Ty Detmer atoned for a pair of fumbles with two touchdown passes and Charles Jordan returned a kickoff 96 yards for a score as the Green Bay Packers defeated New Orleans 27-17 in an exhibition game Saturday.
Detmer, who tied the game at 17 with a 7-yard pass to rookie Antonio Freeman in the third quarter, hooked up with Mike Bartrum on a 17-yard scoring pass four seconds into the fourth quarter.Detmer, who became Brett Favre's backup when Mark Brunell was traded to Jacksonville, completed 7 of 9 passes for 82 yards with no interceptions. His first TD pass followed a 31-yard field goal by Cary Blanchard that extended New Orleans' 14-10 halftime lead.
Favre was ineffective in one quarter of work. He completed just 2 of 8 passes for 16 yards, and didn't hook up with Robert Brooks, who took over at flanker when Sterling Sharpe was released following neck surgery.
Favre, the second-rated passer in the NFL last year behind Steve Young, missed Brooks four times.
Chris Jacke's 37-yard field goal with six minutes left made it 27-17 and followed Charles Swann's interception of a Tom Hodson pass, which he returned 30 yards to the Saints' 19.
Rickey Dixon intercepted Hodson at the Packers 16 with 2:03 left to seal the victory.
Jordan's 96-yard return with 4:20 left in the first half cut Green Bay's deficit to 14-10. It came after Derek Brown's 2-yard TD run gave New Orleans an 11-point lead.
The Packers took a 3-0 lead after one quarter on Jacke's 35-yard field goal, but the Saints went ahead 7-3 on Jim Everett's 11-yard TD pass to tight end Irv Smith with 11:48 left in the first half.
Everett completed 9 of 11 passes for 79 yards. Eight of his completions were to Smith or fellow tight end Wesley Walls.
Brown's 2-yard score followed the first of two fumbles by Detmer.
Saints linebacker Mark Fields caused the first fumble and recovered the second, both in Packers' territory.