It's finally here. After an offseason full of enough Aaron Rodgers drama for a whole decade, the Green Bay Packers will finally kick off the 2021 NFL season on Sunday against the New Orleans Saints. The contest will take place in Jacksonville, due to the adverse weather conditions in New Orleans.
For the Packers, anything short of the Super Bowl in the upcoming season would be considered a disappointment. A loss in the NFC Conference Championship Game stained what had been, up that point, a great season. Rodgers won the NFL's Most Valuable Player award, Davante Adams, Corey Linsley, and David Bakhtiari each made First Team All-Pro, and the team went 13-3 to win the No. 1 seed in the NFC.
As for the Saints, they enter 2021 with a brand new look. Drew Brees is out and Jameis Winston is in, and âFamous Jameisâ could easily turn this offense into either an explosive juggernaut or a mess filled with takeaways. He did undergo LASIK eye surgery in the offseason, however which could be good for his vision. The Saints will also be missing Michael Thomas for the beginning of the season, which could really dampen their prospects in Week 1.
Now that the table is set, let's see how things will shake out. Here are 4 bold predictions for the Packers in Week 1 against the Saints.
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4. Davante Adams goes for 150 yards
Adams missed the Packers match with New Orleans last season, which allowed Allen Lazard become the de facto WR1 for the game. Lazard went off for 6 catches and 146 yards, as well as a touchdown, in the contest, showing that even a backup could take advantage of the Saints secondary. Adams is on another level compared to Lazard, and should be able to do even more with a massive target share from Rodgers.
3. Jaire Alexander notches 2 interceptions
Alexander had an incredible 2020, capped off with a two-interception performance against the eventual Super Bowl-winning Buccaneers. Picking off Tom Brady is no easy task, and he might be capable of even more against Winston, who threw a league-leading 30 interceptions in his last full season as a starter. After falling down early, Winston will have to force some balls into tight windows with a depleted WR core. Jaire will feast.
2. Alvin Kamara runs wild against GB again
Kamara almost single-handedly carried the Saints to beat the Packers last season, with an incredible 6 carry, 58 rushing yard, 13 catch, 139 receiving yard, 2 touchdown game highlighted by one of the greatest runs after-the-catch we've seen in recent years. In shredding the Green Bay front 7 for almost 10 yards per carry and dicing through their defense at will, Kamara poked a hole in the Packers' tackling that would come back to haunt them down the stretch. The Packers haven't made a ton of personnel changes on defense, and will struggle once again.
1. Packers win comfortably in a shootout
Despite Alvin Kamara's explosiveness and Jameis Winston's gunslinging tendencies, the Packers simply have too much talent on both sides of the ball for New Orleans to handle. QB talent aside, the Packers' strong secondary will allow them to key in on the run in crucial moments, and run the ball with their thunder-and-lightning combo of Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon. Cap it off with a future Hall of Fame QB fresh off of an MVP campaign, and that's a recipe for success.
Prediction: Packers 41, Saints 30
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