The Saints went against the Packers, leading to a shocking victory of 38-3. After losing thirteen-time pro-bowler Drew Brees this season, the Saints road was looking rough. Due to a flare-up of a pre-existing injury, they also lost their 3-time pro bowler Michael Thomas. As if the Saints season wasn’t looking hard enough already, they couldn’t even play at their home stadium because of Hurricane Ida. The Saints had also lost a lot of free agents, which was unfortunate, because these were some of the starting players. They couldn’t pay all of them, so some had to walk. These struggles created many obstacles, but did not hold the Saints back from victory.

          It was game day, 28 NFL teams face off on Sunday, two play on Monday, and two play on Thursday. On the pregame show, America’s pick was the Packers as well as most of the people. There was doubt as people found out that Jameis Winston was going to be the starting quarterback of the game. No one knew how he was going to do, considering he hadn’t played as a starting quarterback in the NFL since the last week of the 2018-2019 NFL season. The game started, and the Saints got the ball first. According to CBS football, the Saints drove down the field and ended up with a 44-yard field goal by Saints kicker Aldrick Rosas. Leaving everyone shocked, the Saints dominated during the first half, going into halftime with a 17-3 lead. At this point in the game, Packers fans started to panic. Even Aaron Rodgers, Packers quarterback and last seasons’ MVP, was struggling. He had less than 100 passing yards at the half. The Saints were coming in hot and were not going to step down till they had proven what they can do. 

The start of the second half had slowed down a bit, the only score was a ten-yard passing touchdown scored in the third quarter by the Saints. After being down 38-3 early on in the fourth quarter, head coach of the Packers, Matt LaFleur, put in young Jordan Love as a hopeful last resort to finish the game. Information found from CBS stats showed that Jordan Love went on to throw for 68 yards and completed 5 out of 7 passes that he attempted, but it still wasn’t enough to help them come back. Ending incredibly and unexpectedly, the Saints went on to win the game 38-3. The Saints somehow managed to beat one of the highest-scoring teams coming into this NFL season despite the injuries and losses that affected the team.

 Even if you don’t particularly love the Saints, the facts are there, they played an amazing game. Although people doubted him, Jameis Winston had quite the day himself ending with 148 passing yards and 5 touchdowns according to CBS stats. This was a great start to the Saints season and I hope to see more games like this soon.