The New Orleans Saints defense is going to present the young and currently shorthanded Green Bay Packers offense with a good test on Sunday, especially on third downs and in the red zone, where the Saints have thrived this season.
It’s in these crucial situations that football games are often decided, and it’s one key reason why the New Orleans defense has been so dominant through two games. Combined, Tennessee and Carolina – the Saints’ first two opponents – had 26 third-down attempts and moved the chains just six times. That’s a conversion rate of only 23 percent and is the third-best in the NFL.
Buy Packers TicketsIn the red zone, the Titans and Panthers had six total trips inside the 20-yard line against New Orleans and found the end zone only once, giving the Saints’ defense the second-best red zone touchdown rate.
“Fast. Physical. Aggressive,” said Matt LaFleur about the Saints defense on Wednesday. “Very sound and want to challenge you on all three levels. Demario Davis is a game-wrecker. Cam Jordan. They got guys at all three levels. They’ve got complimentary pieces around that.”
While the Saints’ defense will present challenges, it’s not as if the Packers’ offense is a slouch in these areas, either. Through two games, Green Bay has converted 48 percent of their third down attempts, good for the fifth-best rate in football.
However, against Atlanta in the fourth quarter, they struggled on third downs, and we saw the impact that had not only on the Packers’ offense but the entire team. Too many three-and-outs or short drives lead to a big discrepancy in time of possession and a lopsided total number of plays ran–which, again, we saw in Week 2.
In the red zone, meanwhile, the Packers have scored on all but one of their six trips inside the opponents’ 20-yard line, giving them the best red zone success rate in the NFL.
If the Packers are going to find continued success in these key aspects of the game this Sunday, they are going to have be more consistent in the run game. Being able to move the ball on the ground on early downs puts the offense in manageable third downs – or avoid them altogether – and can open up opportunities in the passing game.
Conversely, an inconsistent run game puts the offense behind the sticks and into predictable passing scenarios, allowing the defense to do the dictating by getting into favorable play calls and matchups.
A similar thought process occurs in the red zone as well, along with the added difficulty that comes with trying to move the ball through the air in a condensed part of the field when an offense if forced to be one-dimensional.
Other elements such as pre-snap motion and maximizing their versatility on offense by throwing a lot of different looks at the Saints – two things this Packers offense has been very good at utilizing through two weeks – will be important parts of their success in these crucial situations.
It’s a battle of strengths for each team on their respective sides of the ball, and whoever has more success on third downs and in the red zone will probably have the upper hand in Sunday’s game.
