Love Leads Packers to Stunning Victory Over Saints

The Green Bay Packers trailed 17-0 through three quarters before embarking on a wild and unexpected comeback to shock the New Orleans Saints 18-17 on Sunday.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The New Orleans Saints came marching into Lambeau Field and crashed the Green Bay Packers’ home-opening party on Sunday.

And then Jordan Love got the party restarted, delivering a signature comeback with an 18-17 victory.

“I just think it brings everybody closer together. Nobody flinched,” Love said. “It feels great. It’s a confidence booster for the whole team.”

The 66th home opener in franchise history looked like an abject failure. Love’s first home start looked like a forgettable flop.

And then Saints quarterback Derek Carr suffered a shoulder injury. Green Bay’s defense stiffened. And Love got hot. Really hot.

With the Packers trailing 17-0 through three quarters, Love led the Packers to three consecutive scores. Love’s 1-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-goal and his 2-point pass to Samori Toure pulled the Packers within 17-11 with 6:58 remaining. Love’s 8-yard touchdown pass to Romeo Doubs on a back-shoulder throw, along with the point-after kick by Anders Carlson, gave Green Bay an 18-17 lead with 2:56 remaining.

The Saints, with Jameis Winston in at quarterback, hit Chris Olave for 28 yards, then found Olave for 10 more. That gave the Saints a first down at the Packers’ 32 at the 2-minute warning. On third-and-8, Darnell Savage tackled Michael Thomas short of the first down. Rookie kicker Blake Grupe was wide right from 48 yards, setting off a wild celebration on the sideline and in the Lambeau Field seats.

“There was never a doubt, right?” coach Matt LaFleur said. “I’ve never been a part of a win like this. It's hard not to get too emotional about it.”

After the missed field goal, Love took three consecutive knees, the clock ticked away and Green Bay’s bench rushed the field with a stunning victory.

The Packers became just the third team since 2000 to be shutout through three quarters but rally from a deficit of at least 17 points in the fourth quarter. The Carolina Panthers (vs. the Philadelphia Eagles) were the last to do it in 2018.

“You haven’t done what you wanted all game,” Love said. “We hurt ourselves more than we helped ourselves. Just to stay poised and stay confident, it’s not easy. It’s a total team effort.”

Packers DT Kenny Clark helped the defense rally past New Orleans :: Photo by Dan Powers/USA Today Sports Images

Green Bay, with five starters on the inactive list, improved to 2-1. It won its 11th consecutive home opener, the longest streak in the NFL. The Saints fell to 2-1 despite dominating the first three quarters.

Rashan Gary had a three-sack game as the defense allowed only two scores and 252 yards.

“The most important thing is making an impact for this team,” Gary said.

The cards were stacked against Love against a superb Saints defense. You could make a heck of an expansion team with Aaron Jones at running back, Christian Watson at receiver and David Bakhtiari and Elgton Jenkins on the left side of the offensive line. Those four players, along with cornerback Jaire Alexander, were inactive due to injuries.

The rest of the Packers seemed to inactive in the type of dismal performance not seen at Lambeau Field in years. You have to go back to the final game of the 2018 season, when Joe Philbin was in his last game as interim coach and Aaron Rodgers excited early with a concussion, since they were last shutout in the first half at home.

The dysfunction was everywhere. In the first half:

- On offense, Love was 7-of-16 passing for 74 yards.

- On defense, after a rousing start, the Packers gave up 6.3 yards per rushing attempt in the second quarter.

- On special teams, Packers gave up a punt-return touchdown.

- For good measure, Green Bay was guilty of seven penalties for 60 yards.

What kind of adjustments could the Packers make at halftime? On Green Bay’s first play, AJ Dillon didn’t have a prayer and was dropped for a 6-yard loss by Alontae Taylor, tight end Luke Musgrave was flagged for a false start and Love chucked his first interception of the season on third-and-15.

On the first play of Green Bay’s second possession, receiver Samori Toure was flagged for offensive pass interference. The drive ended with back-to-back breakups. At that point, Love had nine completions and the Saints had nine passes defensed.

Romeo Doubs scores the winning touchdown :: Photo by Jeff Hanisch/USA Today Sports Images

And then, unbelievably, unfathomably and unexpectedly, Love turned the script. He threw for 185 yards in the second half and guided three consecutive scores. A week after falling short at Atlanta, Love delivered again and again against one of the best defenses in the NFL to pull victory out of the jaws of defeat.

“Makes us 2-1 and onto the next week,” Gary said. “It’s still early in the season.

Green Bay blew a fourth-and-2 at the Saints’ 13 on the first play of the fourth quarter, then settled for a 38-yard field goal that made it 17-3 with 11 minutes remaining.

Gary had a sack as Green Bay forced a punt. Eighty-nine seconds later, the Packers were in the end zone. The best things in life are free; pass-interference penalties on Alontae Taylor for 45 yards and Isaac Yiadom for 22 yards gave the Packers 67 yards. 

Gary had a sack as Green Bay forced a punt. Eighty-nine seconds later, the Packers were in the end zone. The best things in life are free; pass-interference penalties on Alontae Taylor for 45 yards and Isaac Yiadom for 22 yards gave the Packers 67 yards. Three consecutive plays from the 2 gained 1 yard. 

That set up an all-or-nothing fourth-and-goal. Love faked the handoff, juked All-Pro linebacker Demario Davis and scored to make it 17-9. “I knew I wasn’t going to be stopped,” Love said. On the 2-point play, Love bought enough time for Samori Toure to get open.

Just like that, it was 17-11. Lambeau Field, in a slumber for most of the afternoon, was alive.

The Saints went three-and-out, with Rashan Gary and Preston Smith applying the pressure, to set the stage for Love’s winning drive.

On first down from Green Bay’s 31, Love ran left and appeared headed out of bounds near the first-down marker. Instead, he tight-roped his way up the sideline for a gain of 24. One play later, rookie receiver Jayden Reed made amends for an earlier drop with a head-long, diving catch for 30 to the Saints’ 15.

On third-and-3 from the 8, Love and Romeo Doubs connected on a back-shoulder fade for the go-ahead touchdown.

The Saints drove into field-goal range but the kick was wide right from 48.

“When the momentum flips, it’s a crazy phenomenon that you can’t explain,” LaFleur said.