Getty Aaron Rodgers #12 and Marcedes Lewis #89 of the Green Bay Packers warm up before the game against the Detroit Lions at Lambeau Field on September 20, 2020 in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
The Green Bay Packers and their NFL-leading offense have opened Week 3 as slight underdogs to the New Orleans Saints ahead of their Sunday Night Football showdown at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
The Saints (1-1) begin as 3.5-point favorites over the visiting Packers (2-0) after suffering their first loss of the season to the Las Vegas Raiders on Monday night, having won two straight in the series matchup between the two franchises. The Packers have also not beaten the Saints on the road since Brett Favre threw four first-half touchdown passes against them in 1995.
The matchup, however, has already shifted a half-point back in the Packers’ favor after the Saints’ disastrous loss to the Raiders on Monday night, according to Odds Shark. A weak performance from Drew Brees has soured expectations for the Saints offense moving forward, especially with star wide receiver Michael Thomas’ status still uncertain for Week 3.
The same cannot be said about the Packers, who lead the league in rushing yards (417), total yards (1,010) and points (85) through the first two games of the 2020 season. Aaron Rodgers has been a huge reason for the early success, finding a quicker rhythm in this year’s offense and scorching his first two opponents for a combined 50-of-72 passing with 604 yards, six touchdowns, no interceptions and a 119.4 quarterback rating.
The Packers will attempt to reach 3-0 for a second straight season when they kick off against the Saints at 6 p.m. CT on Sunday in their first of five prime-time games on the 2020 schedule.
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Will QBs or RBs Have Bigger Presence in Week 3?
A head-to-head matchup between two of the NFL’s top veteran quarterbacks will certainly dominate headlines in the week leading up to the Packers’ trip to New Orleans, but the war waged out of the backfield could end up stealing the spotlight.
The Packers and Saints each have one of the most talented young running backs in the league with Green Bay’s Aaron Jones currently leading the NFL with 234 rushing yards. He carries a blistering 6.9 yards per career into the matchup and is coming off a career-best performance against Detroit in Week 2 with 116 of his 168 rushing yards coming after contact.
Meanwhile, Alvin Kamara just signed a five-year, $75 million contract extension earlier this month keeps him in place as the Saints’ primary rusher through the end of the 2025 season. His 95 total rushing yards trails Jones’ production by quite a bit, but he has been dangerous in other ways for the Saints with 146 receiving yards and the exact same number of touchdowns (four) as his Packers counterpart.
Neither team relies solely on one back, either. The Packers have given about half of their carries to Jones through two games but have also set aside a sizable portion for Jamaal Williams, who has been a complementary threat in both rushing and passing game. The Saints have split things a little more evenly out of their backfield with Latavius Murray taking just seven snaps fewer than Kamara as the No. 2 in the rotation.
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Packers Open as Underdogs Against Saints in Week 3 SNF