SAO PAULO — Oi. Tudo bem? The Philadelphia Eagles are 1-0, and anyone who traveled to the NFL’s first-ever game in South America now has more than a week before the franchise continues its regular season on American soil.
The Eagles will host the Atlanta Falcons on Monday Night Football on Sept. 16. It’ll offer yet another prime time viewing of two revamped systems that recovered from sloppy starts in Philadelphia’s 34-29 win over the Green Bay Packers on Friday. From the Guarulhos International Airport tarmac, here are four extra takeaways from Brazil.
1. Zack Baun stars in questionable linebacker corps
A questionable position group appeared even more precarious when Devin White did not make the trip to Brazil due to an ankle injury he’d sustained in practice.
But defensive coordinator Vic Fangio’s confidence in Zack Baun was legitimized in the free agent signee’s impressive debut. Baun, who never quite found a role in four seasons with the New Orleans Saints, revealed why he quickly secured a starting spot as an inside linebacker during training camp. He had a game-leading 15 tackles (10 against the run, five against the pass), two sacks and a tackle for loss.
Baun’s blend of experience both in the box and as an edge rusher in his career has so far proven beneficial in Fangio’s system. Baun was effective between the tackles; nine of his tackles limited the Packers to three yards or less. Baun’s two sacks suggest he can be a brutal blitzer. That those rushes were called on a first-down situation and a third-down scenario fulfilled Fangio’s adage of blitzing when he wants to, not because he has to.
“I like Zack,” Fangio said in training camp. “He’s a guy that’s played very little inside linebacker in his career. We think he can do it.”
ZACK BAUN GAME-CLINCHING SACK‼️#FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/S25OmcQAtd
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) September 7, 2024
Baun’s debut suggests that the linebacker corps at the very least won’t collectively be a liability, as it was in 2023. But there were times when the unit failed to support the defensive front.
Baun slipped off Jayden Reed while attempting to tackle the wide receiver on his 33-yard end-around score in the second quarter. Nakobe Dean had a spotty outing in his return from season-ending foot surgery. Beyond a third-and-1 tackle for loss near the goal line, Dean was involved in three tackles while missing on another attempt. Pro Football Focus (fairly or unfairly) held Dean responsible for the coverage breakdown on Reed’s 70-yard touchdown reception, although it’s uncertain whether Dean was the defender who was supposed to be in that zone.
White’s return warrants intrigue. A fuller view of how much the reshuffled linebacker corps has truly improved awaits. It’s worth noting general manager Howie Roseman’s increased investment in the position was nominal. The Eagles, who ranked 29th in linebacker spending in 2023, now rank 28th, according to Over the Cap. The organization essentially took three bets: 1) on White restabilizing his career, 2) Baun finding a home with a true position, 3) Dean fulfilling the potential the Eagles perceived by spending a third-round pick on him in 2022.
The Eagles may only need one of those bets to hit to call the offseason churn a success.
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2. Eagles’ run defense is a concern
The Packers averaged 7.8 yards per rush. Fine, take away Jayden Reed’s 33-yard end-around score. The Packers still averaged 6.5 yards per rush. This is an untenable rate. In some ways, the Eagles’ victory over the Packers resembled their second-half heroics in five straight come-from-behind wins in 2023. Philadelphia is talented enough to trade haymakers. But it should not be considered a sustainable solution.
The defense’s failure to make early contact is foreboding. Opposing rushers averaged 3.24 yards before contact against the Eagles, who rank second-to-last in the category according to TruMedia. The Eagles rank 19th in defensive rush success (58.3 percent), an Expected Points Added-based metric that involves runs that result in first downs.
This is alarming considering the organization’s substantial investment in the trenches. None between Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, Josh Sweat, Bryce Huff, Brandon Graham, Milton Williams or Moro Ojomo logged a run stuff in the game (tackles for exactly no gain). Sweat and Williams logged a tackle for loss on the very first play of the game. Josh Jacobs recorded 84 rushing yards at 5.3 yards per carry, and Emanuel Wilson gained 46 yards at 11.5 yards per carry.
