SAO PAULO, Brazil – The Packers had a plan for how they wanted to attack Jalen Hurts and the multifaceted Philadelphia offense on Friday night at Arena Corinthians.
Contain the quarterback, force Hurts to beat them with his arm and generate takeaways. While that largely played out, the Eagles circumvented that strategy with explosive plays.
Philadelphia seized just enough big moments with Hurts' arm and running back Saquon Barkley's legs to outlast Green Bay 34-29 in a game with seven lead changes and more than 800 total combined yards between the two teams.
Almost all of Hurts' aerial production came through star wideouts A.J. Brown (five catches for 119 yards and a touchdown) and DeVonta Smith (seven catches for 84).
The Green Bay Packers kicked off their first game of the season against the Philadelphia Eagles at Arena Corinthians in São Paulo on Friday, Sept. 6, 2024.
"Our plan was to keep him in the pocket and (make) him beat us with his arm," defensive lineman Kenny Clark said. "A lot of our rushes were power rushes trying to contain him, not try to get too crazy with our rushes and get too much up field. We limited him probably until the fourth quarter."
The game couldn't have started any better for first-year defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley and his unit, with safety Xavier McKinney picking off Hurts' deep pass to Smith and returning it to the Eagles' 18.
Green Bay's defense followed that up on the next series when defensive lineman Devonte Wyatt busted through the Philadelphia front to corral a Hurts fumble at the Eagles' 13-yard line.
Despite getting the ball twice inside the red zone, Green Bay's offense settled for a pair of field goals. Philadelphia found its rhythm on its third series with Barkley's 18-yard touchdown catch ending an 11-play scoring drive.
Philadelphia would score on four straight possessions, with a myriad of missed tackles and penalties hurting Green Bay. While the Packers still took a 19-17 lead into halftime, Brown busted a 67-yard, catch-and-run touchdown on just the second play of the second half to give the Eagles the explosive play they were desperately looking for.
"I really don't think we executed well today, and we gave up just little things that were very uncharacteristic from us," McKinney said. "Overall, as far as communication, execution of what Haf calls, we missed a lot of tackles today. Just a lot of things across the board that we have to improve on."
The defense rallied a bit after Brown's TD, forcing the Eagles into back-to-back three-and-outs. That included a sequence where Rashan Gary batted a Hurts pass at the line of scrimmage on first down before sacking him two plays later.
While a Jordan Love interception deep in Green Bay territory eased the Eagles' burden on a four-play, 24-yard scoring drive midway through the third quarter, Jaire Alexander picked off Hurts in the end zone on Philadelphia's next possession to keep Green Bay in the game.
Any chance of a fourth-quarter comeback ended with the Eagles executing a crushing 16-play, 67-yard drive that zapped 7 minutes, 25 seconds off the clock. After Jake Elliott's 21-yard field goal pushed Philadelphia's lead to 34-29, Green Bay retook possession with just 27 seconds remaining.
Barkley was a huge part of that equation. After a slow start, the veteran running back rushed for 78 yards and a touchdown on 15 second-half carries. A few ill-timed penalties, including questionable defensive holding penalties on Alexander and Clark, weighed heavily on that final Philadelphia series.
"We gotta be better there," said Clark about the defense not being able to get off the field on that drive. "They called a penalty on me with the holding call. I gotta take a look at it and see what they called. Gotta be better at the end of the day, gotta be better."
Despite Philadelphia finishing with 410 total yards and 34 points, McKinney still saw positives in the loss. The fifth-year safety said he addressed the team in the postgame locker room, telling his teammates to have a sense of urgency in making the necessary corrections for next week's home opener against the Indianapolis Colts.
"Defensively, I think we know what we have to do to improve from this game," McKinney said. "We're going to be critical of ourselves watching this film on the way back, and we're going to be better, a lot better, next week.
"I think we know we didn't hold up to the standard that we wanted to be defensively, but we'll get that fixed and I don't think we'll have an issue moving forward."
