Thoughts on Week 3 (2026): Green Bay Packers vs. Atlanta Falcons
Here is one word to describe the Green Bay Packers’ loss on Thursday night to the Atlanta Falcons: “Yuck”. Coming into this home opener at Lambeau Field, the Packers were hoping to get another win and improve to 2-1 on the season. In addition to that, they were looking to continue their streak of consecutive home openers won, which dates back to 2013. Unfortunately, the streak ended on Thursday night as the Packers lost by a score of 35-14 to the Falcons. Let’s get this game over with.
The Packers won the coin toss and decided to defer to the second half. The Packers defense got a turnover on the first drive when Xavier McKinney intercepted a pass from Falcons QB Michael Penix Jr (who made his first start since tearing his ACL last year). That interception gave the Packers offense great field position near midfield. They did nothing with it as they went three and out after a 6 yard pass to Tucker Kraft was followed by 2 incompletions in a row. The offense was on the field for fourth and 4, but a false start penalty on Jager Burton (who made his first start at left guard) forced Green Bay to send the punting unit out. Atlanta was forced to punt on their next drive after only a few plays. The punt was fair caught at the 12 yard line. Three plays later, on third and 11, Jordan Love found Matthew Golden, who made a great adjustment and caught the pass for a 43 yard gain. Thanks to a holding penalty called against WR Christian Watson, the Packers faced a first and 20 from the Green Bay 47. On that first and 20, MarShawn Lloyd caught a pass and ran 10 yards to the Atlanta 43. After he went out of bounds, he was pushed down by Harold Perkins, who was called for unnecessary roughness. That penalty gave the Packers a first and 10 at the Atlanta 28. Lloyd then ran for 6 yards to set up a second and 4 at the 22. Jordan Love threw a pass to Tucker Kraft that went for 8 yards, setting up first and 10 at the 14. 3 plays later, Love found Christian Watson for a 4 yard touchdown, which Watson celebrated by doing his first Lambeau Leap of the season. The extra point kick by Trey Smack was good, giving Green Bay a 7-0 lead with a little over 5 minutes left in the first quarter. The Packers defense nearly got a stop on the Falcons’ next offensive drive, but Brenton Cox Jr was called for a questionable roughing the passer penalty, giving the Falcons a free first down. RB Bijan Robinson then ran 55 yards to the Green Bay 5. 2 plays later, Bijan ran it in for a 3 yard touchdown that, with the extra point kick by Nick Folk, tied the game at 7-7 with a minute and a half left in the quarter. After three straight drives that ended in a punt (2 by Green Bay, 1 by Atlanta), the Falcons took over at their own 36 with 9:35 remaining in the second quarter. They were able to get into scoring range rather easily, but the Packers defense was able to make them settle for a field goal. The kick was good from 44 yards out, giving Atlanta a 10-7 lead with less than 5 minutes left in the half. After the kick return by Skyy Moore, the Packers took over at their own 33 with 4:44 left. Jordan Love threw an incomplete deep pass intended for Matthew Golden, but Falcons CB Mike Hughes was called for defensive pass interference, giving Green Bay first and 10 at the Atlanta 33. Kaleb Johnson ran for 5 yards, setting up second and 5. After that, two straight incomplete passes followed, including a short pass dropped by Watson and a deep pass to Golden that went nowhere. The 47 yard field goal attempt was blocked due to Anthony Belton blowing his assignment, keeping the score at 10-7 in Atlanta’s favor. The Falcons then went down the field for their second touchdown of the night, which was a 5 yard pass to Austin Hooper. The extra point was good, giving the Falcons a 17-7 lead with less than a minute left in the half. The Packers dodged a bullet when a third down fumble was ruled an incomplete pass after further review by the officials. After the punt, the Falcons ran out the rest of the clock and went to the locker room with a 10 point lead.
The Packers were on offense to start the second half as they looked to get another score. They converted a third and 2 when Jordan Love connected with Matthew Golden for a 12 yard pass completion. On the next play, Love found Christian Watson for a 22 yard pass completion that got the Packers into Atlanta territory. 2 plays later, Love found Skyy Moore for a 12 yard pass that set up first and 10 at the 16 yard line. 2 runs by Lloyd that went for 2 yards each and a 5 yard pass that came up short of the sticks set up fourth and 1 from the 7. The Packers decided to go for it rather than settle for a field goal, which was a good choice considering what happened last time. The pass went incomplete, resulting in the Falcons taking over on downs. The Falcons offense then went all the way down the field for their first touchdown of the second half. The 12 play drive that lasted a little over 6 minutes of game time included a 31 yard run by Bijan Robinson on second and 4 from the Atlanta 14 and a 16 yard pass completion to Drake London on third and 7 from the Green Bay 32. The drive ended when Brian Robinson ran it in from 7 yards out. The extra point was good, increasing the lead to 24-7 with a little over 3 and a half minutes left in the third quarter. During the Packers’ next drive, Tucker Kraft saved a disastrous play when he took a fumble from Jordan Love at the 27 and ran to the 34 yard line. J. Michael Sturdivant then caught a 9 yard pass from Love to convert a third and 5. Kaleb Johnson then caught a pass that went 10 yards to the Atlanta 47. After that, the drive stalled and the Packers had to punt back to the Falcons. During Atlanta’s next drive, Drake London caught a pass that went 68 yards to the Green Bay 16. Thankfully, the defense (and a holding penalty) forced the Falcons to settle for a field goal. The kick was good from 31 yards out, increasing the lead to 27-7 with just under 11 minutes left in the fourth quarter. The Packers were able to get a touchdown in what was essentially garbage time. Matthew Golden was able to catch his first regular season touchdown pass, which was great to see. The defense then allowed Bijan Robinson to score his second TD of the night, which basically wrapped up the game. Jordan Love did his best on the following drive, but he threw a pick that sealed the 35-14 loss. With the loss, the Packers are now 1-2 on the season.
