When Green Bay and Philadelphia met on opening day 23 years ago, the first quarterback selected in fantasy drafts (Randall Cunningham) attempted 4 passes before suffering a season-ending knee injury. The same two teams opened against each other on Friday night, and I’m hoping a quarterback of similar relevance hasn’t suffered the same kind of injury.
Jordan Love at least was able to hop off the field, but it didn’t look good. The initial diagnosis indicates he injured his MCL but not his ACL. He’ll likely be missing some time but won’t be shelved for the bulk of the season. But while he’s down, it will turn one of the league’s best offenses into more of a below-average unit.
The Packers don’t have a quarterback who can come in and serve as a poor man’s Love. Malik Willis is their current backup, but he’s more of a developmental prospect rather than a guy they want in the starting lineup. Sean Clifford (coming off the practice squad) probably is more likely than Willis to start in Week 2. And the Packers could be looking to sign a journeyman veteran to come in and start.)
Other observations from Friday night’s game.
High-priced running backs: The game featured the two high-priced free agent running backs who switched teams in the offense, with Saquon Barkley getting the better of Josh Jacobs. Jacobs actually averaged almost a yard more per carry, but most of his production came on two longer runs (one near the end of the third quarter, and one in the fourth). Barkley had the better game, with 28 more total yards and 3 TDs.
Barkley’s best run came in the second half, when he exploded through the line for a 33-yard rip. That play has me thinking that he’ll be scoring a few long touchdowns this year.
Jacobs looked fine. Not great, but fine. I think he had 3 short-yardage carries inside the 10-yard line, with the Eagles (with their good defense) tending to win at the line of scrimmage on those. This wasn’t his night, but I’m thinking Jacobs will score a healthy number of touchdowns.
While Barkley scored 3 TDs in this game, I don’t think he’ll be scoring most of the team’s short rushing touchdowns. The Eagles had 4 short-yardage rushing situations in this game, and they brought out their Tush Push for all of them. So if they wind up scoring about 20 rushing touchdowns, I could see Jalen Hurts scoring about half of them.
No AJ, no problem: AJ Dillon (neck) is out for the year, and MarShawn Lloyd (hamstring) missed this game, but backup running back Emanuel Wilson looked good in this game. He got blown up on a pair of pass plays, but his 4 carries went for 46 yards. This guy is a good back; he forced his way onto the roster with a big preseason a year ago, including a 100-yard game in Cincinnati.
I would guess that if Jacobs misses a few games this year, the Packers won’t try to turn Lloyd into a full-time replacement. I think they instead would go to a one-two punch backfield, with Wilson maybe finishing with better numbers.
Packers receivers: It’s a four-man group. Jayden Reed, Christian Watson, Romeo Doubs and Dontayvion Wicks. Wicks played the least of those four, but he was out there a fair amount, with (I think) 4 passes thrown his way. He drew a penalty on a ball thrown his way that might have been a touchdown without the flag.
Reed posted the best stat line in this one, with 2 touchdowns and 3 really nice downfield catches. But Watson also will be making some of those big catches, and he saw 3 short targets around the goal line, including one for a touchdown, on plays that clearly were designed to get him the ball.
All of these guys, of course, will be adversely affected if Love misses time.
Eagles receivers: Jahan Dotson played more than I expected – introduced as a starter, and on the field for almost half of their plays. He saw only one target (an incompletion) but presumably there will be weeks where he’s more involved.
The way they played last night, A.J. Brown looked like the more impactful, No. 1 kind of receiver. DeVonta Smith actually caught 2 more passes, but he worked primarily out of the slot, catching shorter passes. Smith has the wheels to get downfield on longer patterns, but I don’t know if they’re going to use him much in that capacity this year.
Jalen Hurts: If we’re putting a grade on Hurts, is might be a B-minus. They got the offense going some, generally looking better than the Packers on this night. They controlled the action, which I guess can be called a success for the first game under offensive coordinator Kellen Moore.
But Hurts tossed a couple of pretty putrid interceptions – one into the end zone and one out of his own red zone. He lost a fumble, and there was another throw that could have been picked.
They tried 3 plays with Hurts lined up under center (plus the 4 Tush Push plays) but none of them went anywhere. They’ll be continuing to line Hurts up predominantly in the Pistol.
And Hurts doesn’t seem to be quite the runner he was a few years ago. Guys were catching him and getting him on the ground. His best runs, at least came late, with 8-, 6- and 8-yard runs on the last drive, including a tackle-buster to move the sticks.
Tight ends: Dallas Goedert didn’t do anything too notable in this game – 4 catches for 31 yards. If he’s moving in the overall scheme of things after Week 1, it will be down rather than up.
For the Packers, I am flip-flopping Tucker Kraft and Luke Musgrave on my board (I have Musgrave higher last week). They’ll both play, but Kraft was on the field for almost 4 times as many plays on Friday, and with more success as a pass catcher. He caught 2 passes for 37 yards, with one incompletion. Musgrave didn’t catch either of the 2 balls thrown in his direction.
And I think that’s a good place to call it a wrap. Two good appetizer games are in the books, and we’ll get into the bulk of the slate tomorrow.
—Ian Allan