Packers Report Card: Grades From 34-0 Victory Over Saints

Jeff Hafley’s defense dominated the matchups against the Saints as Green Bay clinched a playoff berth with a 34-0 victory.

Green Bay Packers linebacker Edgerrin Cooper (56) celebrates a tackle for a 3-yard loss against the Saints on Monday. / Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The report card is in, and the marks are glowing as the Green Bay Packers gave their fanbase one of the best Christmas gifts they could have asked for.

A dominant win over the New Orleans Saints, which allowed the Packers to clinch a playoff berth.

Perhaps in years past, the Packers would have allowed an inferior team to hang around. Not these Packers. They led 21-0 at halftime, scoring touchdowns on each of their first three drives.

The Packers’ dominance is reflected in this week’s report card.

Pass Offense

Jordan Love picked up where he left off against the Saints.

The last time he faced the Saints, he needed an 18-point comeback to get his first win at Lambeau Field as a starter.

No such comeback was needed on Monday. His touchdown pass to Dontayvion Wicks on the first series of the game put the Packers in command at the start.

Love was efficient. He made plays down the field, including a 30-yard completion to Tucker Kraft that set up a touchdown to give the Packers a 21-0 lead.

The most important detail, however, is one that has become a trend since the bye.

Love has turned over the ball only once in the six games, and that came in the first game out of the bye. He has not thrown an interception since the second half of the team’s 20-19 win against the Bears.

Taking care of the ball and making plays down the field is a recipe for some big-time moments in bigger games.

The consistency was not there after the Packers built their 21-0 lead. They’ll need to be better and more consistent next week against Brian Flores’ suffocating Minnesota Vikings defense.

Grade: C.

Rush Offense

Josh Jacobs gets the ball and sets the tone for the team.

He had 29 yards on four carries for the first drive of the game. His violent stiff-arm of former All-Pro safety Tyrann Mathieu gave a good glimpse into what type of game this was going to be.

Green Bay’s offense ran through Jacobs, as it has done for most of the season.

They got contributions from their receivers in the run game, as well, with Christian Watson, Bo Melton and Jayden Reed combining for four rushes for 42 yards.

The Saints were one of the worst teams in the NFL at defending the run, and it showed for most of the night.

Jacobs found the end zone to give the Packers a 14-0 lead. Chris Brooks plowed into the end zone for the first time of his young career. Emanuel Wilson ran for a touchdown to cap the scoring.

On a night in which the Packers held a big lead, they did reduce Jacobs’ workload and got the secondary running backs involved, as well.

A total of nine players got a rushing attempt as the Packers finished with 188 rushing yards.  

Add it all together and you have another great performance from Green Bay’s vicious ground game.

Grade: A.

Pass Defense

Speaking of setting the tone, Jeff Hafley certainly did that on the first snap of the game.

Instead of letting rookie Spencer Rattler get into a rhythm, Hafley sent a blitz.

That aggression would remain the case for most of the night. Green Bay’s pass rush was active, coming away with three sacks. That included a strip-sack by Keisean Nixon in the second quarter, which took points off the board.

The grade for this unit could be done on a curve considering the opponent, but they looked truly dominant from the opening series of the game

They took the ball away twice, including an interception by Zayne Anderson in the third quarter.

The challenge next week will be much stiffer than this one, but they certainly aced this test.

Grade: A.

Rush Defense

Some of this performance is a byproduct of the game script. There’s little doubt that the Saints wanted to establish their ground game to make things easier for their rookie quarterback.

The Packers’ offense didn’t allow the Saints to get comfortable, scoring early and often.

The Saints’ offense just never found much of a way to get the traditional ground game going.

Their leading rusher was Spencer Rattler. New Orleans’ backs gained 39 yards on 15 carries.

The Packers’ defense was suffocating whenever the Saints tried to get anything going on the ground.

That’s no fluke. This is who they’ve been for most of the season.

Next up? Old friend, Aaron Jones.  

Grade: A.

Special Teams

Green Bay’s first big mistake of the night was one that did not cost them.

After forcing a punt on the opening series, they only had 10 men on the field for the return.

It did not end up mattering, but that’s something that could bite them in a bigger game against a better team.

Those are the only types of games this team is playing from here on out.

Apart from that, Keisean Nixon opened the game with a big return.

Brandon McManus made all his kicks again, as he has continued to stabilize the kicking position. He is 16-of-17 on field goals, including a 55-yarder midway through the third quarter that gave the Packers a 24-0 lead.

The punt return unit was disciplined on two gimmicky punt plays the Saints tried to run after the first drive of the second half.

Along with the 10-man play, the Packers allowed a 38-yard kickoff return and Lukas Van Ness was flagged for tripping on a punt, leading to a 33-yard kick and a 25-yard swing in field position on the re-do.

Grade: C-plus.

Coaching

A game against an inferior opponent with a showdown against Minnesota next week was the perfect recipe for a trap game.

Matt LaFleur was not going to allow any doubt to creep into Green Bay’s mind that this was a game they were going to lose.

LaFleur, with the help of Jacobs, set the tone in the first half. He was masterful on Green Bay’s first scoring drive that was finished off with a short touchdown pass from Jordan Love to Dontayvion Wicks.

LaFleur’s biggest adjustment from a season-long trend came on Green Bay’s second drive of the game.

With the Packers leading 7-0 and in Saints territory, he faced two fourth-down calls.

The Packers have typically been more conservative in those situations this season. On Monday, LaFleur put the pedal to the floor, electing to go for it on both occasions.

His aggression was rewarded with a quarterback sneak by Love and a completion to Tucker Kraft that put the Packers in the red zone.

That type of aggression resonates with the players and sends a message. In this case, the message was they were going to try and put this game away early.

Jeff Hafley’s defense looked prepared and played fast against an undermanned offense. They were able to record the first shutout of the 2024 season.

They’ll have their work cut out for them next week against a powerful Minnesota offense.

The low mark was having only 10 men on the field on the opening punt. With the ball at Green Bay’s 45, the Packers elected to keep their defense on the field but someone missed the memo. It didn’t matter, but it’s not an acceptable mistake at this point of the season.

Grade: B-plus.

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The #Packers scored 30-plus points for the fifth consecutive game, but inconsistency on offense makes this team truly a wild card, writes @JoeyVZ_ ⬇️https://t.co/lw5W16BnLl

— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) December 24, 2024

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