More players in the Packers-Eagles season-opening NFL matchup are coming forward with their safety concerns as the two clubs prepare to face off on September 6th at Arena Corinthians in São Paulo, Brazil.
The league initially adamantly denied there were any safety fears with Front Office Sports reporting in June that any such concerns had been “debunked”.
The issue arose when Green Bay running back Josh Jacobs claimed the league had advised players not to leave their hotel rooms and that the color green – a key hue in both team’s uniforms – should not be worn due to concerns about gang violence.
NFL chief spokesman Brian McCarthy told FOS the idea that teams couldn’t wear green and would be under heavy security: “No, neither of these items are true.”
“As with any international game, we have comprehensive security plans in place coordinated with local officials,” he added. “Again, there was no guidance provided to the clubs as suggested here.”
The players themselves, however, are singing a very different tune.
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More Players Come Forward With Safety Concerns For NFL Opener In Brazil
If the NFL did not provide special guidance for players in Brazil to avoid leaving their hotel, as McCarthy had stated, they sure seem to have gotten the idea from somewhere.
Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Darius Slay is clearly worried about what he might encounter on the trip.
“I do not want to go to Brazil. You want to know why? I’m going to tell you why,” Slay said, as reported by Bounding Into Sports.
“They already told us not to leave the hotel. They told us we can’t do too much going on, because the crime rate is crazy. I’m like ‘NFL, why would you want to send us somewhere with a crime rate this high?”
WLUK-TV in Green Bay is now reporting on even more players voicing concerns over the NFL opener in Brazil.
According to the outlet, Green Bay cornerback Eric Stokes said “leaving the hotel is definitely not advised.”
“There’s a lot that we can and can’t do, but that’s outside of everything. Our main thing is once we’re there, the circumstances are just going to be the circumstances,” Stokes said. “We’re coming there to play a game and everything else is just going to happen.”
Packers head coach Matt LaFleur contends his squad just needs to focus on the opposing team. Stay on football and not “draw your attention elsewhere.”
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The opposing team also has some heightened concerns. When asked about the NFL opener in Brazil, Eagles wide receiver DeVonta Smith simply said, “No comment.”
Is The League Lying?
“I’m just trying to go down there, win a football game and go back home. That’s the best way I can put it,” added Philadelphia wide receiver A.J. Brown. “Things that we would normally do here, even as simple as walking down the street with your phone in your hand and stuff like that, which is kind of crazy.”
That’s an awfully significant number of players in this game that are worried about their safety. And now there are multiple players on record indicating the league has advised them not to leave their hotel room.
Contrary to McCarthy’s insistence that no special guidance has been provided by the NFL regarding the trip to Brazil, Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer reports that the league did, in fact, advise players not to leave their hotel rooms.
“NFL Security met with both teams, and the Eagles and Green Bay Packers players are being advised strongly—if not flat-out told—to … stay at their hotels, outside of the trips they’ll make to Arena Corinthians, where the game is Friday,” Breer said.
They also provided players with an extensive list of what not to do when in crime-addled Brazil.
“The teams also had a list of do’s and don’ts spelled out for them when they are outside the hotels,” he added. “One was to not walk outside with their phones out of their pockets.”
Why would the NFL initially deny they had to extend safety measures for the game in Brazil? Any international travel is fraught with differing concerns and logistics, so an extensive plan to keep players out of harm’s way is just … reasonable.
Unless the league brass decided they don’t want to upset the host country. Putting officials in Brazil above your own players is a bad plan.
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