Eagles, Packers insist it’s business as usual for opener in Brazil

Philadelphia hasn’t lost a game in September since 2021 and is 3-0 in season openers under coach Nick Sirianni.The Eagles will try to extend that success in a different hemisphere in Friday night’s unprecedented Week 1 date with the Green Bay Packers in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the first NFL regular-season game in South America.”It’s going to be good for us to go play in a neutral site and handle the different things that pop up in the NFL,” Sirianni said.”… There are things you can’t control. What we can control is our effort, we can control our attitude, we can control our core values, and we’re going to focus on that this week.”Philadelphia won its first eight games and started 13-1 in 2022 en route to advancing to Super Bowl LVII. The Eagles won their first five contests and started 10-1 last season before losing in the wild-card round.Green Bay is coming off its fourth playoff appearance in five seasons under coach Matt LaFleur. The Packers lost to the San Francisco 49ers on a late Christian McCaffrey touchdown run in the divisional round last season after a wild-card victory over the Dallas Cowboys.It’s a business trip to Brazil for both teams with no time for sightseeing. The Eagles planned to arrive Wednesday night after a 10-hour flight, hold a walk-through at Corinthians Arena on Thursday, and fly straight back to Philadelphia after Friday night’s game.”We’re professionals,” Eagles receiver A.J. Brown said. “We’re down there to win a football game. We’re not down there to see the city, do all this other stuff. This is not a vacation. This is a football game.”The Packers arranged a 10-hour direct flight leaving from Green Bay on Wednesday morning and, as the “visiting” team, they will hold their walk-through Thursday at the Corinthians soccer club’s training ground.”It’s not going to be anything crazy that we’ve never done before, and I would expect the same from Philly,” LaFleur said. “… I’ve only talked to our guys about the Philadelphia Eagles, and what we need to do.”The quick turnaround time may be disruptive, but it also gives NFL officials and players who are concerned about security some peace of mind.

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