In their first home game with Jordan Love as the new “franchise” quarterback, many assumed this was a win in the Packer column, despite the Saints’ starting Derek Carr who has only thrown 35,000 yards and 200 TD passes more than Love in his career. The Saints were 2-0 but in unimpressively close wins against not very good opposition. Unfortunately “nerves” seemed to get in the way of the Packers playing in front of the home fans—either that, or the Bears are really that bad. In the first half, the Packers, continuously shot themselves in foot with penalties, a special teams fold, Love’s inability to throw an accurate deep ball, a fumble on a fourth-and-two, and then on one promising drive, Love taking a 14-yard sack to put the team out of field goal range. A 17-0 halftime deficit was the result.
I suppose it is worth noting that the Packers’ top playmaker is not Love, but Aaron Jones, and he again was out of the lineup. So why were the Packers expected to be “better” than what they appear to be at that point—a team that looks lost under pressure to perform with Love at the quarterback?
Well, let’s just hold on a moment and see what happens in the second half.
In the first possession of the Packers’ miracle comeback, like Matt Flynn did in beating the Cowboys on the road 37-36 after trailing 26-3 at halftime. Let’s see: A,J. Dillon lost six yards, another penalty, and then what we always feared—a another misfired deep ball that was actually “catchable,” or at least by a defender. “Fortunately” for the Packers, Carr was injured on the Saints first possession, and in would come Jameis Winston, whose last season with the Buccaneers was exemplified by “big” numbers—especially those 30 interceptions and 12 fumbles.
So at least the Packers still had a chance; the Saints’ ensuing five possessions of the second half were: punt, punt, punt, punt—and punt. After failing to convert on fourth down at the Saints 13 earlier, the Packers finally put 3 points in early in the fourth quarter, and shortly thereafter Love caught a couple big breaks, with two more deep balls not caught, but the Saints were called for pass interference penalties that netted 65 yards. But after advancing only one yard on first-and-goal at the Saints 2 with 7 minutes to play, why not, go for it and Love managed to sneak it in on a misdirection (I think) play. A two-point conversion attempt that was a questionable was luckily successful and suddenly it was a one-score game, 17-11.
After the Saints punted again, their defense just threw up their hands as Love ran for a 24-yarder, actually completed a deep ball to Jayden Reed, and on third down Love found Romeo Doubs who on the second try got a ball he could get his hands on for the go-ahead score. Of course the game wasn’t over yet; I mean, how many times have we seen the offense finally get its act together and then defense letting everyone down by suddenly deciding to take the opportunity to play dead? That certainly appeared to be the case again, with Winston rising from the dead to made a couple of plays to get the Saints into relatively safe field goal range, only to see the attempt sail wide right and allowing the Packers off the hook in a—what is that word, “miracle”—comeback win, 18-17.
I suppose this could be seen as an "impressive" win in its unexpectedness, that to be frank Carr’s injury made possible. For the third consecutive game the Packers failed to crack 100 yards on the ground, and Love’s passing numbers—22-44, 259 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT—for a 66.4 passer rating were only just “good” enough to do what the Saints had done in the first half, which was to take advantage of the opportunities handed to them by an opponent that didn’t come to play, at least not for 60 minutes. If the Saints had not missed that potential game-winning field goal at the end, just how “impressed” are we supposed to be that the Packers at least made a game of it? Inconsistent play won’t always be overcome when playing against teams that are even just “average.”
One thing that really disturbs me is that Love’s play or “numbers” have not improved over time. His best game was against the Bears, and although he threw 3 TD passes against the Falcons he only threw for 151 yards and was dismal in the fourth quarter. Although it could be argued that this game Love “shined” in the fourth quarter, two pass interference calls accounting for 65 yards on deep balls on the first TD drive only means the opposing defense did not shine.
But a win is a win. Next week the Packers are slight underdogs at home against the Lions, who fairly handily beat the same Falcons team the Packers lost to last week.
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