What we learned from Green Bay’s win over New Orleans

On December 24, 2024By Littum

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The Packers defense continues to dominate. Green Bay has been playing some damn good football over the last five weeks, and a lot of that is directly related to the improvement of their defense. First-year defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley has this group playing with their hair on fire, running up an absurd 52.6% pressure Monday night, holding the Saints under 100 yards of offense in the first half while their own offense built a 21-point lead. Their front seven is coming after opposing quarterbacks, and the results are evident in the point totals allowed since their bye. Green Bay has allowed an average of 15.5 points per game. struggle defensively since their Week 10 bye, and if you eliminate Detroit’s 34-point showing in Week 14, that number drops to an incredible 11.8 points per game. match. They topped it Monday night, posting the first shutout of the 2024 season in a game that looked more like the 2012 BCS National Championship Game — you know, the one where LSU only crossed the 50-yard line once — than an NFL competition. If that’s who the Packers can be in January, the rest of the NFC should watch out.
The Rattler can’t overcome the Packers’ defensive avalanche. With Alvin Kamara out and a receiving corps filled with players you’ve probably never heard of, it’s clear these Saints are undermanned. An experienced, skilled quarterback can push such a team beyond the low expectations that come with a short-handed roster, but the Saints don’t have that at their disposal either. Enter Spencer Rattlera freshman whose athleticism allows him to move the ball, as when he completed a leap over the middle to move the chains on third-and-long. However, the same quarterback followed up such an impressive finish by attempting to fire a pass through a window down the sideline and didn’t accelerate the throw enough, resulting in an easy (and somewhat ugly) interception. This Saints offense put up 81 yards in the first half and finished over 200 yards only because of some garbage time gains, and it really wasn’t the Rattlers’ fault. He played with a deck that certainly wasn’t full, which shouldn’t be held against him as the Saints evaluate his first NFL season.
Green Bay’s offense is incredibly dangerous. Despite the attention he attracts, this Packers unit does not rely entirely on the quarterback Jordan love. They can pound the run with Josh JacobsThe NFL’s best tackle-breaking running back, and can spell him with Emanuel Wilson and Chris Brooks. All three scored a touchdown Monday night. They will also turn to their speedsters to win on the perimeter in the run game and pass to Christian Watson, Bo Melton and Jayden Reed. Love can also get loose and I haven’t even gotten to the passing game yet. Reed, Tucker Kraft, Romeo Doubs, Dontayvion WicksWatson (when he was healthy when he got hit again Monday night) and even Jacobs can hurt you through the air, and the mad scientist himself, coach Matt LaFleur, is the one moving all the pieces in real time. Plenty of people have covered how Buffalo can beat teams in a variety of ways, but the Packers aren’t far behind.
Khalen Saunders is fun. When your team gets shut down, it becomes hard to find positives. But wow, Saunders is a joy to watch. He’s been quietly productive throughout this season, and for whatever reason, he’s saving his best moments for prime time. He chose one Patrick Mahomes pass in an early season game against the Chiefs on a Monday night and delivered one of the most enjoyable big-man returns you’ll see just shy of Leonard Williams‘ pick-six against the Jets. Saunders almost got himself another pick on Monday night in 2024 if his teammates hadn’t knocked it out of his hands while he was fighting for possession. He also deflected a pass at the line of scrimmage intended for Wicks that had a good chance to go for a touchdown, finishing his day with four tackles (one for loss) and two QB pressures. The Saints are heading into a very uncertain offseason, a period in which Teflon-strong general manager Mickey Loomis will take stock of the entire roster, but he won’t have to think twice about keeping Saunders in the defensive tackle’s final year. affordable contract. He is a difference maker.
Malik Willis is in the perfect situation. Yes, I’m writing about the backup quarterback who only entered garbage time during a blowout. It was that kind of night. But Monday night’s performance also got me thinking about the Packers’ overall season, which many will forget hit a crossroads incredibly early this season when Love suffered a knee injury in Week 1, forcing the Packers to insert newly acquired Willis in the starting lineup. They promptly won both games with Willis as their starter before Love returned to action. Willis’ entry into Monday night’s game saw him throw just two passes, but the one he completed — a 34-yard dime to Reed down the sideline — reminded me how far Willis has come in his short time with the Packers, growing from a quarterback who looked so overwhelmed by the speed of the game in the preseason that the Titans selected Mason Rudolph over him, to a QB that fits perfectly with LaFleur as his guide. Hopefully the Packers never have to turn to him this season except during garbage time. Still, it warms my heart to see a talented player land in the right place and have his talents properly cultivated.

Next generation statistics insight from Saints-Packers (via NFL Pro): In a wildly successful night for the Packers’ pass rush, eight different defenders generated multiple QB pressures on Spencer Rattler, led by Brenton Cox Jr.’s six pressures. Green Bay also held the Saints to 2.6 yards per carry. carry on designed rushes, the second fewest they’ve allowed in a game this season.

NFL Research: Monday night marked the 240th game of the 2024 regular season and the first shutout of the campaign. It was the first shutout in an NFL game since Week 18 of the 2023 season, when the Buccaneers shut out the Panthers 9-0.