Breaking down receiver vs. secondary matchups in Packers-Eagles

All eyes will be on the Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles when the two teams square off in Brazil on Friday night. Two NFC heavyweights look to get an early advantage on the rest of the playoff hopefuls. The winner takes the head-to-head tiebreaker, which could come in handy with seeding down the line.

On paper, these teams match up pretty well, each led by a quarterback selected in the 2020 NFL Draft. Both teams will have a new defensive coordinator to begin the season, made the playoffs as wild-card teams last term, and look to take the next step as a franchise.

What will separate these two? It could come down to one key factor: Youth vs. experience.

For the long list of things these two teams share, they do have one noticeable difference. The Eagles are led by veteran receivers and defensive backs, whereas the Packers are considerably more youthful in these two groups.

Packers receivers vs. Eagles secondary

From the sideline, Matt LaFleur and offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich square off with one of the top defensive minds in NFL history, Vic Fangio.

Nearly every skill player for Green Bay is on their respective rookie contracts. Looking at the pass catchers, third-year players Romeo Doubs and Christian Watson lead the way for Jayden Reed, Dontayvion Wicks, Bo Melton, Malik Heath, Luke Musgrave, and Tucker Kraft, all of whom are in their second seasons.

While this youth could be problematic in some circumstances, the fact that these guys have extensively worked with Jordan Love and developed as pros with him as their only quarterback (outside of Watson and Doubs) should give Green Bay a high degree of confidence.

Watson starred the last time these two teams played in 2022, catching four passes for 110 yards, including a 63-yard touchdown from Love, who replaced an injured Aaron Rodgers. Fangio was serving as a consultant for the Eagles at that time and got a front-row seat for Love's coming-out party.

Fangio's defenses are known for letting the defensive line take double teams, and the linebackers run free while dropping into Cover 2 or Cover 4, trying to force you to make mistakes. If this sounds familiar, former Packers defensive coordinator Joe Barry stems from the Fangio coaching tree. Good ol' bend-but-don't-break strikes again.

The Packers saw a different disciple of the Fangio coaching tree in 2023 when it faced the Chargers and head coach Brandon Staley. In that game, Love was 27/40 for 322 yards and two touchdowns.

Philadelphia certainly has more defensive star power than the Chargers did last year. The Eagles got gouged last year, giving up 255.7 passing yards per game, the third-worst record in the NFL. Philadelphia is adjusting to a new defensive scheme.

Advantage: Packers

Packers secondary vs. Eagles receivers

The flipside of this matchup is looking at the Eagles' veteran skill position players against the Packers' young defensive backs. Like Philadelphia, Green Bay also has a new defensive coordinator, former Boston College head coach, Jeff Hafley. Hafley doesn't have the NFL tenure that Fangio has, but he is quite seasoned himself. Hafley served as a defensive backs coach in Tampa Bay, Cleveland, and San Francisco before returning to college football.

Hafley's defenses are typically considerably more aggressive, playing a fair share of man defense and press coverage, a foreign concept under Joe Barry. Hafley also operates out of a base 4-3 compared to Barry's 3-4. As Packers fans, we have yet to see what Hafley's defense can do.

Looking back at the 2022 matchup, Jalen Hurts was 16/28 for 153 yards and two touchdowns. He also took two sacks in that game. In the secondary, while Green Bay did not force an interception, Rasul Douglas and Jaire Alexander each defended a pass. Philadelphia was 8/15 on third down.

A key to getting off the field will be allowing Jaire Alexander to match up with one of the veteran receivers. Will it be AJ Brown, DeVonta Smith, or Jahan Dotson? Brown led this squad last year with 106 catches for 1,456 yards and seven touchdowns, while Smith made 81 catches for 1,066 yards and seven touchdowns.

If the Packers go into a true man-to-man matchup for the majority of the game, look for Alexander to match up with Brown, letting Eric Stokes cover Smith by using his speed and familiarity with the Alabama receiver. This would put Keisean Nixon, Carrington Valentine, or Javon Bullard on newcomer Jahan Dotson.

If Hafley can make this happen and get after Hurts with plenty of pressure and new looks, it could be a long night for the Eagles.

In four career games against the Eagles, Xavier McKinney has three interceptions and a strip sack of Hurts. Combine this with the rest of the secondary and new schemes, and the Packers have another big advantage.

Advantage: Packers

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