‘Just stay in my room' — How Eagles are approaching Brazil trip

A.J. Brown didn’t even have to speak. The look on his face said it all.

Was he looking forward to the trip to Brazil?

Cue sheepish, miserable A.J. face and a forced smile.

Then … “Ummm, no.”

The Eagles open the regular season a week from Friday night against the Packers at Arena Corinthians in São Paulo, Brazil.

Ten hours down.

Ten hours back.

Twenty hours of flying and a football game in a 60-hour span.

Brown was asked why he wasn’t looking forward to the trip.

“We had a meeting yesterday and there's like a whole bunch of ‘don't do's,’” he said.

Such as?

“A lot,” he said. “Honestly, things that we would normally do here, even as simple as just walking down the street with your phone and stuff like that. Like, which is kind of crazy.

“We're not down there to see the city, do all this other stuff. This is not a vacation. This is a football game.”

This will be the Eagles’ second regular-season international game. In October 2018, they beat the Jaguars 24-18 at Wembley Stadium in London.

They’ve played several preseason games overseas — the Saints in Mexico City in 1978, the Browns in London in 1989, the Bills in London in 1991 and the Saints in Tokyo in 1993.

This will be the first international game ever in Week 1 and the first NFL game ever in South America. It’s the Packers’ second international game in three years. They lost to the Giants in London — at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium — in October 2022.

“I'm just trying to go down there to win a football game and come back home,” Brown said. “After hearing all this stuff, you know, I'm probably going to just stay in my room.”

The Eagles will spend a minimal amount of time in Brazil. They fly out Wednesday, they'll hold a walkthrough at the stadium Thursday and fly home immediately after the game late Friday night or early Saturday morning. 

In the early years of international games, teams would spend most of the week overseas because it was believed it was important to acclimate to their new surroundings. These days, teams spend the least possible time away from home with the thinking that it allows them to stay in their routine as long as possible.

Brown was asked if it will be tough to handle such a long trip this early in the season.

“No, it shouldn't be tough to do,” he said. “We're professionals. This isn't my first game but it is my first game out of the country so you just have to put all that into a factor and just try to navigate through that the best way you can and ultimately we’re going down there to win a football game.”

DeVonta Smith was asked about the Brazil trip Wednesday and kind of smirked and said, “No comment,” adding, “Football. Just line up.”

One of the two other players the Eagles made available on Wednesday — no open locker room until Sunday — was practice squad offensive lineman Nick Gates, who was on the Giants in 2022 when they beat the Packers.

He said the message from team officials was basically don’t do anything.

“They just told us to stay in the hotel and stay in that area,” he said. “But we're there to play a football game and that's kind of what they hinted at. We're there for two days, business trip. So, we're going, hopefully, going to win a game and come home.”

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