Photo credit: Instagram/packers
Jordan Love’s stat line looked better than the scoreboard.
The Green Bay quarterback threw for 312 yards and two touchdowns Thursday night. He completed 28 of 53 passes and finished with one interception.
The Packers still lost 35-14 to the Atlanta Falcons at Lambeau Field.
The defeat ended Green Bay’s 13-game winning streak in home openers. It also exposed a larger problem. The Packers could not establish a running game, and Atlanta’s defense repeatedly pressured Love. Love averaged just 5.9 yards per attempt. His 52.8% completion rate also showed how difficult it was for Green Bay to sustain drives.
The ground game disappeared
Green Bay finished with 17 rushing yards on nine attempts.
MarShawn Lloyd had 11 yards on four carries. Kaleb Johnson added six yards on four attempts. Love did not gain a yard on his lone rushing attempt. Atlanta, meanwhile, ran for 242 yards.
Bijan Robinson produced 194 yards and two touchdowns on 29 carries. He broke loose for a 55-yard run and repeatedly created big gains against a Packers defense that struggled to contain Atlanta’s rushing attack. That contrast shaped the game.
Atlanta finished with 498 total yards. Green Bay had 328. The Falcons also held the ball for 37:05 compared with 22:55 for the Packers.
Atlanta kept Love under pressure
Love was sacked once, but the pressure around him was a bigger issue.
Green Bay entered the game without left guard Aaron Banks and right tackle Zach Bako-Bewele. Rookie Jager Burton made his first regular-season start at left guard. Bako-Bewele is expected to miss the season after suffering a knee injury.
Atlanta’s pass rush also entered the game with a strong interior presence. The Falcons had already recorded a league-leading 23 interior defensive-line pressures before Thursday, according to Next Gen Stats data cited by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The Falcons did not need a heavy blitz package to disrupt Green Bay. Their front generated pressure while Atlanta’s secondary covered behind it.
Penix and Atlanta flipped the game
Michael Penix Jr. returned to the starting lineup after recovering from a torn ACL suffered last November. He threw an interception on Atlanta’s opening possession. After that, the offense settled down.
Penix completed 18 of 25 passes for 256 yards and one touchdown. Drake London added nine catches for 194 yards. Robinson contributed another 19 receiving yards. Together, Robinson and London produced 407 yards from scrimmage.
Atlanta answered Green Bay’s opening touchdown with 27 straight points. The Packers did not score again until Matthew Golden’s fourth-quarter touchdown made it 27-14.
What comes next for Green Bay
The Packers are now 1-2 and will have extra time before their next game. Green Bay visits Tampa Bay on Oct. 4.
The immediate focus will be the running game and the offensive line. Love has already thrown for 844 yards and six touchdowns through three games, but Green Bay has struggled to pair that passing production with consistent rushing support.
Thursday showed why passing yards alone cannot tell the story. Love produced 312 of them. Atlanta still controlled the game.
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