GREEN BAY – The Packers dropped their home opener in ugly fashion Thursday night, falling to the Falcons, 35-14, at Lambeau Field.
Here are five takeaways from the defeat:
1. Matt LaFleur's opening comment said it all.
"Well, that was a humbling night," was how LaFleur started his postgame press conference, as he dropped to 1-2 for the first time as a head coach.
Statistically, the game was lopsided in total yards (498-328) and time of possession (37:05-22:55), but it wasn't just that.
After taking an early 7-0 lead, the Packers allowed the Falcons to score 27 straight points to effectively put the game away early in the fourth quarter.
"It was a butt-whoopin'," LaFleur said.
2. While the Packers sputtered, the Falcons looked unstoppable.
Green Bay scored a touchdown on its second possession of the game but otherwise went three-and-out four times in the first half.
"Had the touchdown drive and just really couldn't get into a groove after that," QB Jordan Love said. "Just a lot of … couldn't execute and couldn't make plays out there."
The absence of a running game (nine carries, 17 yards) combined with protection breakdowns, dropped passes and missed throws all conspired to make for a miserable night.
With Love dropping back to pass 54 times (53 pass attempts, one sack), the Packers were totally one-dimensional and it was simply a game of hit or miss down the field. The offense had no balance and no way to keep the Falcons honest defensively.
"It's a very disappointing feeling right now how we went out and played today – myself to start," Love said. "We got behind tonight and it didn't look good."
Meanwhile two Falcons stars, RB Bijan Robinson and WR Drake London, benefited greatly from the return of starting QB Michael Penix Jr. from injury. An offense that had been listless with backup QBs the first two weeks suddenly exploded as Robinson and London matched each other with 194 yards apiece – Robinson on 29 rushes, London on nine receptions.
Using a sneaky, impressive combination of patience and burst, Robinson broke off scampers of 55 and 31 yards, scored on two short runs, and always seemed to churn out yards even when none appeared to be there. London had receptions of 68 and 40 yards, finding plenty of space to operate, as the Falcons reached 500 total yards until taking two kneel-downs at the end of the game.
3. The defense actually started the game in pretty good shape, and the offense had chances to stay in it.
S Xavier McKinney picked off Penix on his third pass of the game, and after that the defense was on the verge of forcing its second straight punt when Brenton Cox Jr. was called for a questionable roughing the passer penalty on third-and-long. Referee Shawn Smith announced Cox made contact with Penix's head.
With the gift first down, Robinson followed with his 55-yard run on the next snap, setting up Atlanta's first TD to tie the game at 7. It was all downhill from there.
LaFleur declined to comment on the dubious call, saying he didn't want to get fined, but he acknowledged the Packers "have to respond better."
Offensively, Green Bay was in position to tie the game at 10 late in the second quarter, but K Trey Smack's 47-yard field goal was blocked. Then, down 17-7 to start the second half, Green Bay drove all the way to the Atlanta 7-yard line, facing fourth-and-1.
LaFleur chose to go for it, but an exaggerated play-action fake didn't fool the Falcons, who had all of Love's targets covered in the end zone, and the promising drive came up empty.
Even worse, the Packers didn't threaten to score again until the Falcons had doubled their lead to 20 points.
"It's just an execution problem right now more than anything," Love said. "It's a close game and I feel like we went out there on offense and consistently couldn't put drives together, couldn't stay on the field, and that's not a good recipe at all. It's not a great feeling as an offense to have repeated drives that don't go anywhere."
4. The injury list got a little longer.
The offensive line, already down two starters in RT Zach Bako-Bewele and LG Aaron Banks, saw RG Jacob Monk exit late with a quad injury.
One of the defense's best players, LB Edgerrin Cooper, also left the game to be evaluated for a concussion.
5. It's time to regroup.
Through three games, the Packers played one rough quarter in Minnesota, three rough ones against the Jets, and arguably four more on Thursday night. None of the team's three phases is trending in the right direction.
The next game is in 10 days at Tampa Bay.
"We've got a couple extra days here, everybody's got to take a long hard look at themselves and we've got to find solutions and just come back ready to work," LaFleur said.
"We're going to all work together to try to fix this thing. It's three games in, certainly we're nowhere near where we need to be, and there's a lot of ball left in front of us."
