5 Positives/5 Negatives From Saints’ Win Over Packers

Below are five positives, and also five negatives, to take from the New Orleans Saints’ 26-17 win over the Green Bay Packers on Sunday.

The victory, their fourth-straight, improved the Saints to 4-2 on the season.

Positives:

1)---Running Backs: Are Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara the best running back tandem in the NFL right now? Really! That's a serious question! Together they rushed for 162 yards on 31 carries. That's an average of 5.3 yards-per-carry, while also combining for 9 receptions for 55 yards. You simply can't realistically expect better production that what the Saints are getting from these two, right now.

2)---Ted Ginn: This is as a receiver only. Ginn had some issues in the punt return game, which I'll get to, but what a game he had in the receiving department! 7 catches for 141 yards, including one reception that went for 47 yards. Cat put on a show!

3)---Craig Robertson: For the second-consecutive week, he was really good as a starter, finishing tied for the team lead in tackles, with 6, including one for a loss.

4)---Marshon Lattimore: Man, is this guy beginning to look like quite the draft pick! Rookies corners typically don't play this well, this early. Name me one that does! Marcus Peters, and, well, I come up with nobody else. There may be one or two more, but the point is that rookie corners seldom make the impact he has. The Packers only threw for 79 yards, and yes, some of that had to do with Aaron Rodgers being out, but this is the NFL; Brett Hundley is one of the 100 best at his position in the world. Lattimore just played great, yet again.

5)---Third Down Efficiency: The Saints finished 8-of-15 on third down conversions, while the Packers went 4-of-11. Not hard to figure out who won.

Negatives:

1)---Special Teams: The Saints had a breakdown in protection on the blocked PAT, and Ted Ginn fumbled a punt in the first half, but got a break, due to catch interference being called. Special teams was below average for a second-consecutive week.

2)---Willie Snead: Just one year after compiling 72 receptions for 895 yards and four touchdowns, Snead has a grand total of one catch this season. Now, there are reasons for that. He was suspended the first three games, before being inactive in week four. On Saturday, he was inactive with a hamstring injury. If the Saints are going to thrive, offensively, they will need production from Snead, something they have yet to get, so far.

3)---Tight Ends: I thought, with Snead out, that the tight ends might take up the slack, That wasn't the case, as Coby Fleener was held to two catches for 22 yards, while Josh Hill was held without a catch. Granted, the tight ends weren't needed much on Sunday, as Drew Brees threw for over 300 yards, but somewhere along the line, lack of production from the position will show up on the scoreboard.

4)---Ken Crawley: I think Crawley was terrific, from week 3-last week, but not so much on Sunday. He had a weak tackle attempt on Hundley’s second-quarter touchdown run, and was hit with two penalties, including one for pass interference, and another for holding. I really like Crawley, but Sunday was not one of his better games.

5)---Turnovers: Without Rodgers, there was only one way Green Bay was going to win this game, and that was if the Saints turned it over. They did so in the first half, with two Brees picks. The Saints really dominated this games, outgaining the Packers, in terms of total yards, 480-262, while also finishing with a 36:56/23:04 time of possession advantage. Only those two interceptions, along with a couple of timely penalties, kept this one from being a complete blowout.