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3. Secondary avoids scare
On one potentially calamitous play in the third quarter, safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson and cornerback Quinyon Mitchell both left the field with injuries. Gardner-Johnson returned two plays later, Mitchell a series later. Kelee Ringo subbed in for Mitchell, was not targeted, and the Eagles held the Packers to a field goal attempt that Brayden Narveson clunked off the right upright.
Mitchell later (hilariously) told me that his injury “was a minor knick-knack.” It’d seemed he’d paddy whacked his right wrist/hand somehow on that play. But the No. 22 overall pick returned to the game and played 63 of the defense’s 67 snaps. He was targeted nine times and surrendered five receptions for 86 yards, according to Pro Football Focus. Jordan Love tested the rookie early on a long ball that Mitchell knocked out of Reed’s hands, and Mitchell later swatted a sideline attempt to Daontayvion Wicks for a second pass defended.
“The moment is never too big for Q,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said.
The brief alarm Mitchell’s “knick-knack” raised focused the attention on how the Eagles are managing their secondary’s depth. Mitchell only played outside corner in Friday’s game plan. Sirianni refused to disclose whether Mitchell would’ve also played nickel (as he’d done in the preseason) had Isaiah Rodgers not been sidelined with a hand injury. If so, the decision suggests the Eagles were less confident in Ringo on the outside — at least for the matchups that he’d be presented against the Packers.
Nickel remains a weakness for opponents to exploit. Avonte Maddox, who started at nickel, was flagged for pass interference and surrendered a touchdown on back-to-back plays.
Will Maddox start against the Atlanta Falcons on Sept. 16? Cooper DeJean played six snaps in six-defensive back “Dime” packages on Friday. Entering the game, Fangio said DeJean was “as prepared as he can be,” considering he’d missed the majority of training camp with a hamstring injury, but was “not where he needs to be.”
4. First signs of growth in Brazil since Friday
Eagles-Packers was broadcast through three distinct media: RedeTV, easily accessible free-to-air; ESPN Brazil, the league’s longtime pay TV partner; and CazéTV, owned by Brazilian streamer Casimiro Miguel, who has 32.3 million combined social media subscribers, and also landed broadcast rights for the 2024 Olympics.
On Friday, Eagles-Packers peaked at about 380,000 viewers on CazéTV alone. The stream totaled nearly 3 million viewers. Although RedeTV and ESPN Brazil haven’t yet officially released their numbers, the digital metrics are promising considering the NFL has historically captured modest numbers on traditional sources. An average of 360,000 people watched Super Bowl LVI on RedeTV, according to Máquina do Esporte.
Friday’s NFL game appeared to incite a Brazilian network battle. The Brazilian national soccer team’s World Cup qualifier against Ecuador was originally scheduled for Thursday. But, after the NFL announced its partnership with CazéTV, the soccer match was moved to Friday night. The World Cup qualifier was broadcast on TV Globo, Brazil’s largest free-to-air network, which hasn’t shown significant interest in the NFL.
But the digital medium is particularly powerful in Brazil, a country that has more smartphones than inhabitants. Effect Sport, the Rio-based marketing agency that works with the NFL, tracked an increase of more than 100,000 followers across its league-associate social media platforms. The agency also secured a regional sponsorship deal with the Mars, Inc. brand Snickers on the day of the game.
Back in the United States, NBC Sports announced in a press release that Eagles-Packers was the second-most watched live event on its Peacock streaming network, behind the Dolphins-Chiefs AFC wild-card game in January. Friday night’s Peacock audience, which averaged 14.2 million viewers throughout the game, peaked at 15.3 million viewers during the second quarter.
The NFL is still expanding its reach globally.
On Friday, the NFL announced it’d reached an agreement with TelevisaUnivision, a Mexico-based network, for a contract renewal through the 2026 season. TelevisaUnivision, like RedeTV in Brazil, is a free-to-air network that has the rights to broadcast regular season games, playoff games and the Super Bowl.
(Top photo of Zack Baun: Kirby Lee / Imagn Images)
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Publish date : 2024-09-09 05:37:00
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