You could hear it in Matt LaFleur’s voice during his post-game press conference: The Green Bay Packers had a terrific opportunity to beat the Philadelphia Eagles in the season opener in Brazil but were too sloppy and mistake-prone to get it done Friday night at Arena Corinthians in Sao Paulo.
“Obviously, very disappointed. There was a lot of opportunities out there to win the game,” LaFleur said.
The Packers struggled in the red zone, committed 10 penalties, had issues getting in sync in the passing game, missed tackles defensively and missed a field goal in a harrowing 34-29 defeat to open the season.
“There’s a lot to clean up. Definitely a sloppy game from us,” LaFleur said. “There was some uncharacteristic things that we did as a staff, quite frankly, and that trickled down to our players. Ultimately, we all got to look hard at ourselves in the mirror and find ways to get better because tonight wasn’t good enough.”
The Packers led 6-0 after the first quarter and 19-17 at halftime, but the Eagles started fast in the second half and eventually took control.
LaFleur was especially disappointed in the points scored off turnovers (nine points off three takeaways), the lack of production in the red area (1-for-4 scoring touchdowns), the lack of disruption from the pass rush (two sacks, five quarterback hits) and some blown run fits against Saquon Barkley.
LaFleur said teams typically win around 90 percent of games when winning the turnover battle by two or more. The Packers forced three and only had one giveaway. But Green Bay turned two takeaways inside Philadelphia’s 20-yard line into just six points, and LaFleur said the offense got “destroyed” in the red zone. Penalties helped to kill back-to-back red zone chances after the first-quarter takeaways and were crucial to extending a late Eagles drive.
“I think it’s a collective loss. All of us are responsible,” LaFleur said. “Myself, it starts with me, it goes down to the staff and then to our players. I challenged everybody. We’ve got to learn from this. Just watching the tape, and I’m not trying to take anything away from Philly, they battled and they played their game, but there was a lot of opportunities that we didn’t capitalize on, and when you don’t do that, you get beat.”
LaFleur said Week 1 is typically unpredictable but he called the performance a “slop fest.” The Packers didn’t play starters during the preseason.
Overall, the offensive line struggled, Jordan Love had trouble with footing and never looked in sync as a passer, receivers had drops and slipped all over the field, the defense struggled to pressure Jalen Hurts, missed run fits and missed tackles. Rookie kicker Brayden Narveson missed a 43-yard field goal in the second half.
In the end, an opportunity to snag a statement win to open the season in Brazil slipped right through the Packers’ fingers.
The icing on top of the cake was Love’s injury on the third-to-last play. LaFleur had no immediate update on the severity of the injury. The Packers will await additional testing when they get back to Green Bay on Saturday.