Sean Payton on choosing Jacksonville: the hotter the better

Since Sean Payton and the New Orleans Saints couldn’t play Aaron Rodgers’ Green Bay Packers in New Orleans due to Hurricane Ida, they had to decide where to play. They got to pick the location and they settled on Jacksonville, Florida.

Why would the Saints choose Jacksonville? New Orleans head coach Sean Payton said he felt like “the hotter, the better” when choosing the new location. Payton also revealed that the Saints had a game plan to match the heat centered around winning the line of scrimmage.

Clearly, the Saints were gearing up against Aaron Rodgers with every decision they made, considering they wouldn’t have the fans of the notoriously loud Superdome backing them.

Green Bay is used to playing in frigid cold temperatures in Green Bay, Wisconsin, so the Saints wanted to do anything possible to shake them out of their natural rhythm.

Quarterback Aaron Rodgers had a 3-4 record in the state of Florida coming into the contest and his passer rating in the sunshine state was 78.1. After today, it’s safe to say those numbers only got worse, much worse.

In Sunday’s game, Rodgers played horribly, completing just 15 of his 28 attempts for 133 passing yards, while tossing two interceptions and no touchdowns.

His quarterback rating for the contest was 36.8. Green Bay pulled Rodgers and put Jordan Love in the game in order to get the backup more game experience while the game was out of reach.

The Saints throttled the Packers 38-3 in a thorough drubbing that everyone in Green Bay would like to forget. The Packers’ offense only managed 229 yards of offense with three turnovers in the game.

The irony of the Saints-Packers game this year is that, Aaron Rodgers is rumored to be going to New Orleans in 2022, according to a former teammate.

Rodgers downplayed Sean Payton’s tactic before the game

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers scoffed at the New Orleans Saints reportedly choosing Jacksonville for the Saints season-opening matchup in part because of Rodgers’ track record in Florida.

“Useless information right there,” Rodgers said. “Good for them, trying to get every little advantage. I would assume, based on when we played in Jacksonville the last couple times, that there’ll be a lot of Packer fans there. Even still, not playing in New Orleans with that crowd noise back-to-back years is nice.”

The Times-Picayune’s Jeff Duncan reported the inside story behind the Saints choosing Jacksonville to host their Week One matchup and noted that Aaron Rodgers’ 3-4 record and 78.1 passer rater in the state of Florida did not go unnoticed by the Saints’ front office.

The Saints-Packers season opener was relocated from New Orleans due to the effects of Hurricane Ida.

There was no major damage at Caesars Superdome, where New Orleans plays their home games. However, ESPN’s Adam Schefter posted some pictures of the issues at their practice facilities. Not to mention that most areas in the city are still without running water and electricity.

On3’s Tim Verghese also contributed to this report.