Josh Jacobs started a firestorm this week when he casually mentioned during a podcast interview that the Packers and Eagles wouldn’t be allowed to wear green for their Week 1 game in Brazil. However, it appears that’s not actually the case.
During a recent interview on the Green Light with Chris Long, Jacobs said that the Packers have been told not to wear green during their trip to South America.
“They said that the part of Brazil we’re going to, you can’t even wear green at,” Jacobs said. “They said, I guess, something to do with the gangs and stuff.”
The NFL has responded to those comments and the league would like everyone to know that fans and players will be allowed to wear green in Brazil. An NFL spokesman told the Philadelphia Inquirer that when the game kicks off in September, “you will see a stadium full of fans wearing the green of the Eagles and the green of the Packers,”
CBSSports.com’s Jeff Kerr actually covered this exact topic back in April and although there’s an informal ban on the color green, that ban is related to the local soccer team.
“The Eagles-Packers game will be played at Corinthians Arena, which is home to the Brazilian soccer team Corinthians,” Kerr wrote. “The biggest rival for Corinthians is Palmeiras, who wear the color green. Corinthians has an informal ban on wearing green, as a former player was actually fined by the club a few years ago for wearing green cleats.”
Corinthians Arena has hosted several major international sporting events over the past decade, including the 2014 FIFA World Cup and 2016 Olympics, and the ban on green wasn’t an issue for either of those big events, so it’s unlikely that it would be an issue for an NFL game.
It’s possible the players were told not to wear green out in public so they don’t get mistaken for Palmeiras fans, but wearing green during the game won’t be a problem. Although it doesn’t sound like Jacobs will be packing very much green in his suitcase.
“They was like, ‘Man, look, just pack black and white colors. When you come out here, we don’t want no mishaps,'” Jacobs said.
If the Packers and Eagles did want to avoid wearing green, Philly could wear black and the Packers could go with their white uniforms. That wouldn’t cut all the green out, but it would get rid of most of it.
As for other aspects of the trip, Jacobs does definitely sounds slightly concerned about his safety.
“They was like, ‘Man, it’s one of them places where they probably won’t even let us leave the hotels,'” Jacobs told Long. “They probably gonna have, like, armored vehicles following us. I said, ‘Bro, Why are we out here? Why are we here?'”
Apparently, Jacobs got his information from someone who had no idea what they were talking about, because the NFL said the part about not leaving the hotel and traveling in armored vehicles is also “not true.”
Jacobs seems to realize that he may have gotten his information from a bad source, because he apologized for his comments on Instagram.
“Damn I was misinformed,” Jacobs wrote. “Sorry Brazil see you soon.”
The Packers and Eagles will be kicking off from Brazil on Friday, Sept. 6 and this is your reminder not to be surprise if one of the teams in the game is wearing green.
