Packers clinch playoff spot with win over Saints

GREEN BAY – One of the few questions remaining for the Green Bay Packers this season is who they will play in the first round of the postseason.

With a dominating 34-0 win over the New Orleans Saints at Lambeau Field on Dec. 23, the Packers clinched a spot in the 2024 playoffs, answering that question and many others.

“I think we started off better,” Romeo Doubs said after the game, when asked about the difference between last season and this year. “We all know what we can do. Last year we were just going with the flow, but now I feel like everybody knows their role and that’s going to help the team.” 

The Packers clinched a playoff berth and improved to 11-4 with the nationally-televised win over the Saints on Monday Night Football. This year will mark Green Bay’s fifth playoff appearance in six seasons under Head Coach Matt LaFleur. It marks the Packers’ 37th postseason appearance, the most by any team in NFL history (Dallas, 36).

“We’re definitely celebrating this one,” Christian Watson said. “Winning football games is tough in this league, going to the playoffs is definitely tough in this league, so definitely celebrating this one. I think any experience carries over, especially with a young team. Obviously just the feeling of it not going the way we wanted it to last year I feel will motivate us when we get deeper in the playoffs.”

“We’re playing for something,” said Josh Jacobs, who was all smiles when he met with reporters in the locker room after the win. “You know you’ve got games in front of you and we’re still fighting trying to be the best team that we can be. We finally put a complete game together. That’s something that we’ve been hunting since the beginning of the season and it just feels like our ceiling keeps going up. For me, I’m just happy to be a part of it,” added Jacobs, who last year at this time was part of a 7-8 Las Vegas Raiders team which would eventually miss the playoffs. “It’s a new feeling,” Jacobs continued, about clinching a playoff berth before Christmas. “I just screamed after the game because it feels good to know that your destiny is in your hands. Everything is in front of us.”

Jacobs added his name to the Packers’ record book as he continued to pile up yards and touchdowns in the win over New Orleans.

Jacobs led the team with 69 rushing yards to bring his season total to 1,216, the most in franchise history by a player in his first season with the team (Eddie Lacy, 1,178 in 2013). Jacobs became just the fifth player in team history to clear the 1,200-yard rushing mark (Ahman Green, 2001-03; Ryan Grant, 2008-09; Jim Taylor, 1961-62; Dorsey Levens, 1997). Jacobs also posted a rushing touchdown in his sixth straight game, tied for the second-longest streak in team history behind only Paul Hornung’s streak of seven straight games in 1960. Jacobs’ 14th touchdown of the season gave him the most by a Packer in his first season with the team (Green, 13 in 2000; WR Billy Howton, 13 in 1952).

The TD by Jacobs also came at the end of the team’s longest drive of the season.

Already leading 7-0 following a 10-play, 63-yard first quarter drive that ended with a 2-yard touchdown pass from Jordan Love to Dontayvion Wicks, Green Bay’s defense stopped the Saints on their first offensive possession, forcing a New Orleans punt that put the Packers at their own 4-yard line after a holding penalty on the play moved them back four yards.

After Love’s pass intended for Jacobs on first down was incomplete, Jacobs gained four yards on second down.

The Saints were then flagged for a neutral zone infraction, making it 3rd-and-1. A Tucker Kraft sneak play from under center gave the Packers a first down.

Love then connected with Jacobs on a 13-yard pass play before Jacobs ran for 3 more.

Following an incomplete pass intended for Wicks, Love found Doubs on 3rd-and-7 for 15 yards. The completion put Love over 3,000 yards passing for the season.

After another incomplete pass, Love – under heavy pressure – again found Jacobs, who broke several tackles for an 8-yard gain.

Emanual Wilson gained a yard, setting up 4th-and-1, which Love converted with a 2-yard sneak.

Three plays later, the Packers were facing another fourth-down situation. On 4th-and-2, Love found Kraft for 21 yards.

Jacobs then slipped a tackle for a 12-yard gain, setting up 1st-and-goal.

