Sunday's NFL matchup featuring the new orleans Saints taking on the Green Bay Packers would normally be a back-and-forth shootout between two of the NFL's top quarterbacks. Today, only one of those two quarterbacks was on the field with Drew Brees leading his team to a 26-17 victory. With no Aaron Rodgers, the Green Bay Packers suddenly look like less of a playoff team and more of a very hopeful NFC Wild Card contender. Here's the latest Saints vs. Packers recap with top performers, game stats, a standings update, and what's next for these two teams.

NFL game recap

In today's game, Green Bay took the early lead by a touchdown in the first quarter. While New Orleans answered in the second, Green Bay picked up another rushing touchdown to take a 14-7 lead into halftime. The second half was all New Orleans, though. The Saints had a 9-0 third quarter and followed by outscoring the home team 10-3 in the fourth. That gave the Saints the 26-17 win when the game was completed.

Drew Brees racked up 331 yards and a touchdown on 27-for-38 passing in today's game. The New Orleans Saint quarterback was sacked just once for a loss of seven yards and picked off twice. Mark Ingram ran for 105 yards and a touchdown, while Brees ran another in himself. There was also a touchdown pass caught by Brandon Coleman.

Ted Ginn Jr. picked up most of the receiving yards and finished with 141 of them on seven receptions.

On the losing side, backup quarterback Brett Hundley was 12-for-25 with 87 yards and an interception. He managed to get 44 yards on the ground and a touchdown. Aaron Jones did the bulk of the rushing with 17 carries for 131 yards and the only other Green Bay Packers' touchdown in the game.

The receivers picked up just 87 yards total with Martellus Bennett's 17 leading the way on two catches.

New Orleans had possession of the ball for about 37 minutes of today's game and finished with a whopping 485 yards of total offense. Green Bay had 260 yards of offense and held the ball for only 23 minutes. The Saints had 25 more plays in the game than the home team and their 324 passing yards nearly quadrupled the output by the backup QB or the Packers.

Standings & what's next

The New Orleans Saints are now 4-2 overall and 3-1 on the road after today's victory. New Orleans hosts the Chicago Bears next weekend. Game time is set for Sunday at 1 p.m. Eastern Time at Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

Meanwhile, the Green Bay Packers are 4-3 overall and 3-1 at home after today's loss. The loss of Aaron Rodgers may have already shown how much of an impact it will have, although backup quarterback Brett Hundley may start to improve as he gets more reps in. Next up, Green Bay catches a break as they'll have a bye week in Week 8.
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