Welcome everyone to the latest game preview for the New Orleans Saints! This week, we break down the Saints matchup in Lambeau Field against the Green Bay Packers.
Last Week: Last Sunday was a day that many Packers fans would like to forget with Aaron Rodgers being carted off the field with a broken collarbone in the first quarter. Green Bay wound up falling to Minnesota 23-10. The Saints almost had a day to forget if not for a phenomenal defensive performance to take down the Detroit Lions 52-38.
Last Meeting: The last time these two teams faced off was back in 2014 when the Saints took down the Packers 44-23. Green Bay holds a 16-8 overall series lead, but the Saints have won three of the last five matchups.
Storylines to Watch:
Packers Without Rodgers: Heading into the season, there’s no doubt that Saints fans marked this game down as a loss. However, now that Green Bay is without Rodgers it seems like this game is much more winnable.
Brett Hundley had a pretty suboptimal performance with three interceptions and got sacked four times in the loss to Minnesota. Add that to a defense that has been able to get at the quarterback with a lot more frequently than previous seasons could be a recipe for another win in the books.
Ball Security: It took four and a half games, but the Saints offense committed some turnovers, three of them to be precise. It was a wild game and wound up being much more competitive than it had any business being.
If the Saints defense can continue to hold down the Packers offense, it should be a one-sided affair. The offense will have to hold up their end of the bargain and not turnover the ball as much as they did.
Special Teams Needs to Improve: Outside of two solid punts from the always reliable Thomas Morstead, the special teams group for the Saints left a lot to be desired. The punt coverage was especially abysmal. Go back and look at the big punt return from Jamal Agnew that cut the Saints lead to 14 points.
The Saints will need to work hard on fixing that aspect of their game if they want to keep the Packers pinned deep in their own territory.
New Orleans Will Win If:
The Saints can get to 4-2 if they don’t take the foot off the gas. If the Saints had put up one more touchdown before Detroit rallied back, the Lions would have put in a backup QB to preserve Matthew Stafford. It’s something that we haven’t seen from the Saints in recent years and we may need to have that ability to put games away.
Green Bay Will Win If:
It’ll be difficult, but Green Bay can get the win if the defense can shut down the air raid offense of the Saints. From what we’ve seen this season, Drew Brees hasn’t missed a beat without Brandin Cooks. It’s really helped that the offensive line has been the best it has been in years and kept Brees vertical. If the front seven can’t cause some issues in that aspect, it’ll be hard to stop him with Brett Hundley
-Clint Domingue