After grasping defeat from the jaws of victory last week in Atlanta, the Green Bay Packers did a complete 180 against the New Orleans Saints, overcoming a 17-point fourth-quarter deficit on Sunday at Lambeau Field.
Jordan Love, in his first start in Green Bay, sparked the comeback.
Buy Packers Tickets“I’ve never been a part of a game like this,” said Matt LaFleur after the game. “The guys in the locker room, they believed. They believed in one another, and they continued to battle. That’s really, as a coach, that’s all you can ask of anybody is to continue to fight, continue to battle.”
Now, having had a chance to rewatch what took place on the field, it’s time to go Behind the Numbers with the stats and figures that you need to know about from the Packers’ performance.
104: Fourth quarter passing yards for Jordan Love
From an efficiency standpoint in the fourth quarter, Jordan Love’s numbers don’t leap off that stat sheet. He finished the game overall 22-for-44 on passes and was just 7-for-18 in the fourth quarter. However, the impressive part of what Love showcased on Sunday was his ability to make plays, whether with his arm or his legs, regardless of the situation.
On those seven completions, Love would throw for 104 yards and a touchdown while rushing for 25 yards along with another touchdown. He also had two throws that forced defensive pass interference penalties totaling 67 yards that don’t show up on the stat sheet. What Love accomplished was not surprising to the Packers, but this is the type of performance that grabs the attention of everyone outside of that locker room.
”Just him and the resiliency just to come out there down 17 into the fourth,” said Elgton Jenkins, “the ultimate downs, he don’t blink. He just goes out there and do what he do. Offense rallies around him, defense does what they do. It was a special, special performance, now. We always knew that he had it, things like that. But just him being able to go out there and just put it together live for everybody in his first game at Lambeau, it’s just special. Just special.”
10: Number of points the defense gave up
It was the play of the defense that kept the game somewhat within reach for the offense so that they even had an opportunity to pull off the comeback. Following a touchdown drive on their second possession, the Saints scored just three points on offense the rest of the game, which included a fourth quarter where the Packers’ defense got the offense the ball back quickly by holding New Orleans to just one first down and 11 total plays prior to their final drive.
On the ground, the Saints averaged 3.5 yards per rush and only 4.6 yards per pass attempt. Green Bay’s front, specifically Rashan Gary, also did an excellent job of getting after the quarterback, especially in obvious passing situations, with three third-down sacks and four in total.
The Saints entered the game leading the NFL in downfield pass attempts, so we saw the Packers play a lot of Cover-2 to limit the explosive play over the top. To a degree, this is a bit of a passive approach, which is one reason why we saw Derek Carr and Jameis Winston both so efficient on the day because they were completing passes underneath and in the flats. The Green Bay defensive backs often weren’t in positions to make plays on the ball very often, either.
Between being down 17 points and with how the final drive for the Saints went, it perhaps didn’t feel like the Green Bay defense controlled the game, but for the most part, they did. At the end of the day, they kept points off the board and got off the field, not allowing New Orleans to control the clock, even when playing with a three-score lead.
“I thought it was great,” said Matt LaFleur of the defense’s performance.
“Our coaches work their butts off trying to come up with a plan to, in all phases, to attack whomever we are playing, and our players were battling and competing their butts off. They did a great job defensively. Joe Barry and that crew did a great job, and we really held them to 10 points. A lot of the credit goes to our defense today.”
2 point conversion attempt
Both Matt LaFleur and Jordan Love acknowledged after the game that the Packers’ successful two-point conversion attempt was a major momentum shift in the game. LaFleur added that it was at this point that there was “a lot of belief” on the sidelines that they were going to find a way.
The decision to go for it in this instance, comes down to analytics. If unsuccessful, although down eight, the Packers are still only down one score. However, as we saw, if successful, down only six a touchdown and extra point wins the game. It also gave the Packers if needed the opportunity to kick a pair of field goals to tie the game.
LaFleur said after the game that he didn’t feel great about the play call and the execution wasn’t what it should have been either. But Love’s ability to go off-schedule if needed and the play of the offensive line in pass protection allowed that play to be successful.
“To be honest with you,” said LaFleur. “I didn’t feel great about the play call, and then the execution definitely was not how we practiced it, but I had a lot of belief in the way our quarterback was playing. He was making off-schedule plays, and I thought our offensive line, I know our running game wasn’t always pretty. There were some bad play calls in there certainly, but the way we were pass protecting, I thought ‘well if the initial read isn’t there, we have a guy that can go off-schedule’ and that’s what happened. We went off-schedule.”
11: Number of penalties for the Packers
Of course, credit to the Saints for leading a large portion of the game and doing so by 17 points. However, the Packers own self-inflicted wounds helped put them in that three-score deficit as well. Green Bay was called for 11 penalties, one of which helped set up the Saints’ lone touchdown drive by moving them somewhat deep into Packers territory. Many of the others were on offense, stifling any drives that Green Bay did have going. Before the Packers scored on their final three possessions, they had four trips to the Saints’ side of the field where they were unable to come up with points.
On top of that, the Packers allowed a punt return for a touchdown, Love was unable to connect with Luke Musgrave downfield, and in general, there was a lack of execution, along with some dropped or off-target passes. Green Bay’s first-half miscues nearly didn’t even give them the opportunity to mount a comeback.
5: The number of starters the Packers were without
To add another layer of impressiveness to the Packers’ victory, they did so while being very shorthanded. Due to injuries, the Packers were without David Bakhtiari, Elgton Jenkins, Aaron Jones, Christian Watson, and Jaire Alexander. In fact, here’s a number for you: Ken Ingalls notes that the Packers won this game with $118.5 million, or 53 percent of their 2023 cap space, unavailable.
“Obviously, we were shorthanded,” said LaFleur. “A lot of really good players when you look at that inactive list, there’s a lot of big-time names on that list. But, it doesn’t matter cause that’s the National Football League and everybody’s dealing with different things, but our guys continued to fight, continued to battle.”
Unfortunately, the Packers had three more injuries pop up during the game, with De’Vondre Campbell (ankle), Carrington Valentine (biceps), and Zach Tom (knee) all exiting and they didn’t return. The Packers have a very short week ahead, with a Thursday night matchup with Detroit.
Situational Football
Situational football is always going to play a key role in determining the outcome of a game. Sunday’s matchup featured two of the better units, the Packers’ offense and the Saints’ defense, in third down and red zone situations. Here is how each team fared in these critical moments.
Saints
3rd down efficiency: 4-14
4th down efficiency: 1-1
Red zone: 1-2
Turnovers lost: 0
Time of possession: 27:25
Penalties: 7
Packers
3rd down efficiency: 8-18
4th down efficiency: 1-3
Red zone: 2-3
Turnovers lost: 1
Time of possession: 32:35
Penalties: 11
1: The number of sacks the Packers allowed
The play of the Packers’ offensive line, specifically in pass protection, was a big reason behind Green Bay’s come-from-behind win. Against a very good and aggressive Saints secondary, Love’s initial reads weren’t always there, which required him to continue going through his progressions and go off-script when needed–all of which requires time from the offensive line. Love would end up being sacked only once, and according to ESPN, he was hit on only three occasions.
Along with the offensive line holding up well in pass protection, Love’s ability to feel pressure, navigate the pocket, and create opportunities for himself is so impressive. We saw this from Love during the summer, but it was very much on display against New Orleans with the time in the pocket that he had. As already mentioned, LaFleur said afterward that it was Love’s ability to go off-schedule when needed that gave them the confidence to go for the two-point conversion.
