The NFL will be breaking new ground by playing a game in Sao Paulo, Brazil on Friday and the two teams taking part in that matchup will also be charting some new territory.
The Packers have a new coordinator in Jeff Hafley and the Eagles have new coordinators on both sides of the ball after making major changes in the wake of their late-season collapse in 2023. Kellen Moore is now in charge of running the offense and his Monday press conference touched on the difficulty involved with going into the first week of the season without a clear grasp on what you’re going to see on the field.
“Yeah, a lot of people face this, in football in general and certainly in the NFL, where you’re facing an opponent that has a lot of unknown, whether personnel or scheme — ours is very focused on scheme,” Moore said, via a transcript from the team. “You draw awareness of the different dots that you can connect with whether it be coaches, players, all the different circumstances. But you understand early in the season, everyone deals with unknown in the NFL. It can be a returning group that has been together for 10 years. They’re going to evolve in some capacity during the off-season. You definitely have to emphasize that there’s going to be an element of new. You lean heavily on what you’ve invested a lot of time in, things that people feel confident with, understand what the tools are and what the adjustments need to be made throughout a game, and we understand that adjustment football will be a part of this.”
In addition to their new offensive scheme and the trip to Brazil, the Eagles will be adjusting to the absence of center Jason Kelce and they’ll need to handle the whole package without stumbling if they want to return to Philadelphia with a win under their belts.