EAGLES 34, PACKERS 29 For all the handwringing there was about how long the flight to Brazil would be, or the logistical challenges there were to the NFL playing its first game in South America, or why the Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles were sequestering themselves in their respective hotels instead of exploring São Paulo, maybe somebody should have been more concerned about the field conditions at Arena Corinthians. Certainly, both teams had to deal with the sub-optimal field conditions on Friday night, and it'd be hard to argue that they were a major factor in the final outcome: a 34-29 Eagles victory. That said, the natural grass surface was as slippery as the Titletown ice rink, at least during the first half before players appeared to find their footing by changing cleats.
"It's been a problem, for sure," Packers coach Matt LaFleur said at halftime. NBC said during the telecast that the Corinthians soccer team played on the field on Sunday. ESPN reported leading into the game that Eagles head groundskeeper Tony Leonard and NFL field director Nick Pappas worked "for months" on the field so it would be up to the league's standards.
Once on the field at Arena Corinthians, the players should notice a grass that is similar to the kind they play on at their home stadiums. Eagles head groundskeeper Tony Leonard has been working with NFL field director Nick Pappas "for months," Ferrari said, to get the conditions just right for an NFL game. "It's a soccer pitch, but it's been sort of retrofitted," Eagles assistant general manager Jon Ferrari told ESPN in advance of the game.
"So, it's in great shape." It sure didn't look that way. Former University of Wisconsin football star and long-time NFL superstar defensive end J.
J. Watt offered his thoughts. "Soccer field are made for speed and agility.
Smaller bodies gliding across the surface with minimal contact," Watt wrote on social media. "They are not properly conditioned to have the size & strength of NFL players cutting, pushing and driving all game on them. This is common at international games.
" Here are three things that stood out from the Packers' season-opening loss. Packers were sloppy to start Certainly, there were some field-related mishaps. Quarterback Jordan Love slipped on his drop back and seemed to panic, nearly throwing an interception into the flat that would have been a pick-six had Nakobe Dean not dropped it.
Wide receiver Dontayvion Wicks slipped badly at the top of his route on another play and dropped Love's throw. Fellow wideout Christian Watson, who had a touchdown later in the game, was open in the end zone and slipped, too. But the Packers were sloppy in their execution for much of the first half, too.
They were flagged six times for 46 yards (not including another penalty that was declined), and they committed five penalties for 40 yards in the first quarter alone. And while Jayden Reed had two touchdowns that did count later in the first half, he had a 38-yard deep-ball touchdown from Love wiped out when the Packers and the Eagles were both flagged for having 12 men on the field. The offensive line, which had Sean Rhyan and rookie first-round pick Jordan Morgan sharing time at right guard, allowed Love to be sacked once and cleared very little room for running back Josh Jacobs, who had 4 net yards on six carries in the first half.
And Love was 7 of 14 for 130 yards during the first half, but 70 of that came on Reed's touchdown catch — a beautiful play in which Love eluded pressure, stepped up and found Reed downfield for the score. Jayden Reed looks like a bigger playmaker While his 38-yard touchdown didn't count, Reed was a major problem all night long for the Eagles, who had a front-row seat to the versatility and talent that the Packers love about Reed. Early in the second quarter, Reed sprinted around right end on a well-blocked jet sweep, broke a tackle inside the 25-yard line and was gone for a 33-yard touchdown run.
That play gave the Packers a 12-7 lead, and three plays after Eagles running back Saquon Barkley gave the Eagles the lead back on an 11-yard touchdown run to make it 14-12, Reed got open downfield on a third-and-10 play and was wide open at the Philadelphia 38-yard line, slipped safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson's attempted tackle at the 32-yard line and went the rest of the way for the 70-yard TD.
Reed finished the night with four receptions for 138 yards, plus the 33-yard touchdown run. New Packers defense wasn't good enough There were certainly some good plays for defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley's crew. Jaire Alexander and Xavier McKinney both had interceptions, although both INTs came on horrible decisions made by Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts.
And for most of the game, the Packers contained Hurts' running ability, too, as he managed just 11 yards on his first nine rushing attempts/scrambles. But the Green Bay defense had zero answers for Barkley, who finished the night with 24 carries for 109 yards and scored three touchdowns — an 18-yard TD catch and 11and 2-yard TD runs. And Eagles wide receiver A.
J. Brown torched Alexander for a 67-yard touchdown catch-and-run early in the second half. Hafley's group's most egregious failure, though, was to end the game.
After the Packers had to settle for rookie kicker Brayden Narveson's third field goal of the night — a 26-yarder with 7 minutes, 52 seconds left in the fourth quarter that pulled the Packers within two points — the defense needed to get the ball back to Love & Co. to give them a chance to win the game. Instead, the Eagles embarked on a 16-play, 67yard drive that chewed up nearly 7 1⁄2 minutes of clock By the time Eagles kicker Jake Elliott's 21-yard field goal split the uprights to make it 34-29, there were just 27 seconds left on the clock and the Packers were out of timeouts.
After Keisean Nixon brought the kickoff out of the end zone, Love hit Reed for a 33-yard gain to keep hope alive. On the next play, though, Love was swarmed by Eagles defenders, and while he managed to flip the ball to Jacobs for a 4-yard gain with 5 seconds left, Love was tackled awkwardly and had to be helped off the field with some sort of leg injury. The game ended with newly acquired backup Malik Willis being sacked by ex-Wisconsin standout Zach Baun as the clock ran out.
Love remained on the bench with Dr. Patrick McKenzie and director of sports medicine/head athletic trainer Nate Weir after the game ended. He was eventually able to walk off the field with minimal help from Weir and Jacobs.
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