The Philadelphia Eagles started life without Jason Kelce with a win thanks to Saquon Barkley’s three touchdowns on a remarkable debut for his hometown team.
For the first time in 13 seasons there was no Kelce at center for the Eagles. Although there were some teething problems on the offensive line, they claimed a 34-29 win over the Green Bay Packers in Brazil.
In a huge scare for the Packers, however, franchise quarterback Jordan Love hobbled off with six seconds to go with a lower leg injury. Replays appeared to show his knee pop under the weight of tackle.
Fueled by Barkley’s two rushing touchdowns and another through the air, Nick Sirianni’s team showed little resemblance to the one that collapsed remarkably down the stretch last season.
A.J. Brown also scored on a historic night for the NFL as the league played its first-ever game in South America.
Kelce, who has been at the Eagles facility during the offseason but will make his ESPN debut on Monday night, tweeted a number of times throughout the game.
Commenting on Love’s injury, he said: ‘Hopefully Jordan Love is okay, love watching him play, was quietly a little nervous about this one, big win for the Good Guys.’
It was not all plain sailing for the Eagles, though. During the first quarter fans flooded Kelce’s social media, begging him to come out of retirement.
It came after Cam Jurgens, who has moved along the offensive line from guard to center to replace Kelce, snapped the ball to quarterback Jalen Hurts way too quickly.
Hurts was not ready for the ball and it ricocheted off his body and loose, allowing the Packers defense to pounce on it and turn it over.
A similar situation arose at the end of the game when the Eagles tried to score with a ‘tush push’ to put the result beyond doubt.
Kelce, who was watching the game from home, was immediately bombarded by messages from fans who begged him to come out of retirement after the play.
One fan wrote: ‘Eagles about to pay Jason Kelce a billion dollars to come back’.
Another commented: ‘That’s it @JasonKelce needs to put his jersey back on and get out in the field’.
‘If I’m the Eagles I’m calling Kylie (Kelce) to get permission to get @JasonKelce back on the field,’ posted a third.
Another added: ‘Uhh maybe the Eagles should call Jason Kelce to see if he wants to come back.’
Kelce took to X to voice his support for Jurgens after one play, writing: ‘Cam Jurgens! Pulling center! Gotta love it’.
Earlier in the night, Eagles players were loudly jeered as they took the field in Brazil following the controversy surrounding cornerback Darius Slay.
Slay was forced to apologize earlier this week after claiming he did not want to travel to Brazil to play amid fears over the country’s ‘high crime rate’.
He also took aim at NFL bosses for sending both the Eagles and the Packers to the South American nation, before eventually U-turning and branding it a ‘beautiful country’.
Despite Slay’s apology, fans inside Sao Paulo’s Corinthians Arena made their anger known by booing Eagles players as they made their way out for pregame warmups.
Barkley managed to shut out the noise as he rushed for 109 yards and two scores and added a touchdown catch.
Jalen Hurts completed 20 of 34 passes for 278 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions, and A.J. Brown had five catches for 119 yards and one TD.
Love and Jayden Reed powered the Packers in a game that featured seven lead changes. Love threw for 260 yards, two TDs and one pick on 17-of-34 passing.
Reed had 171 yards from scrimmage with two scores. Josh Jacobs added 84 yards on 16 carries in his first game for Green Bay.