defensive back Javon Bullard in the second round of the 2024 NFL Draft, will have the Packers with two new starters on the back-end of the secondary.
As for Philadelphia, who will look to wash away the disappointing finish to last season, they’ve essentially hit the reset button.
In comes two new coordinators, the first being offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, who will look to instill life into an Eagles offense that became stale and lacked creativity down the stretch of the 2023 season.
Just as their opponents, the Eagles return a vast majority of their offense. The only exceptions being D’Andre Swift’s exit to Chicago and the retirement of the legendary Jason Kelce.
To combat these losses, Philadelphia acquired star back Saquon Barkley from the rival New York Giants and transitioned Cam Jurgens into his natural position at center which seemed to always be the plan post-Kelce.
The second being veteran, Vic Fangio at defensive coordinator. Fangio looks to bring a sense of stability to a defense that finished near the bottom of the league in opponents ppg (25.6), opponents third down conversions percentage (46.15), and opponents red zone scoring (65% tds allowed).
He will have to do so while featuring multiple young and inexperienced players in key positions. The team desperately needed to overhaul the secondary but the question remains: How soon can Fangio get this unit ready to play?
Keys to victory:
1.) Making the Packers one dimensional starts with winning up front
One of the better traits about the Packers offense is they do a great job not tipping their hand in terms of what they want to do. Fangio spoke about this earlier this week.
“The biggest problem in defending their offense is they run it just as good as they throw it,” Fangio said. “So they have a really good mix on first and second down of run and play action, and it makes it hard to defend.”
As Fangio also mentioned, Green Bay has about a 50/50 split in terms of 11 and 12 personnel usage on early downs. Last season the Eagles allowed 4.3 yards per carry to opponents, the same average in which the Packers offense gained on rushing attempts.
Philadelphia has an advantage in terms of their defensive line against this Packers offensive line, particularly in the interior.
Expect the Packers to attack the edge on rushing attempts, while looking to use the Eagles aggressiveness to their advantage with screens.
If the Eagles can keep Green Bay behind the chains and force them into a more pass happy approach, that would be the first step to success.
2.) Jalen Hurts has to command the offense both pre and post snap
As mentioned, the Packers hired Jeff Hafley to be the defensive coordinator, a position that has plagued this franchise for multiple seasons in the LaFleur era. Hafley will be tasked with calling plays for this Green Bay defense, something he hasn’t done since 2019 during his time at Ohio State.
When asked about what his play calling and defensive approach is Hafley stated in an interview with Adam Breneman:
“I’ve done a lot with at least a middle close with four down linemen,” Hafley said. “And then very similar to what we did at San Fransisco and Ohio State a lot of people do in the NFL but I started to adapt and play different one high shells which really play like two high shells and get extra guys in the box. You just have to stop the QB run game!”
Based on this and how he’s historically called games, you can expect a lot of Cover 1 and Cover 3 looks post snap.
This is a far cry from the ‘bastardized’ (in the words of Pierre) version of the Fangio defense both Philadelphia and Green Bay have ran in recent history.
In fact, this is much more aggressive than a Fangio based defense, which prefers to limit explosive plays.
This brand of defense emphasizes having the extra man in the box to have a numbers advantage against the run.
In his first game under Kellen Moore, Jalen Hurts will face a defense that will almost dare him to throw the football. It’s been talked about ad-nauseam, the phenomenal camp Hurts had, how well he took care of the ball and looked in complete command of the offense, but that will be put to the test early and often.
Matchup to watch:
- Vic Fangio vs Matt LaFleur
These are two talented rosters that match up fairly well with one another. On paper, both offenses have advantages over the defenses. This is why this game will come down to the X’s & O’s factor, and coincidentally enough, this is what Eagles fans wanted to see.
Matt LaFleur is one of the best in the league in terms of creating diversions with misdirections, using the running game to set up the play action game, and marrying his concepts together.
How much will the Eagles miss Devin White? Well that remains to be seen, but it’s safe to say that the front seven of this unit will be under attack all night.
We’ve talked about how the Packers utilize both 11 and 12 personnel effectively, but it’s worth noting that the Packers used 12 personnel or an extra OL 34% of the time. This partnered with the fact that Jordan Love had the third highest EPA per dropback when targeting the slot puts the Fangio and his defense in a bit of a compromising position.
How exactly do you utilize the nickel position whereas you are prepared for any outcome?
Fangio has spoken about how in this defense the nickel cornerback in this defense is essentially a third linebacker
It’s a fair assessment to say that the most important defender in this game will be first round pick Quinyon Mitchell. Fangio recently said he believed Mitchell was prepared to play “every snap” in this game both on the outside and in the slot if needed.
Mitchell is more than a serviceable tackler when in run support, and has proven an ability throughout camp and the preseason to be able to hold his own in the inside. It’s not yet known how many snaps Mitchell will see from the slot, but it’ll be interesting to see how Fangio manages his star pupil having to tackle Josh Jacobs for four quarters, while also containing Jayden Reed in the slot.
How Fangio combats the Packers personnel usage will go a long way in determining the outcome of this game
“It’s definitely something you have to manage, we’re all tempted as coaches. We all bought up different things in our staff meeting getting ready for this game. You know, this might be good, that might be good; and you know they all might be good, they’re all good ideas but at a certain point when you have a new/young defense, you have to be careful not to ask them to do too much.”
Bold Prediction:
The last time these two teams met, Jalen Hurts and the Eagles put on a rushing clinic. The Eagles rushed for the second most rushing yards in franchise history and the most since 1948 with 363, while Hurts set an Eagles franchise rushing record for quarterbacks with 157 yards.
While I don’t see the Eagles being as successful as they were rushing the ball that November night in 2022, I do believe that, the stars and fireworks will be on display.
All four of Philadelphia’s offensive stars will score touchdowns.
Saquon Barkley opens the night with his first rushing touchdown as an Eagle. A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith both haul in touchdowns some point.
Then we’re capped off by a the world famous Brotherly Shove, yes it even works without Jason Kelce.
Game Prediction:
Pick: Eagles 31, Packers 28
As good as all that sounds, the game will end on the foot of Jake Elliott as the Eagles look to head back to Philadelphia with a win.
The offense will look explosive, the defense will have give up a lot of points ultimately until that bend but don’t break moment happens. It won’t be easy but it will definitely be fun in São Paulo.
Cover Image: Bill Streicher – USA TODAY
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