Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers share a smile after an offensive explosion in Green Bay the NFL season opener.
GREEN BAY, WI - If you're a fan of old fashioned, smash-mouth, defensive clashes, Thursday night's N.F.L. season opener between the Packers and Saints probably wasn't for you.
However, people who love fast-pace, gunslinging shootouts were treated to a real-life fantasy football game as Green Bay outlasted New Orleans on the very last play of the game, winning 42-34.
Rodgers, in the victory, posted a handsome 312 yards passing and three touchdowns. In defeat, Brees actually outperformed Rodgers statistically chucking the ball all over Lambeau Field for 419 yards and 3 scores of his own.
Not to be completely overshadowed by the quarterbacks, several offensive players on both sides of the ball had memorable nights.
Newly acquired Saint, Darren Sproles, returned a punt for a touchdown and caught seven passes for 75 yards. But on a night where Green Bay had just that much more than their opponents, even Sproles' impressive outing was surpassed by a Packer.
Rookie Randall Cobb returned a kickoff for a record-tying 108 yards and caught two passes for 35 yards and a touchdown on his pro debut.
Devery Henderson, Robert Meachem and Jimmy Graham all caught touchdowns from Brees, while Jordy Nelson and Greg Jennings were on the end of touchdown passes from Rodgers. Running backs, John Kuhn and James Starks scored rushing touchdowns ground for Green Bay.
If the opener is a sign of things to come this season, N.F.L. purists face the prospect of changing their ways or enduring a long five months, while fantasy football fanatics salivate over the idea of feasting on overflowing platters of points on a weekly basis.
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