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Opening their season with a so-called home game nearly 4,800 miles from Lincoln Financial Field doesn’t seem to thrill the Philadelphia Eagles.
The Eagles face the Green Bay Packers on Friday night in Sao Paulo, Brazil - the first NFL game in South America.
Eagles cornerback Darius Slay said on his podcast that “I do not want to go to Brazil,” though he later apologized. Wide receiver DeVonta Smith simply said, “No comment," when he was asked about playing in Brazil.
Part of the reluctance stems from safety concerns. Packers cornerback Eric Stokes said he was told not to leave the hotel while he was in Brazil. Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown received a similar message.
“There were a whole bunch of ‘Don’t do’s,’” Brown said. “I’m just trying to go down there and win a football game and come back home. That’s the best way I can put it.”
But there’s also the fact the Eagles lost an opportunity to play in front of a friendly Philadelphia crowd. The Eagles are the designated home team in Sao Paulo.
The Packers are hoping they learned from their last international trip two years ago.
Green Bay had won three of its four games that season, and coach Matt LaFleur made it apparent at the time that he wasn’t looking forward to playing in London. The Packers fell to the New York Giants at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and went on to lose five straight.
So the Packers haven’t been griping about the travel. They’re optimistic there won’t be a similar hangover effect from this trip because they aren’t crossing over as many time zones.
“At the end of the day, we’re going to line up and play football,” Stokes said. “That’s all that really matters. Once those lights come on, everything else will go out the window.”
These teams ended last season heading in opposite directions.
The Packers want to build on the momentum they established during a late-season surge last year that enabled them to reach the NFC divisional playoffs with the league’s youngest team.
Philadelphia started out 10-1 last year but won only once more the rest of the season and lost to Tampa Bay in the wild-card round of the playoffs. This game offers the Eagles a chance to put the collapse behind them.
“We’re not down there to see the city, do all this other stuff,” Brown said. “This is not a vacation. This is a football game. That’s it.”
Philadelphia’s late collapse prompted Nick Sirianni to fire offensive coordinator Brian Johnson and defensive coordinator Sean Desai. Philadelphia’s new coordinators are Kellen Moore on offense and Vic Fangio on defense.
Fangio spent last season with Miami in the same role. He finished 2022 as a consultant for the Eagles. Moore previously was offensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys (2019-22) and Los Angeles Chargers (2023).
The Packers have a new defensive coordinator. They fired Joe Barry and replaced him with former Boston College coach Jeff Hafley.
Both teams have new running backs.
Saquon Barkley joined the Eagles after spending six years with the New York Giants. The Packers added Josh Jacobs, who had played five seasons with the Raiders.
Barkley is a two-time Pro Bowl selection with 5,211 career yards rushing. Sirianni said he had to remove his sunglasses during a recent practice to believe what he was seeing on some of Barkley’s runs.
“I tell him all the time he’s superhuman,” Smith said.
Jacobs earned All-Pro honors in 2022 when he rushed for an NFL-leading 1,653 yards, but he ran for just 805 yards while gaining 3.5 yards per carry last year.
Packers kicker Brayden Narveson will be making his NFL debut just a week after Green Bay claimed him off waivers from the Tennessee Titans.
Philadelphia’s Jake Elliott set a franchise record by hitting 93.8% of his field-goal attempts last season. Elliott ranks second among kickers with 80 or more attempts with a 90.9% field-goal rate since 2021.
Jordan Morgan, the Packers’ first-round pick from Arizona, was working out as Green Bay’s starting right guard until a shoulder injury kept him from playing in the preseason. Sean Rhyan filled that role while Morgan was out.
Morgan is healthy again, and LaFleur hasn’t named a starting right guard. One possibility is to have Morgan and Rhyan share time. The Packers had a similar rotation system last year when Rhyan backed up Jon Runyan Jr., who is now with the New York Giants.
The Eagles won’t have linebacker Devin White because of an ankle injury. Green Bay will be missing running back AJ Dillon, who was placed on injured reserve last week with a neck issue.
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AP Sports Writer Dan Gelston contributed to this report.
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