The game started to unravel in the third quarter after back-to-back interceptions by Aaron Rodgers, the second of which the Saints turned into a 10-yard TD pass to Chris Hogan. The Packers then tried to get more aggressive on offense but turned the ball over at their own 22 after going for it on fourth-and-1.
Aside from a 55-yard touchdown pass to Deonte Harris in the fourth quarter, the Saints did most of their offensive damage early on. Eight of their 10 longest plays were in the first half.
The Packers hit Winston just three times with Clark coming the closest to sacking him on the game’s opening drive. Winston turned good protection into steady production, keeping the Saints in favorable down-and-distance throughout.
All told, New Orleans went 5-of-10 on third downs, 2-of-2 on fourth-down conversions and a perfect 4-for-4 in the red zone.
“That plays a factor with us not getting off (the field), but it’s our fault that we’re not getting off,” safety Adrian Amos said. “A lot of that is us not doing well enough on first and second down to get off the field. When you have hot games like this, humid, the humidity out there, with it being the first game of the season, those compounding factors where we don’t get ourselves off on third down, getting three-and-outs, getting takeaways, things like that, we make the job harder on ourselves.”
