Packers get early wake-up call

The Green Bay Packers came into the season with big goals and aspirations, so its abysmal performance against the New Orleans Saints in week one was a big shock to the football world.

The Packers’ offense only lost a couple players from last year, while its defense was eager to play with more intensity under a new defensive coordinator. The offense and defense were equally bad in what turned into one of the team’s most lopsided losses in recent memory.

Head coach Matt LaFleur made no excuses for the team’s uninspiring first game, calling it embarrassing, humbling and disappointing during his postgame press conference.

LaFleur added he was surprised at how poor the team looked after a strong training camp and weeks of practice leading up to the game. He said the issues wouldn’t just disappear overnight either.

“The only way that I believe you bounce back from any defeat or setback, whether it’s in football or life, is you put in the work and that’s what we have to do,” said LaFleur.

One day Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers didn’t sugarcoat things from the loss that turned out to be one of his worst games of his career.

“We played bad. I played bad,” said Rodgers. “Offensively, we didn’t execute very well.”

Rodgers also think the Saints provided the rest of the league a blueprint on how to take down the Packers this season, and that the team will need to figure out answers in a hurry so that the performance doesn’t snowball.

The Saints’ defense played a lot of two high, sending extra defenders at wide receiver Davante Adams all game.

Adams was targeted seven times, pulling in five passes for only 56 yards. The numbers were inflated by a 31-yard reception late in the first half. One of Rodgers’ two interceptions came when targeting Adams, and turned out to be the game-sealing play.

Even with the extra emphasis on stopping Adams, the Packers other receiving options weren’t able to capitalize on their single coverage looks. Randall Cobb was the next leading receiver for Green Bay, but his 32-yard catch came with Jordan Love at quarterback and the game well out of reach.

The Packers’ running game also mightily struggled despite the lack of defenders around the line of scrimmage.

Starting running back Aaron Jones had just nine rushing yards on five attempts. A.J. Dillon was more effective with a 4.8-yard average run, but only had four carries. In total, the Packers had 43 rushing yards on 15 attempts.

The Saints also didn’t blitz often, but were still able to get to Rodgers several times with only four pass rushers. Rodgers was sacked once and hit seven times.

Even after the poor showing, Rodgers didn’t seem too concerned that the unit would continue to struggle against the same looks.

“Hopefully, we see it a little bit more because we’ll have it figured out by next week,” said Rodgers.

On the other side of the ball, the first game under new coordinator Joe Barry went about as poorly as it could go.

New Orleans scored on its first three offensive possessions to take a 17-3 lead into halftime. The Packers forced a punt after halftime but bounced back with three straight touchdown drives to blow the game open.

Known as a turnover-prone quarterback, Jameis Winston instead completed 14 of his 20 pass attempts for 148 yards and five touchdowns and didn’t turn the ball over. He also rushed six times for 37 yards and a couple big first-down runs in the first half.

New Orleans finished with 171 rushing yards and averaged over four yards a carry.

Defensive lineman Kenny Clark said the team failed to “capitalize on our opportunities” in the first half, allowing Winston to scramble for a couple first downs after avoiding some pressure and tackle attempts.

The Saints converted three third downs and a pair of fourth downs in the first half , including a 1-yard touchdown pass to go up 17-0.

There were also several instances where Saints’ receivers were left uncovered throughout the game.

Safety Adrian Amos said the defensive mistakes and shortcomings are all correctable.

“We just got to make our plays. We have to communicate. We have to be on our assignments,” said Amos. “We just have to be all-around better. You can’t just pinpoint one or two things this game.”

“There’s a lot that went wrong — a lot that we can correct. A lot of easy things to correct.”

The Packers luckily have an extra day to try and iron out some of the issues that plagued them in the opening game, as the team’s second game won’t be until Monday when division foe Detroit comes to Lambeau Field.

sports@newmedia-wi.com