South America's 1st-Ever NFL Game Was Definitely One for the Books

I do love that the NFL continues to branch out and play their games all over the world, and they're continuing to play in new cities across the globe. Regarding this year, it was announced months prior that an actual NFL game would take place in São Paulo, the most populous city in Brazil--the largest country in South America. The teams participating in this historic game: the Philadelphia Eagles and the Green Bay Packers.

I'm very excited for this moment in history, and even more elated that the Packers are part of this, especially with Jordan Love in his second year as our full time starting QB. Speaking of Love, here's an epic trivial fact regarding this whole opening week. 15 Black quarterbacks are starting in Week 1 of this NFL season, which is an NFL record. That is a big moment in diversity, and is the latest evidence of how Black QBs have risen above the racial bias and stereotypes from fans and even other players.

We saw two of them on Opening Day: Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson. In this international special, two more took center stage: Jordan Love and Jalen Hurts.

The Eagles were the de facto "home team" in this game, which saw the Packers with the ball first. This was a very crazy first quarter, which saw the Packers' first drive result in a punt. Eagles started at their own 10 yard line, and we see Saquon Barkley with his first touch as an Eagle...and he slips five yards behind the line of scrimmage. The drive actually ended with Hurts throwing an interception, but the Packers could only muster a field goal despite being in the red zone. Eagles next possession resulted in a bad snap and a lost fumble. Packers ball again. This time, we'd get in the end zone, right? Sadly, no. Another field goal. 6-0 Packers.

That was the score after the first quarter, even as the Eagles were moving down the field. Early in the second, the Eagles finally hit pay dirt, as Barkley found the end zone following an 18-yard reception. Eagles lead for the first time, but the Packers get the lead back on a 33-yard run from Jayden Reed. Our two-point conversion falls short, but the Packers lead 12-7. Eagles strike back when Barkley scores again, but Love answered back with a long touchdown bomb to Reed. Defense holds Philly to a field goal at the end of the half, and at the break, Packers led 19-17.

Looked like more of that same good stuff from the Packers from that last stretch from last year. Second half starts, and it didn't take the Eagles a minute to score. A.J. Brown--67 yard touchdown pass. Barely over two minutes later, Christian Watson scores, and it's 26-24 Packers. The defense starts to show up a bit; Eagles ended up punting, and I'm excited, because I'm sensing another score from us, and we can start to run away. Problem: Love throws a pick. Eagles have half of a field and they capitalize. Barkley finds the end zone again. Third touchdown of the game, and the Eagles regain the lead.

Packers need something. We get in field goal range, but end up having to settle for three. 44-yard field goal. Has the distance. Off the uprights. Eagles can really put it away, but Hurts is picked off for the second time. There's hope...even though Jaire Alexander ran it out of the end zone instead of taking that knee. We get it down to deep in the end zone, but we have to settle for a chip shot field goal to get it within two points. We need to shut down the Eagles. We managed to get a third down stop, but a defensive holding penalty makes it a first down.

Now we're in trouble. Eagles can pretty much whittle down the clock damn near. And after moving down the field even further, it reached the point where we had to burn our timeouts. We forced a field goal out of them, which gave us the ball back, but all we had was 30 seconds. Keisean Nixon gets the kickoff in the end zone...and decides to run out with it. Oh brother. He's tackled at the 13 yard line, costing us 17 yards. However, a long bomb to Reed gets us close to midfield, but on the next play...well...

Not a good sight. Love was down and apparently injured in this game, and that had a lot of Packers fans nervous. Now he was helped up and walking, which honestly made me feel better. Nevertheless, it was Malik Willis' time to finish what little was left, and after a short incomplete pass, Willis attemtped a Hail Mary, but was sacked. Packers came up short in this one by a score of 34-29, but here's the thing. Despite the score, I am happy with how the defense played under our new defensive coordinator, after all, we took the ball away three times, and we stopped the Brotherly Shove twice.

However, dumb penalties cost us, and the early failed opportunities didn't help either. The main concern is Jordan Love, and here's the thing. I don't see him missing any time. Again, we did see him walking, so that's a good sign. Also, even if something is up, Love has extra time. The Packers don't play again until next Sunday. As a result, Love with have eight days off. I honestly think there's a good chance he's back out there for Week 2. Time will tell if he's good to go or not. Love threw for 260 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception. Hurts threw for 18 yards more, two touchdowns, but committed three turnovers. Neither QB cracked 20 fantasy points, though considering Hurts actually had -1.6 fantasy points after the first quarter, the rest of the game was a vast improvement.

The star of the game, without question, was Saquon Barkley. Let's look at the fantasy numbers. Fantasy scoring for running backs is simple. 1 point per 10 rushing yards, and touchdowns are 6 points. Receiving scoring rules also apply; 1 point per 10 receiving yards, and touchdowns are 6 points, and there's also PPR (Points Per Reception). Barkley ran for 109 yards (10.9 points) and two touchdowns (12 points), and also had two receptions (2 points) for 23 yards (2.3 points), and a touchdown (6 points). A grand total of 33.2 points. I know we're only two games into Week 1, but Barkley may be the highest scoring fantasy player of the week. This is why the Eagles got him.

So that's how South America's first NFL game played out. The Eagles survived and reminded doubters of why they're one of the National Football Conference's top teams. As for the Packers, we reminded fans why we were able to make so much noise when it counted last year. The rest of the NFL's Opening Week should be absolutely spectacular; count on it!