The Packers elevated Patrick Taylor and Corey Balletine to the game day roster.  That is Taylor's third elevation.  Will the Packers sign him to the 53 or try to do the same thing they did last season when they released him and then re-signed Taylor, thus allowing three more elevations.  What the team really thinks about Emmanuel Wilson and AJ Dillon will be important. 

The inactive list looked like a who's who of starters: David Bakhtiari, Elgton Jenkins, Aaron Jones, Christian Watson, Jaire Alexander, along with Anthony Johnson, Jr., and Zayne Anderson.  Caleb Jones and Sean Rhyan (along with QB Sean Clifford) did not play, so the Packers did have eight offensive linemen active, allowing them to elevate two players from the practice squad. 

The offensive line can pass block.  They allowed just one sack and three quarterback hits on 44 pass attempts.  It helps that Jordan Love moves around in the pocket pretty well and has young legs that can get him out of trouble, but the pass blocking is pretty solid.  The Saints' excellent defensive front six got some consistent push, though, so there the ball did have to come out on time. 

The run blocking was once again not very good.  The Packers gained 95 rushing yards on 26 carries for a 3.7-yard average.  The running backs gained 45 yards on 16 carries for a 2.81-yard average, with Keisean Nixon's 11-yard scamper pushing the non-quarterback rushing average to 3.29-yards per carry. 

Penalties also hampered the Packers.  Runyan was called for holding on the first offensive snap, followed immediately by a false start on Royce Newman to make it first and 25.  Zach Tom later had a false start in the first half that turned a third and five into a third and ten, which led to a punt.  Jayden Reed also was called for holding, turning a second and five into second and fifteen, leading to another punt.  On third an five, the Packers were called for an illegal formation, turning a third and five into a third and ten, which led to another punt.  Emmanuel Wilson's poor throw back to Jordan Love on a flea flicker play (technically a fumble since the throw hit the ground) ruined the timing of the play such that Love's wild heave towards a wide open Dontavion Wicks was incomplete, leading to a turnover on downs. 

Altogether, the Packers had 4 possessions in the first half (5 if one counts a one-play kneel down to end the half), and penalties derailed four of their possessions.  In the second half, the Packers' first two possessions featured a false start on Musgrave and an offensive pass interference penalty on Toure, one of which ended in an interception and the other in a punt.  Thus, two of the Packers' six (seven if one counts the three kneel downs) possessions in the second half were hampered by miscues.  [True, some of these penalties were not on the offensive line but I deemed it helpful to lay them out in one section to show how the Packers shot themselves in the foot for much of the game.  It would be nice to see the offense overcome some of its missteps.]

Zach Tom left the game with a knee injury late in the fourth quarter.  He has been the Packers best lineman this year, so his swift return for the Thursday night game against Detroit would be most welcome.

Love completed 22 of 44 attempts (50%) for 259 yards (5.88-yards/attempt) with one touchdown and one interception, good for a 66.4 passer rating.  The interception came on a third and 14 pass to Doubs some 47 yards downfield, and since there was no return, it was as good as a punt.  Love had to throw into very tight windows repeatedly and it seemed like most of the passes were contested.  The Saints finished with a whopping 13 passes defensed.  The referees let them play, particularly Alontae Taylor, who while he didn't always get his head turned around prior to the arrival of the pass managed not to bump into the body of the receiver.  Jordan Love persevered and got it done, throwing for 185 yards and a touchdown in the second half while running for another touchdown.  The Saints disguised some blitzes by CB Alontae Taylor, one of which led to a clear route to Love and the Saints' only sack.  Love gained 39 yards on 9 carries for a 4.3-yard average, including a big 24-yard scramble down the sideline. 

AJ Dillon gained 33 yards on 11 carries for a 3.0-yard average.  His best run came off left end on a third and nine when he gained 14 yards.  There was not happening running into the middle of the Saints' defense.  Wilson gained 6 yards on 3 carries and Taylor gained 6 yards on 2 carries.  Wilson added one catch for 6 more yards while Taylor gained 23 yards on 3 receptions.  Taylor was targeted four times but stopped short when Love expected him to continue vertically on a little pass into the flat.  Keisean Nixon had one carry for 11 yards around right end on a first and ten.  However, that possession ended in a punt after Alontae Taylor sacked Love.

Luke Musgrave caught 6 of 8 targets for 49 yards and an 8.2-yard average with a long of 12.  While so far he hasn't turned any of these short passes into an explosive play, he does seem to be building a connection with Jordan Love and is the clear #1 TE.  Musgrave was wide open down the middle but Love simply missed him.  Sooner or later Musgrave is going to have a huge day.  Deguara, Kraft and Sims had no stats on offense.  Kraft played more snaps than Sims.  Deguara had a solo tackle on special teams.  

