The New Orleans Saints lost their second straight prime-time game Sunday, falling to the Green Bay Packers 37-30 at the Superdome. The Saints, who lost to the Las Vegas Raiders 34-24 on Monday Night Football in Week 2, haven’t been under .500 this late in a season since 2017, when they started 0-2 before finishing 11-5.
“The offense still isn’t clicking the way we’re accustomed to seeing it click,” Saints.com senior writer John DeShazier said on After Hours with Amy Lawrence. “Even though they put up 30 points and put up some productive numbers, it still isn’t quite in sync the way the Saints are accustomed to having it in sync. And defensively, there are some issues there.”
The Saints have committed over 300 yards in penalties through three games.
“Those are glaring right now for a team that really needs to have everything in sync,” DeShazier said. “They haven’t had everything in sync with their offense and defense. They always talk about playing complementary football, and they haven’t gotten the complementary that they need to win right now.”
The Saints committed eight penalties for 83 yards Sunday. The Packers, meanwhile, committed just two penalties for 10 yards, as Aaron Rodgers finished 21-of-32 for 283 yards and three touchdowns.
New Orleans led 17-13 at halftime, but DeShazier believes fatigue played a factor in the fourth quarter.
“Oh, absolutely,” he said. “I thought we saw some fatigue play out against the Raiders, and I thought we saw some of it show up in this game. They’re staying on the field too long. They’re just not doing a good job of getting off the field. . . . If you continue to give Aaron Rodgers opportunities, sooner or later he’s going to get you.”
Drew Brees, to his credit, played well. He finished 29-of-36 for 288 yards and three touchdowns, with much of that going to Alvin Kamara, who had 13 catches for 139 yards and two touchdowns. Brees hasn’t taken many shots down the field this season, but he’s kept the Saints in every game.
“When you call a shot play, he’s not going to throw it just for the sake of throwing it,” DeShazier said. “He won’t do it. He knows that a lot of games in the NFL are won [and lost because of turnovers]. That’s not going to be him. I think he had four interceptions all of last year in 11 games. He’s not going to give the game away that way if he can help it.”
The Saints (1-2) play the Lions (1-2) in Detroit this Sunday. Kickoff is at 1 p.m. ET.