Inbox: These dudes make life difficult

David from Goldsboro, NC

Webster defines patience as the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset. Just saying. Are we moving onto the Saints yet?

I sure hope so.

Craig from St. Petersburg, FL

Hi Mike, Wes seemed a little on edge in Tuesday's II. Give him a hug for me. This too shall pass!

Hey, it's what we signed up for so I'm not complaining, but it is remarkable how many people who said they would be focusing on watching a young team grow and not worry so much about wins and losses threw all that out in the window after one bad quarter of football.

Doug from Odell, IL

New Orleans is looking good this year. What do you think of the Packers' chances of winning this game?

The Saints have a better defense, by considerable measure in my opinion, than either of the Packers' first two opponents. They didn't allow a TD for their first 118 minutes of the season. This will be the biggest test for Jordan Love and the offense until probably the trip to Pittsburgh in mid-November. Facing this defense at home certainly helps.

Alex from Lake Forest, IL

While moral victories don't add a W to the win column, the way this team played in Qs 1-3 shows promise that this team is deep and can compete with anyone. Onto the Saints! It looks like Carr has been prone to picks but they have been able to battle out two close victories. What does the initial scouting report tell us to prepare for with this Saints team?

Monday night against the Panthers didn't feel particularly close, even though the final score made it appear so. Offensively, they're figuring it out with Carr, and Michael Thomas and Chris Olave are two pretty darn good receivers. The Saints appear shorthanded at running back without Alvin Kamara, and with Jamaal Williams now injured, but they won't be ignoring the run.

Lori from Broomfield, CO

Will there be special attention given to Taysom Hill?

I suspect the ball could be in his hands quite a bit Sunday.

Jim from Maple Grove, MN

A team losing, arguably, its best player for the season on MNF two weeks in a row is horrible! I know you cover the Packers, but what are your thoughts on two teams who had their high hopes devastated by injury so early in the season, and in the national spotlight no less? P.S. Let's hope the trend stops now, and let's certainly hope it doesn't carry into Week 5.

Seeing stars go down, on any team, is bad for the game of football and stinks for fans of the sport and league. I always feel awful for the individuals for what they've gone through, what they're losing, and what lies ahead for them. But team-wise injuries are part of the game. They just are. It's a brutal game and nobody's immune.

Shilo from Murietta, CA

Spoff, do you think the league is going to penalize high-low tackles after Nick Chubb's awful knee injury Monday night? Nick was clearly engaged with a defender high, so he had no way to protect himself. If those were two blockers on a defender, and the defender was cut, that would have easily been a chop-block penalty. I don't like adding even more rules to tackling, and that hit was legal, but it was begging for an injury.

It sounds good in theory, but I don't see how it could be policed with the action moving that fast. Yes, one Steelers defender went high and the other went low, but it was basically simultaneous with one having no knowledge of, or ability to react to, what the other was doing. It's different with linemen who are (relatively speaking) more stationary.

Matt from Allouez, WI

To say that Jordan Love only passed for 151 yards is inaccurate. The two long PI penalties totaled 90-ish yards so Love passed for more like 240.

I don't have a problem with how stats are recorded and have no interest in any debate, but that right there is why an individual player's stats don't tell the whole story. As for those who would rather see defensive pass interference be 15 yards rather than a spot foul, remember those two plays. A.J. Terrell purposely tackled Dontayvion Wicks on the opening flea-flicker to prevent the touchdown. Annoying that it worked in keeping points off the board entirely, but that's football.

George from Beaverton, OR

Who would have thought after the first two weeks Jordan Love would be leading the league in passer rating and passing touchdowns?

Without his biggest threat at wide receiver for both games, no less, and without 2-3 other elite-level offensive teammates in Week 2. The foundation is there. The Packers have to get healthy and learn from that rough fourth quarter.

Jim from Muskego, WI

You have got to be kidding me. Just over two weeks ago we are all worried if Love can even compete in the NFL and now we demand last-minute miracle finishes. The man is doing unbelievably great for only having three starts with a very young receiving corps and missing two huge weapons. He gets all my respect and will not condemn the man if he has a game that he actually slips under a 100 passer rating.

Much appreciated. So far this season against the Saints, Ryan Tannehill's passer rating was 28.8, and Bryce Young's was 87.1, though it was 69.5 through the first 57 minutes with the score 20-9. These dudes from the Bayou make life difficult.

Rod from Ephrata, PA

Try a 56-yard field goal or not? I don't have a problem with whatever was decided but it should never have been a decision because there, at least in my opinion, is no excuse for a delay of game penalty in that situation. Maybe I missed it, but why did it happen?

LaFleur explained it in detail in his Monday press conference, which I summarized in a story. For those comparing the decision to Anders Carlson nailing a 52-yarder with plenty to spare in Chicago the previous week, that was on the final play of the first half with no field-position risk on a miss.

Nick from Janesville, WI

Apologies if I have missed this before. I noticed Walker with the defensive headset at Atlanta. I guess I didn't pay as much attention in Week 1. Is the plan for him to keep it all year? Week to week based on opponent? Campbell seems to have done a great job in the past so curious as to the decision process, especially with Walker coming back from his concussion this week.

