Packers Stun Saints: Game Ball, Turning Point, Play of Game
The Green Bay Packers took to the field on Sunday against the New Orleans Saints with five of their best players on the inactive list.
Jaire Alexander, David Bakhtiari, Christian Watson, Aaron Jones and Christian Watson missed Sunday's game with injuries that had them listed as questionable on the final injury report.
The day began with Jordan Love getting a loud ovation for his first start at Lambeau Field.
That's where any good feelings for the first half ended.
The Packers piled up a mountain of mistakes in the first half. They were penalized seven times and trailed 17-0 at the end of the first half and were booed off the field.
This first three quarters might have required a different kind of six-pack to move on.
The fourth quarter? A vastly different story. Love and the Packers' offense came to life to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
Here are six points we took away from a rough loss to the Saints.
Game Ball
Saints cornerback Alontae Taylor was playing a different role with starter Paulson Adebo missing today's game with a hamstring injury.
After recording five passes defensed, one sack and two tackles for losses, Taylor may have earned himself NFC Defensive Player of the Week after his performance.
Packers outside linebacker Rashan Gary had three sacks, which was his first three-sack game in his career.
The NFL, however, is about quarterbacks.
Jordan Love and the offense were mostly abysmal through three quarters. They trailed 17-0 going into the fourth quarter.
Nothing had gone right for Love or the offense in his home debut.
Then the offense came to life.
Love willed his team to victory. Despite all the miscues, Love and the offense kept plugging away.
His final stat line wasn't gaudy, as he completed half of his 44 passes, but quarterbacks are paid to win games.
Love did that with his fourth-quarter performance, including a game-winning touchdown pass. He gets the game ball.
Lame Ball
Jim Mora Sr. once famously said after his team lost, "We couldn't run the ball, didn't try to run the ball, couldn't complete a pass."
That speech became iconic, but it describes the Packers' special teams relatively well.
Their coverage unit was atrocious, allowing a 76-yard return for a touchdown in the second quarter.
Jonathan Owens, Rasul Douglas and Kingsley Enagbare were guilty of holding penalties.
For a group that has had so much investment made in that phase of the game, they make way too many mistakes.
Anders Carlson saved them from a completely horrid showing by nailing the game-winning extra point in the fourth quarter.
Play of the Game
With the Packers trailing 17-11 in the fourth quarter, they were on a drive with a chance to win the game.
Jordan Love made big plays to Dontayvion Wicks and Jayden Reed.
He saved the final blow, however, for his favorite target.
Romeo Doubs, who had been covered by former Packers cornerback Isaac Yiadom for most of the day, was lined up on the right side of the formation.
Love looked to him before the snap and knew exactly where he wanted to go with the ball.
Love threw the ball to Doubs' back shoulder, and he made a great catch.
That play, combined with Matt LaFleur's decision to go for two after Love's touchdown run on the previous drive, gave the Packers an 18-17 lead.
Pivot Point
After an abysmal first three quarters, the Packers were in the red zone with a chance to make a game out of it.
The Packers trailed 17-3 and faced a fourth-and-goal from outside the 1 when Jordan Love took the ball on a zone read. He faked All-Pro linebacker Demario Davis out of his shoes on the way to the end zone to make the score 17-9.
Instead of kicking an extra point, LaFleur went for two.
The decision turned out to be prudent. Love found Samori Toure to make the score 17-11.
The decision stood up. Rather that kicking the game-tying extra point following the touchdown to Doubs, Carlson booted the game-winning extra point.
Blake Grupe missed a 46-yard field goal to seal the game for Green Bay.
The Packers were able to kneel out the clock because LaFleur's aggressive decision making changed the game.
Undisciplined Play
Matt LaFleur said at the conclusion of the 2022 season that discipline was going to be a focus for his team after Quay Walker was ejected from two games during the year.
To start the 2023 season, that has not manifested itself in a meaningful way.
The Packers were penalized 16 times in the first two games including three personal foul penalties.
They were penalized seven more times in the first half, including a personal foul on Kenny Clark that gifted the Saints a free 15 yards.
They finished the game with 11 putting them to 27 through the first three games.
Yes, the Packers are a young team, but Kenny Clark is a veteran. De'Vondre Campbell, who got tagged with a personal foul penalty the first week of the season, is a veteran.
The Packers are young but also undisciplined. A team that has as little margin for error as these Packers do, cannot afford the self-inflicted wounds the team is giving themselves on a weekly basis.
Looking Ahead
There's no rest for the weary. The Packers have a Thursday night showdown against the Detroit Lions, who beat the Atlanta Falcons 20-6 at Ford Field to improve to 2-1. A week after the Falcons rushed for more than 200 yards against the Packers, the Lions limited Atlanta to just 44 yards on 20 attempts.
After Thursday's game, the Packers won’t play at home for a month with road trips to Las Vegas and Denver on deck and a bye in between.
If they're going to make something of the season, they’ll likely need to win two of the next three games.
They need to be more consistent, but the team showed the grit and resolve required to win in the NFL.
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