Good afternoon, everyone. On Sunday afternoon, the Green Bay Packers took on the Atlanta Falcons at Mercedes Benz Stadium. They were looking to get to 2-0 on the season and win their first game at Atlanta since 2011. After a tough battle, the Packers came up short by one point while giving up a 12-point lead in the process. Let’s get into detail on what happened in this game.
The Packers were on offense to start the game. They went into the game without Aaron Jones, Christian Watson, and David Bakhtiari. Jones and Watson had hamstring issues, while Bakhtiari was kept out of the game due to Atlanta having a turf field. The first play from scrimmage was a flea flicker pass to Dontayvian Wicks that was incomplete. However, a pass interference penalty was called against AJ Terrell, giving the Packers a free first down at the Falcons’ 31 yard line. Green Bay’s offense did nothing after that as they were stopped from scoring both by the Falcons defense and a delay of game penalty forcing them to punt the ball away (a 56-yard field goal should have been good enough indoors). The Packers got the ball back quickly thanks to a Rasul Douglas interception of Falcons QB Desmond Ridder. The interception was wasted thanks to the Packers going three and out on offense. On third and 11, Jordan Love was sacked for a loss of 11 yards. After the punt, the Falcons took over at their own 27 yard line. From there, they went on a scoring drive that lasted nearly 7 minutes. A mix of run and pass plays was executed well by Atlanta’s offense as they almost got to the goal line. They had a fourth and goal at the one yard line, but that was ruined thanks to a false start penalty. The field goal was good from 24 yards out by Younghoe Koo, giving the Falcons a 3-0 lead with 3:50 left in the first quarter. Instead of kneeling for a touchback, Keisean Nixon took the ball from 9 yards deep in the end zone and only got to the 16 yard line. Despite this iffy start, the Packers went all the way down the field on an 11 play drive that lasted a little over 5 minutes. Romeo Doubs caught the first pass for 15 yards, followed by two AJ Dillon runs that totaled 9 yards. On third and one from the Green Bay 40, Love connected with Luke Musgrave on a short pass that Musgrave took for a 17 yard gain. Two incomplete passes later, the Packers faced a 3rd and 10 at the Atlanta 43 yard line. That third down was converted thanks to Jordan Love scrambling for 19 yards to the 24 yard line. Another third down was converted thanks to an AJ Dillon run that was originally ruled short but was challenged by Matt LaFleur. After the successful challenge, the Packers had a first and goal from the 9 yard line. Love made a shovel pass that Jayden Reed took to the end zone for the Packers’ first touchdown of the game. The extra point was good by Anders Carlson, giving Green Bay a 7-3 lead with 13:33 left in the first half. The Falcons tried to come back with some points of their own, but they failed to convert a fourth and 4 from Green Bay’s 41 yard line. Jaire Alexander had a pick six right in his grasp, but the ball bounced off his chest incomplete. From the 41 yard line, the Packers offense went down the field to get another score. A mix of run and pass plays helped get the Packers into scoring range, but they had to settle for a field goal after Love threw a pass that almost got into the hands of Wicks (great placement of the throw, but Wicks couldn’t get the catch). The field goal was good, increasing the lead to 10-3 with 3:06 left in the half. Rather than keeping the Falcons from scoring, the defense allowed them to do just that right before halftime. Desmond Ridder connected with Drake London for a three yard touchdown pass that would’ve tied the game at 10-10 had the extra point been made. The kick was wide left, keeping the Packers in the lead by one point. The Packers did nothing after that thanks to the Falcons running most of the rest of the clock out. A kneel down ended the half with the Packers leading 10-9 over the Falcons.
Things started great for the Packers as they forced the Falcons to go three and out on their first possession of the second half. After the punt, the Packers started their first second half drive at their own 35 yard line. They only needed six plays, concluding with a 32-yard touchdown pass from Jordan Love to Dontayvion Wicks. The extra point was good, increasing the lead to 17-9 with 10:31 left in the third quarter. After the kickoff resulted in a touchback, the Falcons went down the field on a drive that lasted nearly 7 and a half minutes. Consistent gains of yards through run and pass plays were of no issue to Atlanta on this drive. The Falcons almost scored a touchdown, but the receiver’s heel was out of bounds after further review, resulting in an incomplete pass. After that, plus a sack of Desmond Ridder, the Falcons had to settle for a 33 yard field goal, which was made. That field goal cut the lead to 17-12 with 3:07 left in the third quarter. Keisean Nixon once again took the kickoff from very deep in the end zone and ran it. He got to the 22 yard line, where the Packers offense started their next possession. They quickly got to scoring range thanks to a defensive pass interference penalty that covered 43 yards. 4 plays later, Jordan Love connected with Jayden Reed for a 10 yard touchdown pass that gave the Packers a double digit lead. The extra point was good, increasing the lead to 24-12 specifically with 56 seconds left in the third quarter. The defense could not stop the Falcons from scoring on their next drive. The 6-yard TD run by Desmond Ridder was set up by a deep pass completion to WR Mack Hollins, who won his one on one with Darnell Savage for the catch. The touchdown was followed by an extra point from Younghoe Koo, cutting the lead to 5 points with 11:48 left in the game. The Packers didn’t do anything after the first deep pass to Wicks went incomplete. After a two yard run by AJ Dillon and another incompletion, the Packers punted back to Atlanta less than a minute after they got the ball (yikes). The Falcons got to scoring range quickly thanks to a 29-yard catch and run by Bijan Robinson that went all the way to the Green Bay 24. At least the Packers defense held them to a field goal. However, that field goal cut the Packers’ lead to just 2 points with about 8 minutes left in the game. Once again, Green Bay did nothing on offense. AJ Dillon tripped and fell on third down run and Jordan Love messed up the call on the potential QB sneak on fourth down, causing a false start penalty on Love. After another punt, the Falcons proceeded to nearly run down the rest of the clock. The most maddening defensive moment during this drive was on a third and 3 at the Green Bay 42. With the win on the line, they allowed Bijan Robinson to catch a short pass for a 10 yard gain. De’Vondre Campbell should have been near the line of scrimmage to help mess with Robinson’s route. A few plays after that, Younghoe Koo made the field goal from 25 yards out that gave the Falcons the lead with 57 seconds left. So now, the situation is this: the Packers are down by one with less than a minute left and no timeouts. After the kickoff resulted in a touchback, the Packers started their potential comeback drive at their own 25 yard line. The drive went absolutely nowhere as all of Jordan Love’s pass attempts went incomplete. The fourth one was ruled a catch by Samori Toure at first, but it was then ruled incomplete by the officials after further review. There was an illegal shift penalty called against Toure, which would’ve nullified the catch had that call stood. With that failed drive, the Packers suffered their first loss of the season by a score of 25-24.