Romeo Doubs caught 5 of 12 targets for 73 receiving yards (14.6 yds/rec and 6.08 yds/target), one touchdown.  He had a long of 30.  Doubs also drew a 22-yard pass interference penalty on Isaac Yiadom.  Jayden Reed caught 3 of 7 targets for 63 yards (21/rec and 9/attempt).  He also had a long of 30 yards.  Wicks caught 4 of 6 attempts for 45 yards, and drew a 45-yard pass interference penalty.  Both interference penalties came on the same drive, accounting for 67 of the 80-yard touchdown drive, which was capped off by a two-point conversion to Toure to cut the score to 17 to 11.  Explosive plays were in short supply against the Saints.  Toure otherwise had no receptions.  Malik Heath was targeted twice but had no receptions.  I would have liked to have seen Heath come back towards the pass a little harder on one of the targets.  The receivers didn't get a lot of separation on their routes, making things difficult for Jordan Love.  It helped that the Saints had to play Yiadom on the outside.  Yiadom played 111 ST snaps for New Orleans in 2022 but no defensive snaps, and this season he had only played 4 snaps for the Saints prior to this game.  Against the Packers, Yiadom played 63 snaps.  It seems to me that the Packers could have focused on Yiadom earlier and more often, though Yiadom finished with 4 passes defensed, while Alontae Taylor had 5. 

Kenny Clark was a force all game.  Clark had 4 tackles (3 solo) with a sack and multiple pressures.  TJ Slaton and Wyatt each had 2 tackles (1 solo).  Brooks batted down a pass and Wooden had no statistics.  That is a surprising number of snaps for Brooks.  Wooden seeing a decreased workload is not a surprise after his performance last week against the Falcons.

The Saints gained 77 rushing yards on 19 carries, or 3.5 yards per carry.  The Saints gained just 28 yards on the ground in the second half.  The Saints did have a long run of 19 yards which came in the first half, but otherwise there were no long gains on the ground given up.  The Saints scored only 10 points on offense, and had 6 straight possessions in the second half during which they did not score, though that required the Saints to miss a potentially game-winning 46-yard field goal.  The Packers would have gotten the ball back with just over a minute left in the game with two timeouts, down by one 2 points, had the field goal been made.  

Rashan Gary had 3 sacks for 20 yards, including one that ended Derek Carr's day.  Gary had 4 quarterback hits and multiple pressures.  He was a large part of the Packers pass rush in just 23 snaps.  The Saints threw the ball 34 times.  Gary destroyed RT Ryan Ramcyck, who is making $19M per year, several times.  Enagbare added a quarterback hit and had a tackle for loss among his 4 tackles (3 solo).  Justin Hollins had 2 assisted tackles.  Preston Smith had one assisted tackle.  Van Ness had one solo tackle.  Brenton Cox had no statistics.  Quay Walker had 7 tackles (3 solo) while McDuffie, playing in place of Devondre Campbell who left with an ankle injury, had 6 tackles (5 solo).  Campbell and Wilson each had one assisted tackle.  

Rudy Ford led the team with 7 tackles (6 solo) plus 2 passes defensed while Savage had 6 tackles (5 solo).  Corey Ballentine added 4 solo tackles and a pass defensed.  He wasn't perfect but for a special teams player he was fine.  Nixon had 3 solo tackles and a pass defensed.  Rasul Douglas had 2 solo tackles and a pass defensed.  Valentine had no statistics and left the game with a biceps injury.  The Saints threw for 204 yards (175 yards if sack yardage were deducted), and Olave had 104 of them.  Olave is going to get his, most games.  The opposing quarterbacks did complete 68% of their passes, if just for 6.0 yards per attempt.  The defensive backs came up and usually made the tackle. 

This was a quality win.  The Saints are a tough out, at least as long as their top 5 DBs, both LBs, and the bulk of that defensive line are healthy.  New Orleans' cap woes have left them a little thin, particularly at LB and CB.  The Saints have been fortunate that two of their oldest players, Demario Davis and Cam Jordan, both 34, are still playing at a very high level.  Those two have also played in every game possible since 2012, except for Jordan, who missed one game last year.  The Packers offense could blossom with the return of their key players.

WR: 2.73

RB: 1.02

TE:  1.24

DL: 2.33

LB: 3.92  [ILB: 1.92 - OLB: 2.0]

DB:  4.75