Aaron Rodgers addresses Packers struggles, playing in Jacksonville heat
If anybody predicted that the score between the Green Bay Packers and New Orleans Saints would be 38-3 on Sunday, not many would have thought that the Packers would be on the losing end of it. That was the case on Sunday. The Packers struggled from start to finish. The game was in Jacksonville following damage in New Orleans from Hurricane Ida. Aaron Rodgers was frustrated by the Packers’ struggles in week one.
Aaron Rodgers: We didn’t execute
Rodgers completed 15 of his 28 pass attempts with 133 yards and two interceptions. As a team, the Packers had 43 rushing yards on 15 carries. The Saints, meanwhile, were executing on all cylinders. Jameis Winston completed 14 of his 20 passes for 148 yards and five touchdowns. The Saints rushed for 171 yards on 39 carries. Teams sometimes struggle when traveling down south into the heat during this time of the year. Rodgers blamed the loss on a simple lack of execution by the Packers.
“Well, I felt like our energy was a little bit low,” Rodgers said to reporters on Sunday. “It felt a little bit San Diego-ish from a couple years ago. We just kind of needed something to get going and it was the same type of thing. Long, long drives on their side and us not executing. We had 10 plays-ish there and, you know, 17 to nothing and we’re in a two-minute moment on our third drive in the first half. So very disjointed possession wise. We’ve been in games like that before where we’ve only had a couple possessions.”
The Saints got off to a quick start offensively, scoring 17 points on their first three possessions of the game. The Packers had to punt on both of their first two possessions, and when Mason Crosby made a field goal late in the first quarter, it only cut the Saints’ lead to 17-3. Rodgers then threw interceptions on each of the next two Packers drives, and the score quickly spiraled to 31-3 and eventually 38-3.
Was the Saints’ decision to play in Jacksonville a strategic one?
When picking a new venue for the game, the Saints might have picked Jacksonville over other temporary venues for a reason. After the game, a reporter asked Rodgers if he thought that the Saints picked Jacksonville as the site of the game due to the Packers’ track record playing in Florida.
“I always say there’s no coincidences in life so I don’t think I can slough it off as a coincidence,” Rodgers said. “We traveled down here, it was hot, but not as hot as we played here in 2016. It wasn’t as hot as that day. The heat shouldn’t have been an issue for us. We just didn’t execute very well.”
Next up for Rodgers and the Packers is a home matchup against the Detroit Lions on Monday, September 20. The Lions battled in their season opener against the 49ers, but eventually lost 41-33. Every team in the NFC North lost during week one, so the Packers are still in a good position if they can win some games early in the season.