Etling’s Dash Makes Splash as Packers Beat Saints
GREEN BAY, Wis. – It was another sluggish day at the office for the Green Bay Packers’ offense.
Quarterback Jordan Love was OK. The rookie receivers were OK. What is considered the No. 1 offensive line was OK. It all added up to a 20-10 victory over the New Orleans Saints in a preseason game at Lambeau Field on Friday night.
Rookie fourth-round pick Romeo Doubs scored the opening touchdown, a leaping 4-yard grab on a pass from Love, but dropped a deep ball on the opening drive and a crossing route a bit later.
Rookie seventh-round pick Samori Toure also dropped a deep pass, a real gem up the left sideline by Love.
Love finished 12-of-24 passing for 113 yards and one touchdown, good for a passer rating of 77.3. Love, just 3-of-8 for 20 yards in the second half, wasn’t helped by five drops (others by Amari Rodgers and Dexter Williams).
Danny Etling replaced Love with 9:39 remaining. On third-and-1, he put the ball in the belly of Williams and then pulled it out. It was read-option perfection. Nobody on the Saints realized he had the ball until he was well down the sideline. Etling, who had an 86-yard touchdown run while with New England, beat linebacker Nephi Sewell to the goal line for a 51-yard score to make it 20-10.
As the No. 3 quarterback all summer, the play might help his cause for making the practice squad.
“I’m just always thankful,” Etling said when asked about his opportunity. “I’m going into Year 5 and I’m still playing the game I love. You just focus on your own self and your own work. With how much you move around in this league, you focus on being thankful for the opportunities you have and being thankful for getting to play a game you love. You don’t really worry so much about the end product of making a roster. It’s all just about the journey leading up to it. What I’ve learned is the fun part is the journey of each new place and each new thing.”
Green Bay kept most of its top defensive players in bubble wrap on the sideline, with only rookie linebacker Quay Walker getting playing time among the starters. It suffered a key loss, anyway.
With starter Darnell Savage (hamstring) one of four safeties out due to injuries, his replacement, Vernon Scott, suffered a shoulder injury late in the first half. That left the team with only three healthy safeties – two of them relatively new to the roster. One of those newcomers, Micah Abernathy, made a superb interception on his fourth play to give the Packers to build upon their 13-3 lead just before halftime.
The Packers did more than waste Abernathy’s big play. One week after his drop turned into an interception, tight end Tyler Davis fumbled at the start of the two-minute drill. The Saints recovered and scored a touchdown on Ian Book’s 20-yard pass to Chris Olave, who somehow got matched against outside linebacker Tipa Galeai.
After an exchange of field goals to start the game, Love threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Doubs midway through the second quarter to give Green Bay a 10-3 lead. Rookie running back Tyler Goodson, getting some key blocks by Royce Newman, had back-to-back runs of 9, a catch for 10 and a run for 15 to the 4. That set up the touchdown to Doubs.
Bored and wet, the fans started a robust “Go Pack Go” chant with Love and the offense backed up at its 2-yard line midway through the third quarter.
Preseason football’s fan-tastic.
The Packers, mercifully, will end the preseason on Thursday night at the Kansas City Chiefs. Then, full attention can turn to Aaron Rodgers, Rashan Gary, Jaire Alexander and the rest of the starters for the Week 1 game at the Vikings on Sept. 11.
