This year we saw the 100th season of the National Football League having the grand finale – the Super Bowl – just weeks before the coronavirus (or COVID-19) epidemic became a pandemic, but there is plenty of time to hope that the 2020 NFL season will kick off at the scheduled date, on September 10th.
There is also uncertainty how or if the NFL Draft will go, although commissioner Roger Goodell announced that it will follow the initial schedule. And that is in Paradise, Nevada, between April 23-25.
Fast forward to the regular season, one match to watch will be the Green Bay Packers vs Philadelphia Eagles clash, which will be played at Lambeau Field. The game is already on for betting at Unibet Sportsbook. The date is not yet announced and will be decided later this month.
Here is what you need to know about the match, the third encounter in the past five years between the two teams.
Last year, the Eagles won away at the Packers, 34-27, in the regular season, and both teams made it through the playoffs, after winning their divisions. The Packers lost to the San Francisco 49ers, just to miss the Super Bowl, while the Eagles lost as early as the wild card playoffs.
Having Matt LaFleur on his second season as head coach, the Packers feature in the roster players like Aaron Rodgers, Davante Adams, David Bakhtiari, Kenny Clark and Mason Crosby. Also, according to Forbes, Jace Sternberger is the prime player to watch for a step up in this season. The 23-years old joined the Packers last season.
Aaron Rodgers will still be their main star, as the man who was in the spotlight in the team’s last Super Bowl, 9 seasons ago, when he was named the MVP. He also has 2 NFL MVPs, in the 2011 and 2014 seasons.
On the other side, the Eagles still have Doug Pederson, the coach who led them to the Super Bowl win back in 2017 season. They defeated the New England Patriots, 41-33, in the final with the most points scored by the losing team. Pederson is also a former 1997 Super Bowl winning player with the Packers, in that great Brett Favre era.
Fletcher Cox, Zach Ertz, Jason Kelce, Carson Wentz and Malcolm Jenkins are part of the team, so this is the ground where the Eagles start from.
Looking at the all-time record, the Green Bay Packers have a comfortable lead over their opponents, with 27 wins and just 15 losses to the Eagles. But one of the most famous game between them was a dramatic win by Eagles, in the 2003-04 playoff. That was the only divisional playoff game between the two teams.
Nicknamed “4th and 26”, the game was won 20-17 by the Eagles in overtime. The Eagles were facing a fourth down and 26 yards on their own 26-yard line, with 1:12 remaining and no timeout available, when Donovan McNabb converted a 28-yard pass. That led to a field goal and later to the overtime win.
In conclusion, we are expecting for a regular 2020 season to start as scheduled, despite the nationwide concerns about the effects of the COVID-19. The NFL even gave a hand in this matter, making a donation late March of about $35 million, in collaboration with the Players Association, the clubs, the owners and the players, to fund the relief efforts against the coronavirus pandemic.
