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After one of the more up-in-the-air offseasons in recent memory, the Philadelphia Eagles will finally take the field for a rare South American soiree against the Green Bay Packers, throwing down on Peacock for the rare Friday night football game.
Finally, fans will get to see how much Nick Sirianni has changed after almost losing his job earlier this year, if Kellen Moore is willing to throw the ball across the middle of the defense, and, most interestingly of all, if having the architect of the NFL's current in vogue defense will fare better than Sean Desai or Jonathan Gannon, who are both disciples of the two deep safety shell with a light box schematic structure.
Buckle in, folks, as the Eagles' Week 1 showdown in Brazil has the potential to be a bold start to an incredibly interesting 2024 season.
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1. Jalen Hurts and Saquon Barkley run wild on the Packers
Heading into the 2024 NFL season, the Packers are one of the more interesting teams in the NFC.
On one hand, they are no longer the cream of the NFC North's crop – that honor now belongs to the Detroit Lions – and aren't a lock to make the playoffs if the Wild Card race gets seriously heated, but then again, if 2023 taught fans anything, it's that this Green Bay team is not just one of the youngest teams in the NFL but one of the fastest ascending, with the potential to form a dynasty not guaranteed but more likely than not.
And yet, while the Packers are increasingly making more of their players into household names, if they have one weakness, it's on the defensive side of the ball, as outside of Kenny Clark, Rashan Gary, and maybe Preston Smith, they simply don't have the sort of front seven talent needed to dominate in the trenches, let alone slow down a dominant rushing attack, as last season, the team actually allowed more rushing yards and rushing touchdowns than they recorded, which, considering their talent at the running back position, is less than ideal.
Now granted, the Packers do have a new defensive coordinator calling the shots this fall, swapping out Joe Barry for Jeff Hafley in what could produce better results from a schematic standpoint, but do they really have the talent to slow down Saquon Barkley and Jalen Hurts?
Yeah, that's going to be tough.
In his three career games against the Packers, Barkley has never passed the century mark, but he has averaged just under 80 yards per game, with three rushing touchdowns spread over his three career games versus Green Bay. Hurts, too, has gone absolutely nuts on the ground against the Packers as in QB1's lone start against the team, he picked up an incredible 157 yards on the ground, which still stands as the high-water mark of his rushing career in a 40-33 win back in 2022.
Unless the Packers go all-in on shutting down the run game – which opens up opportunities for AJ Brown, DeVonta Smith, and Dallas Goedert – expect a 200-piece from the Eagles rushing attack on the way to a huge game on the ground.
2. Jordan Love out throws Jalen Hurts
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While Hurts may put on an absolute show for the Eagles on the ground, combining for a borderline unbeatable rushing attack paired up with Barkley, he's facing off against another bright young quarterback signed to a massive contract who knows a thing or two about picking apart defenses with his arm: Jordan Love.
Now for fans in Philadelphia who have yet to see Love take on the Birds, his reputation is somewhat complicated, as he didn't play much before last year and had turned in a 2023 season that was half pretty good and half incredible, but not until Friday will they really get to see the Utah State product in action.
Bold prediction number 2: Love out throws Hurts in Brazil.
Granted, this isn't a particularly bold prediction if you really think about it, as Love actually averaged more yards per game than Hurts in 2023, 244.6 yards per game versus 226.9, but when you consider the weaknesses of the Eagles' defense – at least the expected weaknesses – it's not hard to imagine a world where the Packers quarterback once again edges out QB1 on the final stat sheet.
You see, while the Eagles' defense has the potential to be really good, they also have the potential to give up a decent number of yards in the middle of the field, as Vic Fangio's defense is designed to take away big plays down the field, even if it surrendered some short and intermediate stuff along the way. This strategy has served the East Stroudsburg graduate well over the years, as it's hard for teams in the NFL to consistently put together 11, 12, 13 play drives on the way to the endzone consistently, especially against a defense designed around post-snap optionality. Still, that doesn't stop opposing QBs from getting, say, 30 completions on 40 throws for 250-plus yards, even if they only leave the contest with a single touchdown for their troubles.
Fortunately, the team with the most passing yards doesn't win a football game; the team with the most points does, and the Eagles' offense is built to score in a variety of different ways depending on what an opposing team gives them.
3. The Eagles leave Brazil with a Week 1 win
So, if the Eagles can absolutely dominate the running game and control the time of possession as a result, it's safe to assume that Hurts and company will leave Brazil with a win in Week 1, as the Packers simply don't have the experience or versatility needed to overcome a double-digit deficit early on if the Eagles offense just keeps humming along.
Philly has the element of surprise with two new coordinators, an offense supercharged by two new elite Penn State players in Barkley and Jahan Dotson, and their best collection of cornerbacks since… ever? Throw that all together, and Philly fans should be heading into a weekend with plenty to celebrate.
