(WNFL) – Well, we’re under a week to go until the Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles christen the 2024 NFL season in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
There’s not better time than now to start your season-opener overload.
- The Green Bay Packers will travel to Brazil to take on the Philadelphia Eagles on Friday, Sept. 6, at Corinthians Arena in São Paulo.
- It is the sixth straight year and the 10th time in the last 12 seasons that Green Bay has started the season as the road team. Green Bay is the only team in the NFL to open the season as the road team each of the last six years (2019-24). It is the first time over that span that it will be against a team outside the NFC North.
- It is the first time in history that the NFL will play a regular-season game in South America and the first time the league has played a game on Friday night of its opening weekend in over 50 years, when the St. Louis Cardinals and Los Angeles Rams met on September 18, 1970.
- Throughout the weekend, fans can visit NFL Experience – a free, three-day football fan festival at Parque Villa Lobos in São Paulo, kicking off with a watch party of the Packers-Eagles game on Friday night. Six NFL Shop presented by Visa retail locations will house exclusive game merchandise across São Paulo and Rio
de Janeiro, and local Brazilian artists will create NFLthemed murals across the host city. - On gameday, the NFL will highlight Brazil’s vibrant culture and music scene with Brazilian superstar Anitta headlining the São Paulo game halftime show and local sensations Luísa Sonza, Zeeba and CAROLA performing for fans pregame. Local fans in São Paulo can close out the weekend with NFL RUN – a 5km race with a 2km recreational walk – on Sunday morning, followed by watch parties of Sunday afternoon NFL games at NFL.
- It is the seventh time opening the season against the Eagles and the first time since 2010 (5-1 in previous Week 1 meetings).
- By date, this is the second earliest the two teams have played (Sept. 1, 1991, in Green Bay).
- The Packers have won three of the last five matchups and six of the last eight (including postseason).
- This will be the 13th September meeting between the clubs, with Green Bay holding a 7-5 advantage, including wins in three of the last four.
Roster moves:
The Green Bay Packers signed fullback Andrew Beck, cornerback Andrew Beck, cornerback Kamal Hadden and running back La’Mical Perei to the practice squad and placed RB Nate McCrary on practice squad/injured reserve. General Manager Brian Gutekunst announced the transactions on Friday.
Beck (6-3, 252), a sixth-year player out of the University of Texas, was originally signed by the New England Patriots as an undrafted free agent on May 2, 2019. He was claimed off waivers by the Denver Broncos on Sept. 1, 2019, and went on to play in 51 games with 10 starts from 2019-22. Beck signed with the Houston Texans in 2023 and saw action in 15 games with a career-high 12 starts and started both postseason contests. For his career, Beck has 25 receptions for 214 yards (8.6 avg.) and three touchdowns as well as 6 rushing yards on eight attempts (0.8 avg.) and a TD. He also has returned two kickoffs for 94 yards (47.0 avg.), including one for an 85-yard TD, becoming the first fullback to record a kick-return TD since Jacksonville Jaguars FB Derrick Wimbush in 2005. He will wear No. 47 for the Packers.
Hadden (6-1, 192), a rookie out of the University of Tennessee, was originally selected in the sixth round (No. 211 overall) of the 2024 NFL Draft by the Kansas City Chiefs and was released by the Chiefs after training camp. He played three seasons for Tennessee (2021-23) and one season for Independence Community College (2020). Hadden played in 23 games with 15 career starts for the Vols, recording 87 career tackles (56 solo), 5.5 tackles for a loss, six interceptions and 18 passes defensed. In 2023, he started the first seven games and tied for the team lead with three interceptions, including one returned for a touchdown, and ranked No. 6 in the SEC with a team-high eight passes defensed before sustaining a season-ending shoulder injury. Hadden will wear No. 36 for the Packers.
Perine (5-11, 216), a fourth-year player out of the University of Florida, was originally selected in the fourth round (No. 120 overall) of the 2020 NFL Draft by the New York Jets. He played in 14 regular-season games for the Jets (2020-21) and five games with one start for the Kansas City Chiefs (2023). Perine also spent time on the practice squads of the Philadelphia Eagles (2022) and Miami Dolphins (2022-23). Perine has recorded 340 rushing yards and two rushing TDs on 94 attempts (3.6 avg.) with 14 receptions for 96 yards (6.9 avg.). He will wear No. 35 for the Packers.
Jacobs almost not a Packers player or not: NBC Sports says that the Kansas City Chiefs made a push to sign him. Jacobs has a great reason for not doing to KC. https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/josh-jacobs-chiefs-tried-hard-to-sign-me-but-no-way-was-i-going-there
Where was Aaron? Sports Illustrated has the story on Clay Matthews taking a good-hearted shot at Aaron Rodgers during Matthews’ Packers Hall of Fame induction speech. https://www.si.com/nfl/clay-matthews-roasts-aaron-rodgers-with-clever-joke-packers-hall-fame-speech
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