Photo Courtesy of Kenny Pete
THE BIRDS DEFEAT THE PACK IN WEEK 1
- Kenny Pete, Contributor
The Philadelphia Eagles defeated The Green BayPackers 34 - 29 in Sau Palo Brazil, the 1st NFL game in history played in South America.
It took an entire off-season & a plane ride to Brazil for the Philadelphia Eagles to finally exorcise some demons & remember what it feels like to win a hard fought game that could have very well not gone their way. After last season's meteoric collapse at the 2nd half of last season, that brought lots of personnel & coaching changes, most notably new Offensive Coordinator Kellen Moore & new Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio, the Eagles are playing aggressive doing their best to break off that sizeable chip of underperformance that is weighing down on them from last season.
The team's attitude was very focused on winning the game in the days leading up to travel day. Team meetings consisted of scheduling , itineraries & general 'do's & dont's' , which caused some players to basically admit "I'm going to stay inside, keep quiet & focus on winning a football game" , which is what you want to hear as a fan, knowing that despite all the chaos around the team in the setting, they are ready to do the work.
Under the bright lights of Neo Quimica Arena, and an international streaming audience on NBC Peacock (not a sponsor, yet, get at us Peacock) was where the world was treated to the debut of what will be the cornerstone of the Eagles offense for the immediate future, Saquon Barkley. Returning home to Philadelphia after a 6 year exile in northern New Jersey, Barkly dazzled with a final box score that reads 132 all purpose yards off of 24 rushes & 2 catches on 2 receiving targets and Three TDs, tying Terrell Owens for most touchdowns scored in a debut game in Eagles franchise history. Is also now on the list of players with the most touchdowns in a team debut in league history.
(((As a complete aside, Imagine you are in charge of a football team & it's up to you to make the decision to release this particular player from your team. You not only make the decision to release this exceptional talent, you also decide to broadcast the decision to release this exceptional talent on international TV for the world to see. After watching this debut Friday night in Brazil, should the person who made that decision should still be in a position to make decisions? Who's to say? )))
Outside of Saquon Barkley, the Eagles receivers had a day as well with AJ Brown going for over 100 yards / one TD & DeVonta Smith going 7 for 8 catches for 84 yards. Jalen Hurts still has some issues to work out with some poor decision making on a few throws, as well as working out some timing issues with new center Cam Jurgens replacing 1st ballot HOF OL Jason Kelce is no easy task, but Cam has been in the system for over 4 years now & its his time to step up. Ball protection is critical & it starts with Jalen Hurts keeping the main thing the main thing.
On the defensive side of the ball, LB Zack Baun had a huge showing with 15 solo tackles & 2 sacks, and was all over the field making plays all night. If this continues for another few weeks, it will be time to tear up that one year contract & lock Baun up for the next two to four years Now Not later Howie, Now. The Defensive line struggled to get pressure from Bryce Huff, Josh Sweat & Nolan Smith, that entire unit will need to improve if the Eagles are going to be any kind of threat to anyone this season, Vic Fangio was brought in here to improve a defense that was wildly ineffective at the end of last season. It all starts with getting pressure on the QB, these are the guys who need to make it happen.
As much of a spectacle as the game was, the field conditions were less than ideal to say the least. Green Bay quarterback Jordan Love was injured on a play late in the 4th quarter , reports as of this writing say that he has a strained ACL & will miss 3 to 6 weeks, which is fortunate in that most injuries like this are season or even career threatening, which is no good for anyone, the player, the fans or the league. Thankfully Love will be able to make a full recovery.
The game itself was a wild, back & forth, thrill ride that ultimately ended with the Eagles winning a game they very well could have lost, then had to sit on lots of not so good questions for the next 10 days as they get ready for the home opener in Philadelphia on Monday night 9/16 vs ATL under the bright lights of Lincoln Financial Field. Winning solves problems. Winning squashes dissent. Winning puts smiles on faces. If the Eagles can keep finding ways to win games despite not playing the cleanest of games, there will be lots of smiles on faces from Eastern Pennsylvania to the world.