Jeff Hafley had a revealing story to tell about the Packers’ 2024 season opener against the Eagles, and it started with something most fans probably never think twice about: practice video.
Speaking Sept. 3 during media availability, the new Miami Dolphins coach - who spent the past two seasons as Green Bay’s defensive coordinator - said Dolphins passing game coordinator Kevin Patullo told him Philadelphia had collected online clips from Packers training camp before the season. Those videos, apparently recorded by fans at open practices and posted online, gave the Eagles a look at some of Green Bay’s defensive pressures before the teams met in Brazil.
"He told me that, before we played them in Brazil, he had half my pressures on tape from training camp from people that videoed it and put it online, Twitter, etc.," Hafley said. "I remember we had a pressure I had never run, so there's no way he could have known about it, and they knew it was coming.
He said they saw that pressure on video. So it's kind of disappointing, but at the same time, I'm not really sure what you could do about it."
The Packers made sure this preseason that fans were not videotaping certain parts of practice. That restriction had been in place for some time, but enforcement was tighter this year.
Green Bay has traditionally been one of the NFL’s more fan-friendly teams when it comes to opening practices, even though clubs aren’t required to do that.
The Eagles took that opener 34-29, a game also remembered for the late injury to quarterback Jordan Love. Philadelphia went on to win the Super Bowl that season.
Hafley’s defense forced three turnovers and registered two sacks in the loss, while the Eagles finished with 410 total yards. Green Bay had 414. Philadelphia also went just 4 of 14 on third-down conversions.
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