A nine-hour flight to Brazil and some time practicing under the sun in Sao Paulo seem to have softened the Philadelphia Eagles and the Green Bay Packers ahead of tonight’s season opener.

Numerous players and coaches made comments before the trip suggesting they were unenthusiastic, concerned or downright grumpy about participating in the first NFL game in South America. But on Thursday, excitement drowned out those concerns.

The Eagles are the home team for the game at NeoQuimica Arena, nearly 4,800 miles from Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. The Sao Paulo venue is the home of soccer club Corinthians and was used for the 2014 World Cup. More than 42,000 fans were expected to attend.

Friday games are rare in the NFL, which usually cedes that night to high school football.

“We all grew up playing on Friday nights under the Friday night lights,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said Thursday. “We might not be in Jamestown, New York, Houston or Cleveland. We are in Brazil. But it is still going to be Friday night, just like we all grew up playing this game. I got goosebumps really thinking about it.”

Tanner McKee, Philadelphia’s third-string quarterback and a Corona Centennial High product, spent 21 months in Brazil on a Mormon mission. Speaking in Portuguese, he said most of the concerns raised by his teammates could be attributed to their “fear of the unknown.”

The 24-year-old McKee lived in Sao Paulo and in the Southern city of Curitiba.

“Most of them never visited Brazil, they don’t speak the language, they don’t know much about Brazil. They know you guys like soccer, you speak Portuguese and your barbecue is great,” McKee said in Portuguese.

Rams lose cornerback

Rams cornerback Darious Williams has been placed on injured reserve with a hamstring injury, sidelining their probable starting defensive back for at least four games on the eve of Sunday night’s season debut in Detroit.

Williams is now out until October, and backup Cobie Durant also was limited in practice this week by a hamstring injury. If Durant can’t play against the Lions, the Rams likely will have to turn to undrafted rookies Josh Wallace or Charles Woods at cornerback.