NFL 2024 regular season
Dates: 5 September 2024 – 5 January 2025
BBC coverage: Listen to live commentary on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra and BBC Sounds every Sunday, starting with Dallas Cowboys v Cleveland Browns on Sunday.
Saquon Barkley scored three touchdowns on his debut as the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Green Bay Packers 34-29 in the first NFL game played in South America.
Barkley ran 24 times for 109 yards and two touchdowns, and caught two passes for 23 yards and a touchdown at the Arena Corinthians in Sao Paulo.
The 27-year-old, who joined from the New York Giants in the off-season, is just the second player to score three touchdowns on their Eagles debut, after Terrell Owens in 2004.
“It was really important for me just to get going,” Barkley said. “I just needed that first tackle to get me going again.”
Friday’s encounter was the first of five NFL regular-season games to be played outside the United States this season, with three games in London in October and one in Munich in November.
Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts completed 20 of 34 passes for 278 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions in a thriller that featured seven lead changes.
His Packers counterpart Jordan Love completed half of his 34 passes for 260 yards with two touchdown passes and an interception before being forced off with an ankle injury late on.
“It was a good game, back and forth,” said Eagles star wide receiver AJ Brown, who had five catches for 119 yards and one touchdown.
“A lot of things were going to go wrong because it’s the first game but we made adjustments and it just came down to making plays.”
