Jordan Love ran for a touchdown and threw for another during an 18-point fourth-quarter blitz that gave the host Green Bay Packers an 18-17 victory against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday.
The Saints (2-1) rolled to a 17-0 halftime lead, but went scoreless in the second half as quarterback Derek Carr was lost to a shoulder injury in the third quarter and taken to a Green Bay hospital for tests.
Love made his first start at Lambeau Field and completed 22 of 44 for 259 yards with one touchdown and his first interception of the season for the Packers (2-1).
Carr completed 13 of 18 passes for 103 yards and a first-quarter touchdown to Jimmy Graham before injuring his right shoulder when it hit the ground hard as he was sacked by linebacker Rashan Gary, who finished with three sacks.
Jameis Winston replaced Carr and completed 10 of 16 for 101 yards, and Chris Olave finished with eight catches for 104 yards.
Neither team scored in the third quarter, but Green Bay finally scored when Anders Carlson kicked a 38-yard field goal to trim the lead to 17-3 with 11 minutes remaining.
Saints defensive pass interference penalties covering 45 and 22 yards ignited an 80-yard drive that ended with Love running 1 yard for a touchdown on fourth-and-goal. Love’s two-point conversion pass to Samori Toure pulled the Packers within 17-11 with 6:58 left.
After a New Orleans punt, Love engineered another 80-yard drive and threw an 8-yard touchdown to Romeo Doubs to put Green Bay ahead with 2:56 left.
Winston drove the Saints into field-goal range, but rookie free agent Blake Grupe, who had made all six of his NFL field-goal attempts, was wide right from 46 yards with 1:05 left.
The Saints scored their first first-half touchdown of the season when Carr threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to Graham that gave them a 7-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
New Orleans increased the lead to 14-0 on Rashid Shaheed’s 76-yard punt return in the second quarter.
Grupe kicked a 25-yard field goal with six seconds remaining to increase the lead to 17-0 at halftime.
–Field Level Media
