It’ll be a rematch of the Sao Paulo season opener between the Eagles and Packers at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday. The NFC’s #2 seed vs. #7 seed is one of the better games on the weekend slate.

“It’s been awhile” since Brazil, as Aaron Lewis of Staind once said. That game was played four months ago to the day, on a Summer Friday night, so let’s jog our memories a bit and look for things we can apply to this weekend.

Some notes:

1) This game was all sorts of messy. The field was unstable, players were slipping all over the place, and chunks of grass were kicking up. It was hard for both teams to keep their footing. Then you throw in 17 penalties for 128 yards, plus a number offsetting and declined infractions, and it was a difficult watch overall. Expect a much cleaner game this weekend, played on a legitimate NFL surface. The Packers finished 12th in total penalties after 17 games and the Eagles were 22nd, so if there is a god, we will see the refs keep their flags to themselves.

2) Jalen Hurts threw two interceptions in Brazil and only three more for the rest of the season. He fumbled on the second drive. This was long before the “game manager” narrative started, and we were concerned that he was carrying the same issues from 2023 into 2024. He attempted 34 passes in this game and ran it 13 times, two numbers that are higher-usage outliers compared to what he did during the winning streak. And with Jalen coming off the concussion this Sunday, you’d think there’s even more of an emphasis on getting the ball to Saquon Barkley in an attempt to establish the run and ease Hurts into the game.


3) The Eagles’ defense back then was a shell of what it is now. The EDGE group was invisible at Neo Quimica Arena, Cooper DeJean was injured to start, Quinyon Mitchell was making his rookie debut, and the entire unit was playing their first regular season game under Vic Fangio. They gave up 414 yards and 29 points to Jordan Love and company, then Malik Willis entered in the fourth quarter, but what they did do well was limit Green Bay to field goals. The Packers were only 1-4 in the red zone and went 3-11 on third down. When Hurts was struggling out of the gates, the defense held twice, keeping the game within reach and showing a very early glimpse of the “bend but don’t break” mentality we’ve seen throughout the year. They did a nice job of mitigating damage when the offense was struggling and giving the ball away.

4) Barkley ran for 109 yards and two scores in this game, then added the receiving touchdown and two catches for 23 yards. It was a 4.5 yards per carry number, lower than his season average, and bolstered by a 34-yard explosive. The Packers went on to finish as one of the league’s better defensive teams against the run (just 4.0 YPC allowed), so this might be one of those games where a big A.J. Brown or DeVonta Smith reception could open things up for the offense.

5) Couple of missed opportunities and uncharacteristic plays in this one. Nakobe Dean dropped a pick-6. Zack Baun missed a tackle on a Green Bay score. And on the Packers side, they missed a field goal, dropped a number of passes, and coughed it up once as well. Going back to point #1, you can probably chalk up a lot of this to Week 1 rustiness and sloppiness, so you’d imagine there will be less of both teams shooting themselves in the feet this time around.

6) Bonus bullet point here – it took me 2 hours to write this because my 5 five old has an “asynchronous” work from home day and is still learning how to use a computer (because she’s 5). We got one inch of snow, they gave the kids off, and then parents gotta log them into their Chromebooks so they can do their lessons from home. Thanks, COVID!