Offensively, the Packers did not play as good as they did in Week One against the Bears. Part of the reason was because of them being without Aaron Jones, Christian Watson, and David Bakhtiari. Even without Jones, the Packers should have been able to run the ball well with AJ Dillon, Emanuel Wilson, and Patrick Taylor. That unfortunately wasn’t the case as Dillon ran for only 55 yards while tripping on himself when it mattered. Wilson and Taylor didn’t run for anything good while Jordan Love scrambled for 23 yards. What didn’t help the offensive line was when Elgton Jenkins got his knee hurt during the game. It wasn’t due to the turf. The reason why he got his knee hurt was because he got rolled on by Dillon. At least it’s an MCL sprain, which hopefully is not that long of a recovery from. One play in particular was awful for the O-Line. It was the third and 11 on Green Bay’s second drive where a Falcons defender got to Jordan Love without any blockers stopping him from getting a sack. Love played well in terms of not turning the ball over and throwing three more touchdowns. He did miss a few deep passes, but I’m sure that he will get better at that once Christian Watson gets back. The worst moment for him, which he took blame for, was when he didn’t get the right code word in for a QB sneak. That mess up caused Love to be called for a false start. No receiver for Green Bay got over 50 yards, but Jayden Reed scored two of Green Bay’s three touchdowns, with Dontayvion Wicks scoring one himself. Green Bay’s offense didn’t do anything of note after the lead increased to 24-12 at the start of the fourth quarter. Even after the Falcons decreased that lead to single digits, the Packers did not get a single first down in the final quarter. 7 total yards in the fourth quarter is inexcusable even for an offense that is missing a few key players. Matt LaFleur should have gone “All Gas, No Brakes” in the fourth quarter to put this game away.
Defensively, the Packers did not play as well as they did against the Bears in Week One. Specifically, their run defense was awful on Sunday against the Falcons, giving up over 200 yards on the ground to the likes of Bijan Robinson (124 yards on 19 carries), Tyler Allgeier (48 yards on 16 carries), and Desmond Ridder (39 yards and a touchdown on 10 scrambles). Robinson was also second in receiving yards with 48, trailing Drake London’s 67 yards. The Falcons won the time of possession battle, holding the ball for over 13 minutes more than Green Bay (78 plays for Atlanta, 47 for Green Bay). Because of this, the Packers were not able to get a lot of sacks of Desmond Ridder. The only sack was shared by Kenny Clark and Rashan Gary. The defense got an interception thanks to Rasul Douglas, but they also had some missed opportunities. Jaire Alexander and Quay Walker each dropped a pick, with Jaire dropping a pick six that would have helped the Packers win the game. Had the Packers stopped the Falcons at all in the fourth quarter, they would have held on to the win and not force Love to come back with less than a minute left. Like on offense, the fourth quarter was awful on defense. Joe Barry and his unit should have kept the Falcons in check when it mattered, but they were not able to. As a result, the Packers gave up the lead.
At least the Packers didn’t do anything awful on Special Teams on Sunday. There were no turnovers or penalties that nullified a huge return. Keisean Nixon tried his best to get a huge return, but he got tackled before getting to the 25 yard line on two kickoffs in which he received the ball very deep in the end zone. There were no punt returns for Green Bay. The only punt by Atlanta resulted in a fair catch by Jayden Reed. Anders Carlson made each of his field goal and extra point kicks, although he should have been given the chance to kick it from 56 yards out in the first quarter. He made a 57 yard field goal in the preseason, which made it baffling that the Packers punted it away after the delay of game on the first drive. Speaking of punting, Daniel Whelon punted a couple of balls deep in Atlanta territory, but both of those punts resulted in the Falcons getting past the 20 either due a return or a penalty on Green Bay (a facemask penalty, to be exact). At least no touchdowns were allowed by the Packers on Special Teams, which is always a good thing.
Overall, the Packers had the game won in the fourth quarter. To put it bluntly, they blew it to Atlanta, who I will give credit for coming back. This loss should not be a bad thing. This is a long season, and it’s on to the next game. That next game is the home opener at Lambeau Field against the New Orleans Saints. I’ll talk about that game later. In the meantime, I hope you all have a great week ahead. Win, lose, or tie, it’s always Go Pack Go.
(Here are the highlights of the game, provided by NFL's YouTube page. Click on "Watch on YouTube", if you're curious.)
Comments