Kickoff: 6:30 p.m. today
The skinny: It doesn’t get much better than this for an NFL season opener — the past two Super Bowl champions, two franchise quarterbacks in Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers and two teams expected to be in the title hunt once again. The Saints have won three of the past four meetings with the Packers, including in 2008 when New Orleans scored 51 points (21 in the third quarter). Brees has five consecutive 4,000-yard passing seasons. Brees threw for 4,620 yards last year, his second-highest season total.
The difference will be: Big-name quarterbacks are set to battle in prime time, but the key player might be one of the youngest on the field. If rookie tailback Mark Ingram, a former Alabama star, is ready for the NFL’s big stage and shows the power, speed and agility he displayed in the preseason, he can lift the Saints’ offense to the next level. Green Bay’s Dom Capers is one of the best defensive coordinators in the league. His scheme features speed and unpredictability. Capers likely will blitz Brees from all angles, but Ingram could be the wild card against the Packers’ 3-4 defense. In the 37 games Capers has been Green Bay’s defensive coordinator, opponents have topped 300 yards passing only five times.
The call: Packers, 30-24.
Jeff Legwold, The Denver Post
