JT's Packers vs Eagles Pick & Preview - NFL Week 1 (2024)

we got the Green Bay Packers versus the Philadelphia Eagles the second game of the 2024 NFL season and it's going to be played in Brazil and I'm not going to lie to you look I I I love that the NFL is trying to become more International but playing in Brazil is absolutely wild like I mean Brazil just banned X for crying out loud so I mean it's not really the safest place to be at if you are a football player and just personally Brazil is one of those countries that you know I love looking at pictures I love seeing all of the great photos that gets taken from that part of the world but it's definitely really low on my list of or places that I would want to travel to just with it being a little bit unsafe and everything they got going on with the government and it's just a really weird place to be playing a football game like let's just play in London maybe we can play Meo maybe get a game in Canada you know like why would you play a game in Brazil before you will play a game in Canada if anything you need to be trying to get a little bit more into that Canadian football Market I'm just saying like I'm not the biggest fan of them playing this green this game in Canada well in Brazil but you know the Philadelphia Eagles last year they started out 10 and one and then their season just completely went left I mean their defense couldn't stopped nobody their secondary was burnt toast and Jaylen Herz he went from looking like an MVP candidate to one of the most overrated quarterbacks in the NFL last year and there's a lot that we're about to find out about Philadelphia in terms of if Nick serani made the right coordinator hires because you got Kell Moore taking over as your new offensive coordinator and Vic vanjo is going to be the guys calling plays for you on defense and with you having a new coaching staff you know you wonder how long is it going to take for these players to truly get comfortable in these new systems learning new terminology and a Green Bay Packers they're not the only team that's going to be having you know some coaching staff problems to worry about because the Green Bay Packers have a new defensive coordinator and Jeff Halley who's taking over for Joe Barry now Joe Barry was probably one of the three worst defensive coordinators in the NFL last year with Jeff Halley replacing him if this defense can be halfway decent under him they got everything they need to be a Super Bowl Contender this year and to win the NFC and Green Bay defensively to me they've always been one of the NFL's most talented teams on that side of football it's just that they haven't had a good enough defensive coordinator to maximize that level of talent that they have on that side of football you know that they got really good Corners you got jir Alexander you got Preston Smith you have ran Gary who's probably the most underrated pass rusher in the NFL when he's fully healthy he's a threat to win Defensive Player of the Year even last year before he went down with the injury and had to miss some time like I had him as one of my top five candidates to win Defensive Player of the Year Midway through the season so there's a lot of Talent on gree Bay's defense that if Jeff Halley can put these players in the right positions to succeed he can throw some exotic Blitz packages out there Philadelphia's offense could be in a little bit of trouble because Jaylen Herz isn't that good against the blitz you know that was definitely a area that he struggled in being more prepared when teams are sending extra guys after him and he just seems like he doesn't have no plan b or c it's just like he's either throw a deep bomb to AJ brown or Deonte Smith and if it's no deep bond there I'm either going to try to run you utilize my legs or you know that's pretty much it so I want to see how much more development are we going to see out of Jaylen Herz under new offens of coordinator Kell Moore I think one of the biggest matchups that's going to determine this game is going to be the determined by the dudes in the Press Box that's defensive coordinator for Jeff Halley and offensive coordinator Kell Moore for the Eagles because if Kell Moore ends up getting the better of that matchup Philadelphia should end up winning this game because this has potential to be one of those games that ends up being high-scoring potentially because Vic vanio is a more than capable defensive mind but eventually Philadelphia's defense even if they do play good enough to slow down Green Bay offense for the first couple of quarters if their offense does nothing and they have the same problems that they had last year then you're going to see Philly's defense even if it does look better better under vanio it's going to get worn out and they're going to end up becoming gas because Green Bay despite how good they can throw the football you know they added Josh Jacobs Josh Jacobs is one of the better running backs in the league he's going to be a upgrade from Aaron Jones is's going to be more physical more tough they're going to be able to be a more powerful team in terms of being able to win and push guys up front around and I just love the kind of toughness that Josh Jacobs brings to the Packers and if Philadelphia's defense ends up getting worn out in the fourth quarter because their offense can't sustain any drives that's what's going to win this game for Green Bay because Jord and love you know this could be a game that he potentially struggles in with how good Vic vano is at disguising his coverages and this going to be a really big test for Jordan love you know because there's a small amount of people who believe that last year was just lightning in the bottle for Jordan love and that he's going to come back down to Earth but me and the majority of folks out there believe that if you can go 20 and three have a 20 to3 touchdown interception ratio the last two months of the Season you know there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to carry that momentum into this year especially into a game this early into the season that's going to have major implications on who can win the onec because just like I said earlier in that Chiefs Ravens game you look at it as you know it being week one so even if you lose it still isn't a loss that hurts you that bad but where it does hurt you is that that you know what if Philadelphia is as good as expected and Green Bay is good as expected both of these two teams should be in the conversation for that first round bu in the NFC and you could come back and look at this game for being the big determining factor for who ends up clinching the one seed in this conference this year and for Philadelphia you know your schedule is a little bit more tougher in my opinion than what the Green Bay Packers schedule is but overall you need to win more than what Green Bay does because with how bad things ended for you last year I mean you lost the baker Mayfield and TOD BS in a Wild Card round it gets no worse than that you really need to prove that you know last season how left things went was just the one time occurrence you need to win to get everybody bought back in again because if you lose this game you know then you still have a bitter taste in your mouth from last year carrying over into this year there's anybody who really needs a win week one is Philadelphia just because I think it would be great for the morale in the locker room and it kind of will ease a little bit of the tensions when it comes to Nick serani job security and I mean I would be doing a major disservice to you guys if I didn't talk about saquon Barkley I mean this is one of the biggest offseason acquisitions in the NFL saquon Barkley he's arguably the second most talented back in the league right behind Chris mcaffrey not only is he a monster on the ground but he's also great in the passing game and with Jaylen Herz having sequan Barkley to be a great checkdown option for him that should help out Jaylen Herz tremendously you know when AJ Brown Devonte Smith the covered you can dump it down to sequan Barkley he can take you know a short pass and turn it into a 40 50 yard game with how explosive he is and with how great his vision is as well and Green Bay run defense has been a huge liability for the last two three years they've been unable to stop the run so saquan Barkley could be a big factor and Philadelphia being able to win that time of possession battle keeping Jordan love off the field keeping their defense off the field as well and if you can do that you got a great chance being able to pull off this win the Eagles are a two and a half Point favorite I'm going to take Green Bay the win and cover listen I just think for Green Bay they got so much going for them with how hot they ended last season and normally when you got a team that ends up getting hot during the second half of the previous year they car that momentum Into The Following Season remember Detroit in 2022 you know they started out a little slow but then once they got the week nine win week 10 they started rattling off wins and they were one of the NFL's hottest teams to end the 2022 campaign and you saw how good they were last year a lot of momentum that you build late season as long as you can keep that same coaching staff in place carries over to The Following season and with green Bay what should be a good defense at least a halfway decent defense with Jeff Halley being your defensive coordinator makes the difference in this game with Kell Moore he's not a bad offensive coordinator I'll probably say he's a pretty good offensive coordinator but he's not a complete great coordinator which is why you know I do think that there's a good chance we end up seeing him lose that matchup between him and Jeff Halley in the booth I think Jeff Halley a lot of people just don't know how good of a defensive mind he is but he had some really good defenses when he was the head coach of Boston College you know and he does have a little bit of some NFL experience so it's not like he's a novice at this level so give me the Green Bay Packers with the win I'll take them 24 17 is my final score prediction for this game