Pro football’s pivot to streaming continues.
Friday night’s game between the Packers and Eagles played in Brazil and broadcast exclusively on Peacock averaged 14.2 million nationwide viewers.
That number nearly doubled the audience that watched last December’s Peacock-exclusive regular-season game between the Bills and the Chargers.
It shows where the viewing world is going. And it’s no surprise.
As the technology improves and the smart TVs get smarter, it’s a matter of clicking on the right box and opening the app and sitting back and watching the game.
That’s ultimately what it’s always been about. Finding the game and watching it. From rabbit ears to the coaxial cable that plugged into the converter that connected to the spot where the rabbit ears went to the cable that went straight into the TV to the dish that needed unobstructed view of the satellite to the high-speed internet connection that has gotten to the point where “buffering” has been relegated to something you do to your car after waxering it, it’s always been and always will be about finding the game and watching it.
The NFL is nearly 20 years into a 100-year (if not longer) plan to globalize the game. And that entails exporting the NFL product to other countries.
For fans at home, that’s fine and dandy — as long as the game looks and feels the same on TV. Friday night’s game between the Packers and Eagles didn’t, because the field in São Paulo was a slippery mess.
Of course, it was also a slippery mess in Super Bowl LVII. That game also featured the Eagles.
There’s no excuse for it, domestically or internationally. It becomes even worse when it happens in other countries, especially as to games that, if they’d been played in the “home” team’s stadium, would have entailed a satisfactory (at a minimum) surface.
When it happened in the Super Bowl, the league tried to blame the players. Which is sort of ridiculous. It’s for the league to ensure that the playing surface performs, no matter the elements. And if it isn’t raining or snowing, there are no elements to consider.
It undermines the game. It increases the risk of injury. And when it happens in international games, it makes fans more resentful of the process of playing games away from the USA.
Through two games, the dynamic kickoff has largely gone as expected. Returns haven’t gone up.
In fact, they’ve gone down.
Of 24 kickoffs, five have been returned. Nineteen have not.
That translates to a 20.8-percent return rate. Or, conversely, as a 79.2-percent touchback rate.
Last year, 74 percent of all kicks were touchbacks.
Last night’s game featured one of the factors mentioned during the Thursday night pregame show — a line drive that hit inside the 20 and forced a return. The Packers did it, and the tackle was made at the 16. That’s a (math is hard) 14-yard improvement to field position.
Of course, the brilliance of Green Bay’s successful decision to put the ball in play was balanced by an idiotic decision to return the last kickoff of the game. The Eagles put the ball into the end zone, content to concede the 30 with 27 seconds to play and a five-point lead. The Packers brought it out — wasting five seconds and getting the ball to the 16.
It gave the Packers 22 seconds to go 84 yards. They would have had 27 to go 70.
Not that they would have won the game. But the decision made a slim chance even slimmer.
On Sunday, much more data will emerge, thanks to 13 total games. Some teams will refine decisions based on what happened Thursday and Friday night. Then, come Monday night, the 49ers and Jets will have the chance to even further sharpen strategies based on the 15 total games that came before them.
Much remains to be determined. For now, however, the new kickoff is indeed far more dud than dynamic.
Eagles running back Saquon Barkley’s three touchdowns and Packers quarterback Jordan Love’s late injury were the headlines of Friday night’s Eagles win, but another storyline from the NFL’s first game in Brazil was the state of the playing surface.
Players from both teams had trouble keeping their feet on the grass at Corinthians Arena in Sao Paolo. Barkley slipped and lost five yards on his first carry as an Eagle and Packers safety Xavier McKinney, Barkley’s former Giants teammate, said “there were some cases where I was slipping” as well. Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert compared the field to the slippery surface in Arizona for Super Bowl LVII and quarterback Jalen Hurts also chimed in on the difficulties.
“I mean, y’all saw out there that it was kind of rough to get traction,” Hurts said, via Tim McManus of ESPN.com. “Definitely challenging on that field. It’s not the type of field we’re used to playing on. We’ve had that type of field before. They had to play on it, as well. I’m just happy that we found a way to figure it out as a team, overcome it.”
The NFL is planning on more international games in the future and the quality of the fields they use will likely draw greater scrutiny after watching how things played out on Friday.
Through two games of the season, the much-hyped new kickoff rule is not looking so dynamic.
Just as the Chiefs and Ravens did on Thursday night, the Packers and Eagles generally kicked the ball deep into the end zone for touchbacks, and when the kickoffs were returned, not much yardage was gained.
Of the Packers and Eagles’ 13 kickoffs on Friday night in Brazil, 10 were touchbacks. The three that were returned averaged just 20.7 yards.
Similar numbers on Thursday night mean we’ve now had 24 kickoffs under the new rule with 19 touchbacks. That means 79 percent of kickoffs this season have been touchbacks. During the 2023 season, 74 percent of kickoffs were touchbacks. The point of the new rule was not to increase the number of touchbacks, but that’s what has happened.
The new rule was hyped as the “dynamic kickoff” because it was supposedly going to encourage returns, as it had done when first tried in the XFL. But a key change that the NFL made to the XFL rule was putting touchbacks on the 30-yard line, instead of the 35-yard line which the XFL used. So far, it appears that NFL teams are concluding the safe thing to do is just boot the ball deep and don’t risk letting it get returned. Perhaps if touchbacks went to the 35-yard line, teams would be more likely to kick short and try to pin the opposing returners deep.
The other point of the new rule was player safety, as there will be fewer high-speed collisions. Two games is simply not enough of a sample size to say whether the rule has succeeded on that front.
We’ll get a good look on Sunday at whether other teams try other kickoff strategies, and at whether some kickers struggle to kick the ball deep into the end zone consistently. But so far the results have not given fans the excitement that the new rule was supposed to provide.
