The New Orleans Saints hosted the Green Bay Packers on Sunday night, but the Packers were the ones who stole all the momentum at the tail end of the premium NFC shootout. Drew Bryce lost a quiet Week 2 defeat with three touchdowns, including two star play-maker Alvin Camara, and the Saints are credited with a late-game win due to a crucial fourth-down stop. Aaron Rogers and Co. were more risky, however, to claim a -30 37-win win and come down to the ground and improve to -0-0 in the 2020 NFL season.
Here are some immediate gifts from the Packers’ third straight win.
Why the Packers won
There may be some good pieces on Saints’ Defense, but like Derek Carr a week ago, Aaron Rogers just picked them up from each other on Sunday night – except for the more exciting, big-fashioned ones. Without Davant Adams in the lineup, the No. 12 still thrives on connecting lots of beautiful bombs and on rollout tussles feeding ultra-producer Alan Lazard. He also killed New Reliance in crunch time with his smarts, notably within four minutes of putting the pack in the red zone with the lead and playing.
Credit Matt LaFleauer to dial the game plan to keep the Saints on edge all night, and Credit Rogers to run it with power. Defensively, Green Bay was not nearly as effective, leading Alvin Camara to advance video-game stats as Drew Bryce’s top passing outlet, but limiting Sean Payton’s attack to the dink-end, he also took most of Bryce’s outside targets. – Doon approach for most of the evening.
Why did the saints lose
Much of the blame lies with the defense, where New Orleans and its Pte leaders – Cameron Jordan, Malcolm Jenkins, Demario Davis – failed for another straight week to keep things within reach. Marshan Latimore could have a serious fourth down stop, and Davis could have kicked the Rodgers, but when you leave 40 points at home, it doesn’t mean much, especially in a team without his clear cut number 1. Where in the world was bootleg defense? Rogers had nothing but open targets.
You can also attribute Sean Patton’s decision to move away from the Saints to a late-speed change in the game at the end, especially his insistence on including Tessem Hill at the time of Inportportun. Drew Bryce, meanwhile, should not be lambsteaded for a very efficient performance that properly fed Alvin Camara (a perfect stud in the game), but you still have to wonder if his hesitation in pushing the ball downfield hampered his ability to win the shootout. Or why .
Turn
Built at the age of 27, the Saints got just one big stop on the fourth-1 and 1, ready to handle Aaron Ron Jones’ innings early in the fourth quarter. But then, instead of calling Bryce to continue his attack to pass his efficient short field, Sean Peto explored the option to read Tess Hill, during which Hill knocked the ball, occupied the Green Bay and targeted the Packers field, which was good for outside visitors.
Play the game
No one came close to matching Kamra on his Razel-dazzle catch-and-run TD to tie the game at 27 at the end of the third quarter. The play features a huge night to run back to the Saints star alone, which may just be the best non-QB play-maker in the NFL:
What’s next
The Saints (1-2) will clash on the road in Week 4 to take on the Detroit Lions (1-2), who had just upset the Arizona Cardinals in a comeback victory. The Packers (-0-0) will return to prime time on Monday night to face the Atlanta Falcons (0–3), who have now blown two straight fourth-quarter 15-point leads after falling into the Chicago Bears. In Week 3.
