Eagles Getting No Favors From NFL With Week 1 Game in Brazil
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In business or any other venture, you know you are doing something right as a brand when the company you represent wants you to be the highlight of an international series.
Things are a little different in the NFL, though.
Traveling overseas for games across the globe can be a logistical nightmare for most organizations. Having to practice away from the team facility, while losing a precious home game in a tight schedule is never a good thing, either.
© Nathan Ray Seebeck, USA TODAY
That's the reality the Philadelphia Eagles are in following the NFL's announcement that they will host the first-ever game in Brazil to open up the 2024 season. Making matters even wonkier is the fact that the game will be the first-ever season-opening game on a Friday in NFL history.
The NFL did no favors for the Eagles to open up the season overseas. First off, for a team that lost six of its last seven games, the organization as a whole needs to start fast. There's no guarantee that they will during an overseas trip down to South America.
After having the NFL's toughest schedule in 2023, Philadelphia's 17-game stretch is expected to be a tad easier thanks to the second-place schedule. But when an overseas trip like this is planned, the belief is that the league will put the Eagles in a game against one of the top teams on the docket like the Dallas Cowboys or Green Bay Packers (who were a win away from the NFC Title game this year).
Do the Eagles have enough talent to take on their NFC East rivals or a young and experienced group like Green Bay? Of course.
That's not the point, though. With a fanbase searching for blood after a disastrous end to the season in 2023, any early slip-up will have the pitchforks raised outside the Novacare Complex.
Philadelphia was able to pull out a victory the last time they were overseas in 2018. They'll be under far more pressure to kick off 2024 on a high note, though.
It's that pressure on the team that shows why the NFL did the organization little favors in their upcoming season to start.