As social-media physicians commence the process of diagnosing Packers quarterback Jordan Love via video, there will be different opinions about what the injury might be. No one will know the truth until there’s a full and proper diagnosis.
One thing is true. The video shows a popping in Love’s left knee, as he was being brought to the ground.
Watch it. The sudden movement is obvious, similar to the visible snapping of the Achilles tendon of former Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins last year.
Again, no one knows for now what happened inside the knee. What we do know, based on the video of the play, that something popped inside the knee.
It was one thing for the Giants to let running back Saquon Barkley leave in free agency. It was another to watch him slide down I-95 to join one of their biggest rivals.
And it was Barkley’s debut for the Eagles — with three touchdowns in a 34-29 win over the Packers in Brazil — that will renew questions about why the Giants let him go.
Barkley became the first Eagles player to score three touchdowns in his debut since receiver Terrell Owens, 20 years ago. Barkley generated 103 rushing yards, with another 23 receiving yards.
His performance underscored concerns that were raised, and ultimately ignored, by director of pro personnel Chris Rossetti during the ill-advised offseason Hard Knocks.
During conversations that culminated in the Giants choosing neither to re-sign nor to tag and trade Barkley, Rossetti said Barkley, the second overall pick in the 2018 draft, is “still relatively young” and that he still has “explosive traits.”
“When he gets going, he’s still a load to bring down,” Rossetti said. “Put him behind Philly offensive line, there might be value to another team that they’d be willing to kind of give up a pick or an asset to get him.”
While there are plenty of games left, the first one makes it look like the Giants erred. And plenty of New York media and fans will be saying so, loudly. Especially if the Giants lose at home to the Vikings on Sunday.
The Giants will play two games before the Eagles return to action, on Monday, September 16 against the Falcons. And everyone will once again get a chance to see what Barkley can do with his new team. Including Giants fans who might be wishing more than ever that Barkley still played for Big Blue.
The season-opening loss to the Eagles was bad. The Packers are now bracing for something that could be much worse.
Quarterback Jordan Love, in his first game after signing a massive contract with a new-money average of $55 million per year, suffered a leg injury late in the fourth quarter. His status is unknown to most, including his head coach.
Said Matt LaFluer after the game regarding Love’s injury: “I don’t know.”
Love got twisted up and hit by multiple Eagles. He spent a few minutes on the ground. He limped off the field. He then walked gingerly with assistance to the locker room after the 34-29 loss. Malik Willis, who recently arrived via trade with the Titans, finished the last-gasp effort to win the game.
Love completed 17 of 34 passes for 260 yards, with two touchdowns and an interception.
The Packers host the Colts in Week 2. They have Willis on the active roster and Sean Clifford on the practice squad. Green Bay might have to add another quarterback. Among the available options, Ryan Tannehill is the biggest name.
For now, however, no one knows. Including LaFleur.
Packers quarterback Jordan Love was injured at the end of Friday night’s game in Brazil.
With 15 seconds left, Love was trying for a miracle comeback when Eagles rushers Jalen Carter and Josh Sweat converged on him. His left leg got caught underneath as he went down awkwardly.
Love remained on the ground, writhing in pain.
He eventually limped off the field with the aid of athletic trainers.
As Love sat on the bench at the end of the game, Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts walked over to wish him well. Love eventually walked off the field, leaning on running back Josh Jacobs and an athletic trainer for support but with no noticeable limp.
Malik Willis, who arrived in a trade from the Titans last week, finished the game.
Love finished 17-of-34 for 260 yards with two touchdowns and an interception in the 34-29 loss.
The Eagles signed Saquon Barkley to a three-year, $37.75 million deal in the offseason. The move already has paid dividends.
The star running back rushed for 109 yards and scored three touchdowns in leading the Eagles to a season-opening, 34-29 victory over the Packers in Brazil on Friday night.
He scored on runs of 11 and 2 yards, sandwiched between an 18-yard touchdown catch.
It tied Barkley’s career high for touchdowns as he also had three in a game against the Bucs in 2018 while with the Giants. Barkley spent six seasons with the Giants before hitting free agency and leaving for their rival.
The Eagles overcame three turnovers by Jalen Hurts in a shaky performance. He threw an interception on the Eagles’ third play, lost a fumble on an aborted shotgun snap on their sixth play and then threw another interception in the end zone with the Eagles at the Green Bay 14 in the fourth quarter.
Hurts went 20-of-34 for 278 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions for an 80.3 passer rating. A.J. Brown caught five passes for 119 yards and a touchdown.
The Packers gained 414 yards, but they killed themselves with 10 penalties for 71 yards. Green Bay also had offsetting penalties that negated a touchdown, and it settled for two red-zone field goals of 31 and 23 yards by rookie Brayden Narveson, who missed a 43-yard try off the right upright in the second half. Jordan Love also threw a costly interception.
The Eagles had a 7:25 drive on their final possession that left the Packers with only 27 seconds and in need of a touchdown to win. The Packers’ best opportunity came when Hurts fumbled on what was going to be a quarterback push play with 1:12 left. Barkley saved the day, though, recovering.
On the final drive, Love got the Packers to the Eagles 47 before getting crunched by Josh Sweat and Jalen Carter. Although he got the ball away, pitching it backward to Josh Jacobs, Love did not get up, writhing in pain. He finally limped to the sideline.
The Packers thus have an even bigger worry than the loss.
Love went 17-of-34 for 260 yards with two touchdowns and an interception.
Jayden Reed starred for the Packers with a 33-yard touchdown run and a 70-yard touchdown catch. He finished with four catches for 138 yards.
Jacobs had 16 carries for 84 yards and two catches for 20 yards in his Packers’ debut.