(Here are the lowlights of this game, provided by the NFL’s YouTube page. Click on “Watch on YouTube” if you’re curious.)
On offense, everything depends on how the offensive line plays, regardless of who a team has at quarterback, running back, and at the receiver and tight end positions. If the offensive line plays great and everyone knows their assignment, the QB and skill position players can play up to potential. If the line does not perform well, like on Thursday night, then those players would have a much more difficult time doing so. The Packers offensive line situation is currently a very bad one. Jordan Love has been allowed to get hit way too many times in just three games. The run game is nonexistent, with Green Bay only rushing for 17 yards all night on Thursday. Yes, the running backs need to be better at attacking the holes, but the linemen have to create those holes in order for that to happen. I think the blame for the putrid offensive line is on three guys: GM Brian Gutekunst, head coach Matt LaFleur, and OL coach Luke Butkus. Now I understand things aren’t entirely their fault. Zach Bako-Bewele, who is the best lineman that Gutekunst has drafted so far, will be out for the season due to a torn patellar tendon, which he suffered a partial tear of last season against Denver. Aaron Banks has mostly been unhealthy since he was signed to a big contract in March of 2025. Due to the injuries (also including Sean Rhyan’s thumb issue suffered Thursday night), reshuffling of the O-Line is expected. Even with that, the unit must do a better job at protecting Jordan Love, otherwise he won’t survive the season. Speaking of Love, he was inaccurate at times, but he was able to make some good throws to the likes of Christian Watson, Tucker Kraft, and Matthew Golden, among others (J Michael Sturdivant got 3 catches on Thursday night). Watson and Golden were the recipients of Love’s two TD passes, which were unfortunately the only points scored by Green Bay. Unfortunately, there were a lot of dropped passes, including back to back drops by Tucker Kraft. The receiving corps will miss the services of Jayden Reed, who hurt his neck last week and could be out for the whole season. So when you combine bad O-Line play, a nonexistent run game, 8 three and outs, dropped passes, Love getting hit a lot of times (and being forced to throw more than 50 times), a couple of avoidable penalties, and a failed fourth down conversion, you get that performance on offense in front of the home fans (who were right to boo the team for their poor play). The only silver lining here is that there is some extra time to prepare for the following week’s game. Hopefully they use that time to get things cleaned up.
On defense, the Packers played good for only the first couple of drives. Xavier McKinney got his first pick of the season and a punt was forced before Green Bay’s first TD of the night. Things changed in an instant after Brenton Cox Jr’s questionable roughing the passer penalty gave the Falcons a free first down. Bijan Robinson had that big run right after the penalty and it went downhill from there for the Packers defense. Other than one moment with Lukas Van Ness in the first half (which ended in an incomplete pass and an intentional grounding penalty), the pass rush couldn’t get to Michael Penix Jr once all night, which allowed him to pick the defense apart. The defense also allowed over 200 yards rushing, including 194 alone to Bijan Robinson, who is one of the best players in the NFL. Drake London had 9 catches for 194 yards, including a 68 yard catch that set up one of Nick Folk’s field goals. It was an overall awful performance by a unit that has a ton of talent, even with Edgerrin Cooper leaving for the medical tent at some point to check for a concussion. As the game went on, the defense got too tired due to the offense not playing complimentary football on their part. There’s no doubt that Micah Parsons’ return will help things, but I’m not sure how much considering all of the problems that the Packers have. Hopefully the defense uses the extra time to prepare for Baker Mayfield and the Bucs offense in Tampa Bay.
On Special Teams, there was one huge mistake on Thursday night. Near the end of the first half, the Packers were hoping to tie the game with a 47 yard field goal after coming up short of a touchdown on the drive. Unfortunately, Anthony Belton blew his assignment and allowed Trey Smack’s kick to get blocked. That blocked kick led to the Falcons increasing their lead just before the half ended. The only good news was that no other kicks or punts were blocked. Skyy Moore did not have a huge return like he did against the Jets, but at least he was protective of the ball. No kickoff returns went for a touchdown on either side. Daniel Whelan punted well, so at least there was that (kudos to Whelan). Also, there were not too many penalties on Thursday night. Hopefully Cam Achord’s unit doesn’t have any disaster plays from here on out.
Overall, it was a putrid performance by Green Bay on Thursday night in front of their home fans. It is early in the season, so there’s plenty of games left. However, if they play like that across the whole year, especially on the offensive line, it could be an ugly season for all involved. Things better improve quickly, starting with Week 4 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium. I’ll be back for the recap of that game, with what I’m hoping is a better result. In the meantime, I hope that everyone in Green Bay takes a hard look at themselves in the mirror and decide to play better from here on out. Have a great weekend, everyone. Go Pack Go.
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