Philadelphia Eagles players were loudly jeered as they took the field in Brazil on Friday night following the controversy surrounding cornerback Darius Slay.
Slay was forced to apologize earlier this week after claiming he did not want to travel to Brazil to play in the Eagles’ NFL International Series fixture against the Green Bay Packers amid fears over the country’s ‘high crime rate’.
He also took aim at NFL bosses for sending both the Eagles and the Packers to the South American nation, before eventually U-turning and branding it a ‘beautiful country’.
Despite Slay’s apology, prior to their eventual 34-29 victory over the Packers, fans inside Sao Paulo’s Corinthians Arena made their anger known by booing Eagles players when they made their way out for pregame warmups.
Brazilian supporters clearly hadn’t forgotten his rant about their country, in which he added that he was so uncomfortable with the situation that he told his family not to bother making the trip.
‘I told my family do not come down there because I’m not going to be nowhere to be found,’ he admitted.
Slay says he plans to spend the entire trip in his hotel, which is a similar sentiment to that of Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown.
In an interview back in August, Brown also indicated that he’d be getting used to his hotel during the trip.
‘We had a meeting yesterday with a whole bunch of ”Don’t Do’s,’ said Brown. ‘I’m just trying to go down there, win a football game & come back here. […]
He continued, ‘We’re not down there to see the city, this is not a vacation, this is a football game. […] Simple as just walking down the street with your phone in your hand… kinda crazy.’
However, amid the outrage over his comments about the country earlier this week, Slay took to X to issue an apology to Brazil.
‘I want to apologize to anyone I offended, that wasn’t my intention,’ he said. ‘I’m Looking forward to playing in your beautiful country and i’ve heard yall are very passionate just like our amazing Eagles fan. Just a few more days, can’t wait!!!!’
The Eagles brushed aside the pregame hostility to make the perfect start to the new NFL season after holding on for a hard-fought 34-29 win over the Packers.
Saquon Barkley proved the hero on his eagerly-awaited Philadelphia debut, scoring three touchdowns to inspire his hometown team to victory.
It marked the Eagles’ first outing since Jason Kelce – who enjoyed an iconic 13-year spell with the franchise – made the difficult decision to retire from football at the end of last season.
And after watching them hit the ground running in 2024, the 36-year-old Kelce took to X to both praise his former team and point out where they can improve to go to the next level.
‘Eagles 1-0, great first game of the year against a very good Packers team,’ Kelce wrote.
‘Sloppy game, but when they were executing man, they are rolling. Lot of good in this one, clean up some of the first game jitters on O, and stop the explosives on D and we are rolling baby!!’
In the dying seconds of the game, Packers quarterback Jordan Love was forced off with a lower leg injury as his team slumped towards an opening defeat.
Kelce added with another post: ‘Hopefully Jordan Love is okay, love watching him play, was quietly a little nervous about this one, big win for the Good Guys’.
