NFL games played overseas are often an outlier. Neither team has a home-field advantage, and traveling takes a toll on bodies and schedules. Even the officials tend to call the game differently.
TThat’s why Jalen Hurts wants the Green Bay Packers to know one thing about his Philadelphia Eagles heading into their NFC wild-card game.
“We’re not the same team they saw in Brazil in terms of how efficient we’ve been in the run, how deadly Saquon [Barkley] has been, and how we’ve been able to pay really good defense,” Hurts said, via Zach Berman of PHLY.
Jalen Hurts: “We’re not the same team they saw in Brazil in terms of how efficient we’ve been in the run, how deadly Saquon has been, and how we’ve been able to pay really good defense.”
— Zach Berman (@ZBerm) January 11, 2025
The Eagles quarterback has cleared the league’s concussion protocol so he will be fully available to face the Packers again after defeating them in Week 1. He does have a valid point in what he said. The Eagles won a couple of games to start the season, but there were still some doubts about whether they would return to their dominant ways. They shut down those doubts with a franchise-best 10-game winning streak.
While Hurts has been just slightly above average this season, Barkley has been a one-man wrecking ball out of the backfield, posting one of the greatest seasons by any running back. Likewise, the Packers aren’t the same team from earlier in the season.
Coordinator Jeff Hafley has done an outstanding job of revamping their underperforming defense, and quarterback Jordan Love has been much more careful with his decision-making, not putting the ball in harm’s way as often. The Eagles are 5.5-point home favorites, but this should be one of the closest and most exciting games of Wild Card Weekend.
