5 Takeaways From Packers 29-34 Eagles: Catastrophe Avoided on Love Injury

The Packers dropped their season opener on Friday night in Brazil, falling 34-29 to the Eagles at Arena Corinthians with an uneven performance which ended with quarterback Jordan Love limping off the field.

Here are five key takeaways from the first Packers game of the 2024 campaign.

Catastrophe avoided on Love injury

Of course the only takeaway that really matters from Friday’s game is the news reported after the team landed back in Green Bay on Saturday; Jordan Love’s season is not over.

An awkward looking injury to the knee area during a desperate, futile late comeback attempt could have essentially ended the Packers’ season in any meaningful way, but instead an MCL sprain is only expected to keep Love out for three to four weeks.

That means Malik Willis, only acquired from the Titans in recent weeks, is in line to start multiple games for the now 0-1 Packers, including a trip to Tennessee to face his former team in two weeks.

Assuming Willis has to play the next three games, the Packers will realistically need to win at least one of those to avoid an 0-4 start, which could give Love too much to do when he returns. Green Bay would need to go at least 9-3 the rest of the way in that scenario.

Willis is still raw despite his age and tenure in the league, but he has an exciting skillset, including the ability to make plays with his legs.

We saw Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell form a competent offense around Josh Dobbs for a few weeks last season, can Matt LaFleur do the same with Willis and keep the team’s playoff hopes afloat while Love recovers?

Sloppy start

Turning the page to discuss the game itself, it was a disappointing, sloppy showing from the Packers in the season opener, which was not helped by a less than ideal playing surface in São Paulo causing players to lose their footing at inopportune times.

The tone was set when the offense failed to cash in two early turnovers with seven points a piece, instead settling for field goals, and Green Bay failed to play complementary football all game.

Whenever the offense was in a groove and putting up points, the defense immediately gave up points, and whenever the defense forced a stop, the offense stalled.

This performance shows that there is no perfect answer to the debate of how to handle the preseason. Of course, losing in week one is not the end of the world, but in a roundabout way, Love’s injury was a consequence of deciding to mostly sit starters in the preseason.

Coaches understandably do not want to risk their star players getting injured in a meaningless game, but the lack of real game action the Packers starters were exposed to in the preseason contributed to an undercooked performance and mistakes being made in key moments.

This ultimately led to the Packers trailing in a game they should have had sealed up, and put Love in a position where he was scrambling around in a last gasp attempt to create a miracle play, leading to his injury.

The Jayden Reed show

The brightest spot in a wildly frustrating game was undoubtedly Jayden Reed.

After an impressive rookie season where he led the team in receiving yards, broke the franchise record for receptions by a rookie, and notched eight touchdowns, Reed picked up where he left off on Friday night.

The man they call “bird” put up 171 yards of offense on five total touches, including two massive explosive touchdowns, a 70-yard catch and a 33-yard run.

Green Bay has a strong track record of finding receivers in the second round of the NFL Draft, and at this point there is little doubt they have done it again. Reed could be lethal from the slot position if he keeps going at this pace.

Does Friday’s strong effort mean Reed is ‘wide receiver one’ in the Packers offense? Probably not, and who cares? A different receiver will probably lead the team in yards from one week to the next, and that is a good thing.

Defense still a work in progress

There were good moments and plenty of positives to draw from Jeff Hafley’s first game as an NFL defensive coordinator, but also some lumps taken and lessons to be learned.

The early takeaways should have put the position in a strong position to win the game, and if the offense had scored touchdowns off those plays, it would have fundamentally changed how the game played out and how Green Bay’s defense could have attacked it.

Hafley’s unit also did a tremendous job of preventing Jalen Hurts from making magic with his legs for the vast majority of the game.

But the explosive passing plays Hafley’s defensive style and scheme are susceptible to were certainly there, as A.J. Brown in particular feasted at times.

Tackling was poor, but it is fair to throw a lot of the criticism out the window on that front, as the super slick field contributed to many of the instances of missed tackles.

The defense will need to be better going forward, but do not dismiss the fact this was their first game in the new system, in an unusual situation, on a slip-n-slide field against a strong opponent.

Unfortunately for Hafley, there will now be less patience from the fanbase in the next few weeks, as the defense will need to step up quickly to carry the load while the offense deals with the absence of Love.

Emanuel Wilson is a real NFL running back

For a good chunk of the game, it looked a lot like last season on the ground for the Packers. It appeared LaFleur had dialed up all the blocking schemes he rolled out for A.J. Dillon in 2023, leading him to run straight into a brick wall, for Josh Jacobs.

Meanwhile, when Emanuel Wilson stepped into the game, he seemed to find creases with ease and blast ahead for big gains, much like Aaron Jones did after returning from injury last season.

Back then, the argument was made that the blocking was essentially the same, but Jones was simply so much better and more able to make chicken salad out of chicken you-know-what, and that was the difference.

Now, it is far too early and over reactionary to make the same statement about Wilson and Jacobs, especially as Jacobs really warmed up as the game went along, ending the game with 5.3 yards per attempt, but what we can say is that Wilson is a real NFL back.

He is a very natural runner, sees the hole and hits it, and maximizes runs by fighting for extra yards at the end.

Wilson had a whopping 11.5 yards per carry on his four runs, and not only should be a capable number two back while rookie third-round pick MarShawn Lloyd is out, but may well stay ahead of him on the depth chart all season long.