The Eagles opened their 2024 season in São Paulo, Brazil, against the Green Bay Packers, coming away with a 34-29 win.
The two will meet in the Wild Card Round on Sunday at 4:30 PM in a rematch of the Week 1 showdown at Lincoln Financial Field.
One thing has become clear since that game – both these teams have come a long way since the clash in Brazil.
"It's do-or-die time. Win or go home," center Cam Jurgens said after the Eagles' win over the Giants on Sunday.
"I feel like a lot of stuff has changed. I feel like it's been a year since we played them last in Brazil."
Although the teams have changed over the last 16 games, there are still plenty of lessons that can be learned from the film of the game against the Packers.
"Oh yeah, for sure, just to see what we did, what worked, what didn't work and how much they've changed since then," Jurgens said when asked if the tape from Week 1 is still helpful now.
"(We're) way different. It's always tough that first game, you don't know what they're going to come out in. I feel like midway through the year we started to find a good run identity and we changed a little bit in that aspect."
The Eagles went on to lose two of their next three games after defeating Green Bay, while the Packers were the opposite, winning two of their next three.
After both teams lost in Week 4, they seemingly hit their strides in the coming weeks, establishing their identities.
The Eagles came out of their bye week and won a franchise-record 10 straight games, while the Packers would win four games in a row and seven of their next eight.
"Still obviously early on in our stages of scouting them, but teams develop from game one to game, where we are now, 18. Everyone's a different team. Some teams have different players because of injuries. Schemes, you start to get used to what you're good at, what you're not good at. So, everybody is in a different mode than they were in Week 1," Head Coach Nick Sirianni said on Monday.
"Now there are things that are staples that have been good for them, that have been good for us, that remain the same. But there are a lot of changes and a lot of differences.
At the end of the day though, I see a really well-coached, fundamentally sound football team with a lot of really good football players. A lot of really solid football players on that roster. This is a really good football team that we're playing here on Sunday."
Both teams have had their fair share of highs and lows in this season, but the reality is, nothing that's happened over the last 18 weeks matters once the whistle blows on Sunday.
There are going to be things each team can take from the first meeting, and there are going to be new wrinkles, but ultimately, it's about keeping the same mindset and process Philadelphia has had all year – one game at a time.
"We know what they're about, we've seen them already. They were a good team when we played them the first time. We have to make sure we're on our P's and Q's because the game was close too. But at the end of the day, it's a playoff mindset. It's a new season going into this week and we just have to treat it as such," defensive tackle Jordan Davis said.
"At the end of the day, we know they're going to have some tendency breakers and they're going to try and do some things to throw us off. We just have to make sure we play smart and make sure we look at the film that they had after our game, because that was the first game – it's a different team that we're seeing."
The Eagles will rely on what's gotten them this far as the postseason begins.
Coach Sirianni has kept the main thing the main thing all year and that won't change on Sunday.
"I think at the end of the day, the higher the stakes get as we get into single elimination football, the more you've got to stay committed to the things you've done on a daily basis to get 14 wins.
I think that's been my biggest thing. It's like, 'What can you do different here now?' And it's not even different. It always comes back to, what got you here? What got you here? What got you 14 wins?" Sirianni said.
"We stay committed to completely what we're doing. That's what we've tried to do all year, and that's the point, right? Is, what has gotten you to the number 2 seed in the NFC with the NFC East title? Stick to those principles – tough, detailed, together, and really double-, triple-, quadruple-down on those things."
– Written by Liam Wichser
