2024 Week 1: Eagles 34, Packers 29
I was excited to watch this game live on Friday Night, a game setup because the NFL sees them as two of the top NFC teams. I thought the Packers would be contenders and the Eagles would struggle and miss the playoffs, but that’s not important.
Rather than getting a well-fought match we got a game played in the rain full of players slipping and many penalties. Most of the penalties were inexplicable as well as game changing that mostly went against Green Bay. Similar to the Ravens experience the night before… not putting on that tinfoil hat right now.
The Packers should have blown out the Eagles here, the first drive of the game the Pack had a TD called back because they had 12 men on the field, then the drive ended in a punt. Philly then immediately turns the ball over, Packer ball in the red zone, and a holding call derails the drive. Instead of 14-0 the game is now 3-0.
On their second drive fumble, Eagles take the ball again back into the red zone and all the way down to the 3 yard-line, just to kick another field goal. 6-0 in what could have been 17 or 21 to 0.
At this point the weather and field conditions began to take a turn for the worst and the offenses were raining touchdowns on each other. The big news of this game, Jordan Love going down on the second to last play of the game. Nothing else really matters if Love is out for a long time.
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- Jordan Love (17/34 for 260 yards, 2 TDs/1 INT) played an interesting game. As I said in the game overview the Packers had a chance to blow the roof off of this game, with Jordan Love potentially scoring 4/5+ TDs. Love struggled against the Eagles defense in the red zone but a lot of it was Green Bay shooting themselves in the foot due to penalties.
I do need to walk back on some of my belief in Jordan Love however, I believed Love had the potential to be great after watching. I now resign him to good-not-great, with flashes of great.On the flipside, this is a hard game to judge for anyone due to the conditions.
I have the benefit of writing this late so the timeline for Love has already been established. 3-4 weeks and everything is intact. Bullet officially dodged. I believe that Sean Clifford will be promoted from the practice squad and take the reins for the Green Bay offense, at least I hope he is. Clifford had a strong preseason and is now in year 2 in this system. If they decide to go with Malik Willis I assume Clifford will be starting the second half… he isn’t pro-ready yet.
How does Clifford affect the Packers receiver group?
- Jayden Reed is the slot guy here so he is the easy throw play-in/play-out, especially with Clifford.
- Romeo Doubs plays a bit deeper in the midfield which also works with Clifford but with a game plan likely focused on the ground game, I’m not sure how much work he’ll receive – if any.
- Christian Watson will work with Clifford, he’s smart enough to understand the value of hucking one up to a deep threat every once in a while. With Willis, Watson and Doubs are likely non-factors.
- Luke Musgrave/Tucker Kraft played no real role in this game, I imagine they would get some more work as a unit under Clifford or Willis, mostly working flats and out routes, but there won’t be enough work here for any fantasy football/betting angles.
Since we’re here let’s analyze the Packers receivers from this game:
- Jayden Reed (4-138-1 TD/6, 1 rush for 33-1 TD) had a huge game and it could have been bigger… he caught the first TD that was called back. Nothing extraordinary here he just found openings and the endzone.
- Romeo Doubs (4-50-0/7) played the best game of his career. Doubs lost some weight this offseason and was sharper on his routes. He led the Packers in targets with 7 and had a few chances at getting in the endzone but couldn’t connect. I believe Doubs is the real #1 for Love, but he spreads the ball around so much it isn’t as valuable here as it is in other places.
- Christian Watson (3-13-1 TD/5) is a random event. He’ll get 5+ touchdowns but likely won’t get real work here, this is a very strong receiver room.
- Dontayvion Wicks (0-0-0/3) is just a great receiver in a bad situation.
RB Report:
- Josh Jacobs (16-84-0, 2 catches for 20-0/3) looked like his old self in this game, and tallied a nice 100+ yard game. Jacobs also takes a hit while Love is out, he’ll face a lot more stacked boxes.
- The best looking RB for the Packers continues to be Emanuel Wilson (4-46-0, 2 catches for 2-0/3) and it wasn’t close, I think everyone watching could have seen that. Unfortunately for Wilson and the Green Bay offense, they won’t go with Wilson unless they have to. Jacobs is the big money investment and they’re going to get every dollars worth – for better or for worse.
- Saquon Barkley (24-109-2, 2 catches for 23-1/2) also played a nice game. The headliner here is the three touchdowns. The only difference I saw in performance between Barkley and Jacobs is Barkly was the one with the touchdowns. Similar output with a slightly larger workload as well.
- After this performance teams are going to respect Barkley more, as they should, but this has repercussions against Jalen Hurts (20/34 for 278 yards, 2 TDs/2 INTs). Stacked boxes means Hurts has to throw more, which won’t be great for the Philly offense, they succeed more with Hurts as both a running and passing threat, rather than one or the other.
Eagles WR Report:
- Not much to talk about here, AJ Brown (5-119-1/10) remains the #1 and DeVonta Smith (7-84-0/8) continues to be one of the best #2 options in the league.
- Dallas Goedert (4-31-0/5) plays a role in this offense, but won’t be able to put reliable numbers for fantasy or anything else.
D/ST and Miscellaneous Notes:
- The best player in this game was Eagles linebacker Zack Baun (15 tackles, 2 sacks, 1 TFL).
Baun played in New Orleans and was a non-factor as an outside linebacker under Dennis Allen. The move inside has changed his career trajectory.
- Quay Walker (11 tackles, 1 TFL) was everywhere this game, picking up where he left off from last year before his injuries slowed him down.
- The ‘new and improved’ Vic Fangio led Philly defense got walked over by the Packers offense in this game. 7.8 ypc, 6.5 without Reed’s end around score. Fangio’s days of being a top DC were left in Denver.
- The Packers defense played well against the run, despite allowing multiple scores to Barkley. 3.8 ypc for the Eagles offense that is known for a dominant run game.
Not talking about passing games for the defenses due to condition, a lot of blown coverages from players slipping.
Snap Counts:
DeVonta Smith: 76
AJ Brown: 72
Johnny Wilson: 10
Saquon Barkley: 61
Tucker Kraft: 64
Luke Musgrave: 17
Romeo Doubs: 58
Jayden Reed: 48
Christian Watson: 42
Dontayvion Wicks: 31
Josh Jacobs: 49
Emanuel Wilson: 16
