The Saints fall to 0-4 after losing to the Packers, 27-28.
Let’s blame the kicker.
K Garrett Hartley Discusses His Missed FG
Garret Hartley missed a 48-yard FG attempt in the fourth quarter which would have would have put the Saints ahead. With just under three minutes, Hartley’s first attempt was good from 43 yards. But, Hartley had to rekick thanks to a holding call on the Saints. Hartley was set to kick again from 53 yards, but the Packers jumped offsides. And from 48-yards Hartley’s kick went wide left. The Packers got the ball and were able to run out the clock.
The Saints offense was looking more like itself. QB Drew Brees completed 35/54 pass attempts and threw for 446 yards and 3 TDs. Brees didn’t have any interceptions this week. Brees also tied Johnny Unitas’ record for consecutive games with a TD pass. Both Brees and Unitas have 47 games. Brees will have a chance to break the record next week.
WR Marques Colston was the Saints leading receiver with 153 yards and a TD. We hadn’t seen much from Colston in the first three weeks. His performance on Sunday was more like it.
WR Joe Morgan had his first touchdown in the NFL, an 80-yard TD pass from Brees. RB Darren Sproles had 20 yards rushing (whoopty doo), 44 yards receiving (meh…), and a TD (woo-hoo!).
Packers QB Aaron Rodgers completed 31/41 passes for 319 yards and four TDs. WRs Jordy Nelson and Greg Jennings (a personal favorite of Aerys Packers writer Casey Christopher) each had one TD, and WR James Jones had two.
The regular officials were cheered when they entered the field on Sunday, but the hometown Packers crowd were soon booing them. There were a number of incorrect calls that went the Saints way. It was nothing as grievous as last week, and the Packers get no sympathy from me this week.
Next up, the Saints host the San Diego Chargers.
As if I’m Explaining it to Nikki: Obviously, a loss is not entirely the kicker’s fault. There’s a full flurry of things I could blame–penalties, dropped passes, the lack of a run game…but, I choose to blame the kicker.