Jacobs slammed the ball across the goal line on the next play, ending a 17-play, 96-yard drive that took 8:59 off the clock, the longest Packers drive of the season – both in terms of plays and time. The 96 yards also equaled two previous drives of the same distance.

The next Green Bay scoring drive was much quicker and shorter.

After a quick 3-and-out by the Saints, the Packers covered 67 yards in six plays and just under three minutes.

The drive ended on a 1-yard touchdown run by Chris Brooks, the first of his NFL career.

“It felt great,” Brooks told us after the game. “All the work that’s been put in, I’m happy. I think the process leading up to it, I think, is the more important thing, the work that we put in on those work days of Wednesday, Thursday, Friday leading up to it, so just looking to go back to work.” 

That Green Bay offense went back to work in the second half, after the defense once again stopped a New Orleans drive to open the third quarter.

Brandon McManus connected on a season-long 55-yard field goal at the end of Green Bay’s opening possession of the second half. The field goal was the longest by a Packer since Mason Crosby’s 56-yarder versus Minnesota on Jan. 1, 2023. McManus and Matt Prater are the only kickers in the league to make a field goal of 53-plus yards in each of the last 10 seasons (2015-24).

The Saints went back to work on offense, and looked as though they were finally going to score near the end of the third quarter. But a pass by quarterback Spencer Rattler was intercepted at the Green Bay 2-yard line by Zayne Anderson, who was making his first career start and who posted his first career interception.

“They ran a Y leak, is what we call it, and they sell it with a backside screen,” Anderson told us in the locker room afterwards. “I saw the screen. We practice this a lot. Our offense does it against us and as soon as I saw the screen, I bailed out, saw it, football was in the air and just made a play.”  

The Packers could not turn the turnover into points, however. They did get a 46-yard field goal from McManus with 7:13 left in the game, then capped off the scoring with a 1-yard plunge by Wilson with 2:41 remaining, at the end of a 7-play, 48-yard drive that took 3:03 off the clock.

The Packers recorded the first shutout in the NFL this season. The win was the team’s first shutout since blanking the Seattle Seahawks, 17-0, on Nov. 14, 2021 at Lambeau Field. Prior to that game, the Packers had not held an opponent scoreless since Sept. 30, 2018, when they blanked the Buffalo Bills, 22-0, also in Green Bay.

“I was really proud of our guys tonight,” LaFleur said after the win. “We talked about playing a complete game for four quarters, and I felt for the most part we did what we needed to do. Obviously, it’s hard to shut out an opponent in this league, and from what I was told that was the first one this season, so I was really proud of our defense.”

That defense has allowed 24 or fewer points in each of its last six games at home, the longest single-season home streak since 2015 (six). 

The Packers did not allow a sack for the sixth time this season, tied for No. 1 in the NFL this season and their most since 2004 (eight). Green Bay has allowed five sacks in its last eight games, the team’s fewest over an eight-game span in a single season since 2004.

“What’s really cool is you are getting contributions from a lot of different people,” LaFleur added. “I think that is usually the mark of a good team. You have to stay healthy and continue to build on what you’ve done. I love the energy of our group. Our guys show up ready to work, willing to work every day, and we have to continue to push one another to be at our best because this is the time when you need to be playing your best ball.”

The Packers have won six straight home games on MNF, extending the longest streak in team history (since 1970). Green Bay is now 5-0 at Lambeau Field on Monday Night Football under LaFleur.

Additionally, the Packers have scored 30-plus points in five straight games, the second-longest streak in team history (seven in 1963).

Green Bay had nine players register at least one rushing attempt against the Saints, its most in a game since Oct. 18, 1953, vs. the Baltimore Colts (nine players).

Quarterback Jordan Love went 16 of 28 for 182 yards and one touchdown. Love did not throw an interception for the fifth straight game, the longest streak of his career.

Jayden Reed posted 81 yards from scrimmage to bring his season total to 963 yards, becoming the first wide receiver in team history to register 900-plus yards from scrimmage in both of his first two seasons.