September 03, 2024
Eric Hartline/USA Today Sports
Can the Eagles slow down Jordan Love and the Packers' offense?
The Eagles will have their hands full defensively on Friday evening in Brazil. A home game against a Packers squad that ended last season riding high would be tough enough on its own, but taking them on following a 10-hour plane ride to another continent only adds to the difficult task they're facing.
The defense in Philadelphia has been transformed among the back seven with rookies Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean, plus the return of C.J. Gardner-Johnson. Haason Reddick is out. Bryce Huff is in. It's a completely different unit here, but the Packers are mostly running back a good chunk of the same offense as they did in 2023.
Here's how that offense performed last season:
| Stat | Number | NFL Ranking |
| Points Per Game | 22.5 | 12th |
| Total Yards | 5,873 | 11th |
| Offensive Grade* | 78.0 | 9th |
| Passing Grade* | 83.2 | 6th |
| Rushing Grade* | 82.8 | 14th |
Those numbers are good, but they don't tell the full tale of the 2023 Packers. The team started just 2-5, but finished 9-8 overall as quarterback Jordan Love turned the corner, looking like the first-round pick that he once was, as Green Bay made good on their bet that he would be their true heir apparent to Aaron Rodgers. Love finished the year with 32 touchdown passes against just 11 interceptions, but he was not that player through that tough 2-5 stretch to kick off the season.
Here are his numbers from the first seven games of Green Bay's season compared to the final 10:
| Stat | First 7 | Final 10 |
| Completion % | 57.7% | 68.7 |
| Yards/Attempt | 6.4 | 7.7 |
| TDs | 11 | 21 |
| INTs | 8 | 3 |
Two radically different quarterbacks right there. Love was more than solid during the postseason, too. He threw three touchdowns in a 16-point win over Dallas in the Wild Card Round. His numbers were less impressive in the Divisional Round (two TDs, two INTs), but the Packers came up just three points short on the road against the eventual conference champion 49ers.
How can the Eagles prepare for this Green Bay offense?
"The biggest problem in defending their offense is they run it just as good as they throw it," Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio said before Eagles practice on Monday. "So they have a really good mix on first and second down, running play-action, and it makes it hard to defend. Then you throw in... a scrambling mobile quarterback, it adds another dimension to it. They're really tough to defend. They run it and throw it equally well, and you throw in an athletic quarterback, and it'll be an all-day sucker."
The Packers have a talented trio of wide receivers in Christian Watson, Jayden Reed and Romeo Doubs. That will necessitate strong play from the Eagles' defensively in nickel packages, though Fangio also noted that Green Bay plays a lot of two-tight end sets on early downs as well as 11 personnel. The Eagles have the talent to stand up against them with veteran Pro Bowler Darius Slay, first-round rookie Quinyon Mitchell, Isaiah Rodgers and others, but it'll be the first time that group is out there all together. Expecting perfection from Day 1 would be foolish.
Defending the run may be a bit easier.
The Eagles' linebackers remain forever a question mark, but they're certainly more well-rounded going into this season than they were last year. Nakobe Dean finished the summer strong. Devin White is an established vet. Zach Baun flashed in his first Eagles training camp and then there's the possible X-factor that rookie Jeremiah Trotter Jr. brings, too.
The team's defensive line should be up to task. Condition concerns will persist for the likes of Jordan Davis and even Jalen Carter until proven otherwise, but the team was dominant against the run for the first chunk of the 2023 season. It's hard to know what the run D will look like in December, but they should be firing and ready to go against the Packers.
Josh Jacobs is in at running back for Green Bay. Fangio called him a "hell of a back," but Jacobs took a downturn in his final season with the Raiders in 2023. He went from leading the league in rushing in 2022 to falling to just 805 yards in 13 games last year. His yards per carry dropped from 4.9 when he won the rushing crown to 3.5 in 2023. That's a winnable facet of the game for the Birds.
Friday can't get here soon enough...
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