In unusual opener, Sirianni wants Eagles focused on ‘core values’

Week 1 is always a test run for an offseason of concepts that a football team aspires to. But for the Eagles, Friday’s season opener in Brazil against Green Bay is a larger metaphor that coach Nick Sirianni is looking to have his players derive meaning from.

It’s an unusual set of circumstances, to open on a Friday night at Corinthians Arena in Sao Paulo. But maybe a team that didn’t deal all that well with the unusual last year – starting 10-1 and then freefalling to lose six of seven, anyone? – would do well to gain familiarity with the out-of-the-ordinary.

“It’s going to be good for us just to go play at a neutral site and handle the different things that pop up in an NFL schedule,” Sirianni said Sunday. “What we can control is our effort. What we can control is our attitude. What we can control is our core values, and that’s what we’re going to focus on.”

There will be a whole lot of novel challenges in the trip to Brazil – a longer flight than usual and all the physical maintenance that it brings, an unusual setting, language and cultural barriers, all that. But there will be plenty of conventional challenges, too. The Eagles have to face a playoff team from last year in Green Bay, which went 9-8, massively improved as the season went on under Jordan Love and then embarrassed Dallas in the Wild Card game before giving San Francisco all it could handle in the divisional round.

All that, the Eagles will have to do with two new coordinators for the second straight year and with the replacement of a club legend anchoring the offensive line in Jason Kelce. Those changes were going to be uncomfortable no matter what time zone they took place in.

Not all players Sunday sounded that enthusiastic about the trip. For some, the setting was superseded by the Week 1 excitement.

“If that’s where they want us to play at, that’s where we’ve got to play at,” offensive guard Mekhi Becton said. “We’re going to win a football game.”

“Super excited,” said new center Cam Jurgens. “It’s gameday, so it’s dialing in, being hyper-sensitive and focused on what’s ahead of us.”

It’s never going to look perfect in Week 1, which Sirianni will say as soon as a microphone is offered to him, whether that’s in Sao Paulo, in San Francisco, or in South Philly. But learning how to adapt to that is applicable no matter the geography.

“It’s just getting everybody in the right mindset you need to be in when you go down there,” he said. “You need to control the things you can control. We’re going down to Brazil to play. That’s what it is. And we’re excited about that.”

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NOTES: The Eagles placed defensive back James Bradberry on injured reserve Friday. Sirianni said he “got dinged in practice” for what is officially a lower leg injury that will cost him several weeks. JT Woods was signed to the practice squad as cover. A third-round pick of the Los Angeles Chargers in 2022, he’s played 13 games for them the last two seasons, with one start at safety. … Dallas Goedert (oblique) and Johnny Wilson were among the injury concerns at practice Sunday.