I missed it too from lofty press boxes, but apparently Walker has been wearing the green dot in the first two games. I don't know the decision-making process, but it appeared he stayed on the field and Campbell came off when a third D-lineman entered for the "big nickel," which has five up front and five DBs.

Alan from Mount Auburn, IL

Hi Spof, on Monday you correctly said the defensive line was really gassed. Do you have the stats on the number of snaps each lineman had? I'm curious how much the Packers used their entire roster of defensive linemen.

These were the snap counts for the linemen and linebackers in Atlanta: Walker 82 (100%), Campbell 68, Clark 61, Smith 58, Slaton 50, Wyatt 48, Enagbare 40, Wooden 36, Hollins 26, Brooks 23, Gary 22, Van Ness 18, McDuffie 2.

Rick from Caledonia, WI

Good afternoon! Which of the Packers nominated for the Pro Football Hall of Fame do you believe has the best chance of becoming the next inductee to the Hall from the Packers?

I believe Julius Peppers and Jahri Evans will both eventually get in, but I don't expect the Packers to "claim" either one on their primary list of HOFers. I didn't see anyone else on the initial list that I would anticipate being enshrined in Canton.

Brayden from Nashville, TN

With the loss of Elgton Jenkins for however long, and David Bakhtiari battling to be available each week, are there any guys you think the Packers might look to add to fill in for that loss and uncertainty on the week-to-week O-line depth? Bakhtiari was known coming in, but now that left side seems infinitely more depleted after losing another All-Pro.

It's certainly not ideal, but the Packers kept all that depth up front for a reason, and I think they'll roll with what they've got. They also expect to get Luke Tenuta back from IR at some point, and there are two O-linemen on the practice squad. An experienced, capable and affordable (cap-wise) big guy will be hard to come by at this stage, but if he's out there, Gutey will explore it for sure.

Jason from Austin, TX

This question is less about what happened on the play and more about the rules after the third-and-1 run that was short in the fourth quarter. After the botched QB sneak/false start on fourth down, would LaFleur still have been able to challenge the third-down ruling saying Dillon was short? Technically a play hadn't been run yet since it was blown dead on the false start. I didn't get a good enough replay of that third down run but I'm assuming it wasn't worth challenging (if even possible).

Once the false start occurred, a challenge was no longer an option. The all-22 isn't a great look at any short-yardage spot, but from what I saw I don't think he had it. I did notice on first down on that series, Dillon got every bit of 6 yards to the 31, and they somehow spotted it at the 30 for second-and-5. Spots that don't relate to a first down aren't reviewable, but that was an absolutely botched one.

Dave from Lake Zurich, IL

The Lions passed on Bijan Robinson? They picked 12th and Atlanta picked eighth.

The Lions had the No. 6 pick from the Stafford-Goff trade with the Rams, but traded back to No. 12 and took Jahmyr Gibbs at running back instead.

Scott from Palos Park, IL

The WYMM segment highlighted the impact of effective blocking by the TEs in the run game. (Marcedes Lewis has left but he has left his mark.) We also used some six-lineman sets in the second half. Is this an indication that the TE work was not as consistent as preferred or were we just showing another look?

The latter. Lewis was a classic, in-line, point-of-attack blocker in this offense, not an off-set or move TE sliding across the formation to cut-down backside pursuit, which many of the WYMM clips showed. With the injuries now up front, it'll be interesting to see how often the Packers deploy the sixth O-lineman going forward. Doing so in Atlanta involved multiple moving parts.

As an aside, I'm seeing a lot of notes in the Inbox from folks not able to get the video clips to load in WYMM. I wish I could help, but we aren't able to pinpoint any issues because we're getting no failures on all our platform tests here. I can appreciate the frustration. My only advice is to keep experimenting with updates and different devices/browsers, and check for anything related to YouTube settings, because those video clips are embedded from YouTube. If we learn anything, we'll pass it along. Please do so vice-versa as well. Thanks and apologies.

Rich from De Pere, WI

It seems like Luke Musgrave can be a real difference-maker for us this year. We went to him a couple of times early in the game and then it seems like we forgot him? Especially in the fourth quarter, as Love said, three straight series and trying to get that first completion and a first down. He needs more than three targets. Did you feel the same?

Sure, but Romeo Doubs needs more than three targets, too, and I'd think Dillon would get more than one target out of the backfield. The Packers ran only 47 plays. That was the problem.

Richard from Madison, WI

Gotta win your own division first, right? The Packers have half of the total wins in the entire NFC North.

As I said on "Unscripted," it already looks like one of those years where nobody will take control of the division for quite some time, if ever.

Dale from Holopaw, FL

Hi guys, next up the Saints. My personal opinion is the game-changer is playing at home this week. GPG

Two home games in five days. I, of all people, know it's one at a time, but a really good five days will make Atlanta completely vanish from the rear-view mirror.

Dennis from Parrish, FL

Now that we have survived "Overhyped" Sunday. Somehow made it through "Overreaction" Monday. Had several discussions on "Contemplation" Tuesday. I will say it. Just beat the Saints!

Happy Wednesday.