GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) - Football is back, and the Green Bay Packers and New Orleans Saints provided quite the theater for the sport during "Kickoff 2011".
The Packers defeated the Saints 42-34, after a fast and furious scoring display by both teams came down to one final, un-timed down.
With no timeouts, the Saints down by 8, quarterback Drew Brees drove his offense down to the Packers 9 yard line with three seconds left in the game. Brees' pass intended for running back Darren Sproles was knocked away by linebacker A.J. Hawk. Hawk, however, was flagged for pass interference.
That put the ball on the Packers one-yard line for the final play of the game. Saints rookie running back Mark Ingram was stuffed by the green and gold defense to officially end the game.
It was the final act of a back-and-forth effort, with plenty of fireworks.
Quarterback Aaron Rodgers was sharp early, finishing the night 27-of-35 for 312 yards and 3 TD's.
Packers rookie wide receiver Randall Cobb had a memorable debut by not only catching 2 passes for 35 yards and a touchdown, but by tying an NFL record with a 108 yard kickoff return for a TD.
The NFL record was previously set in 2007 by Ellis Hobbs. Cobb's return for TD also broke the Packers team record set in 1956 by Al Carmichael, who had a 106 yard kickoff return for a TD.
The game came down to defensive performance in the red zone. The Packers went 4-for-4 in the red zone, while the Saints went 0-for-4.
Catch a full recap of the Packers win Friday at 5 p.m. with Mark Daniels and Nick Vitrano and the 5th Quarter, exclusively on 97.5/1360 News Talk WTAQ.
