Packers 2017 schedule release: Game-by-game predictions
By Kenn Korb
Week 7: vs. New Orleans Saints
Many teams have vastly different storylines to describe each season they have.
For Green Bay, in the past four seasons alone we’ve seen the team survive Aaron Rodgers’ collarbone issues to steal the NFC North (2013), a supposed ‘team of destiny’ undercut by the final five minutes of the playoffs (2014), a surprisingly struggling offense buoyed by Hail Mary magic to a near NFC-Championship game run (2015), and a sudden return to form by said offense to guide the team back to a deep playoff run (2016).
New Orleans meanwhile has had the same story every year for about a decade: an always-explosive offense led by Drew Brees and a faceless assortment of skill players doomed to the fate of Sisyphus due to a defense which can never find a way to be anything more than abysmal.
The result has often been a middling record: Since 2006 (when Brees and Sean Payton came to the Saints), they have had a record of 8-8 or 7-9 six different times, including three straight and four of the past five.
Their defensive issues really show up on the road. Since 2011, they’ve been 21-27 on the road; that has wasted a 31-17 home record in that same period. This is easy to explain. Their offense stays pretty strong on the road, but not quite as good as it is at home; meanwhile, the defense takes a further step down as well.
Until they provide a reason to believe otherwise, this is what you get with the Saints. Because of that, I see a high-flying contest which finds the Packers coming out ahead on the scoreboard after a couple errant turnovers from the Saints help hand them an insurmountable lead.
Packers 44, Saints 27 (5-2)