Matt LaFleur: Saints 'absolutely embarrassed' Packers

The start to the season could not of gone much worse for the Green Bay Packers. On the road in Jacksonville to take on New Orleans, the Packers fell 38-3. After an offseason filled with rumors and Jeopardy! appearances, reigning NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers was 15 of 28 for 133 yards, throwing two interceptions as the offense only produced three points. Backup quarterback Jordan Love even played a large part of the fourth quarter.

Green Bay coach Matt LaFleur was not making excuses in his postgame press conference.

“Give the Saints all the credit in the world. They came ready to play, absolutely embarrassed us,” LaFleur said. “You can’t do that against a well-coached and quality football team. Our guys are going to have to take a long look in the mirror. It starts with myself.”

The Packers could not establish a run game, either. Green Bay ran the ball 15 times but produced just 43 yards. The offense was only 1 of 10 on third-down conversions, too.

“We didn’t run the ball. We didn’t even attempt to run the ball enough. That’s my fault,” LaFleur said.

A team that was on the brink of making the Super Bowl last season, the Packers fell to a team that just lost future Hall of Famer Drew Brees. Rodgers has only won one championship in his NFL career; Sunday’s performance won’t help him get his second this season.

“They came out with more intensity than us. They were the hungrier team and that’s disappointing,” LaFleur said.

Aaron Rodgers addresses Packers struggles, playing in Jacksonville heat

While the Packers passing game struggled behind Rodgers, the Saints were executing on all cylinders. Jameis Winston completed 14 of his 20 passes for 148 yards and five touchdowns. The Saints rushed for 171 yards on 39 carries.

Rodgers blamed the loss on a simple lack of execution by the Packers.

“Well, I felt like our energy was a little bit low,” Rodgers said to reporters on Sunday. “It felt a little bit San Diego-ish from a couple years ago. We just kind of needed something to get going and it was the same type of thing. Long, long drives on their side and us not executing. We had 10 plays-ish there and, you know, 17 to nothing and we’re in a two-minute moment on our third drive in the first half. So very disjointed possession wise. We’ve been in games like that before where we’ve only had a couple possessions.”