Key Points
- Atlanta erased an early 7-0 deficit with 27 unanswered points and won 35-14 at Lambeau Field on Thursday, 24 September.
- In his first game since tearing his left ACL last November, Penix completed 18 of 25 passes for 256 yards, with one touchdown and one interception.
- Bijan Robinson ran for 194 yards and two touchdowns, and Drake London caught nine passes for a career-high 194 yards.
- Green Bay gained 17 rushing yards on nine carries; ESPN Research says the Packers’ 146 rushing yards through three games are their fewest since 1933.
- Both teams are now 1-2, and the Packers played without Micah Parsons (ACL) and Josh Jacobs (commissioner exempt list).
For two weeks, the Atlanta Falcons could not find the red zone at all. With Michael Penix Jr. back under center, they could not stop reaching it. Penix returned from a torn ACL on Thursday night and helped Atlanta pull away for a 35-14 win over the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field, a result that left both teams at 1-2.
Bijan Robinson did the heavy lifting on the ground with 194 rushing yards and two touchdowns, Drake London piled up 194 receiving yards, and a Packers offense already missing key pieces never found an answer.
Penix shakes off a shaky start
It did not begin smoothly. Penix threw an interception on his third pass of the night, on Atlanta’s opening series, and Green Bay went up 7-0 on a 4-yard touchdown pass from Jordan Love to Christian Watson.
From there, the third-year quarterback settled in. According to ESPN’s game story, Penix went 13 of 15 across the second and third quarters and was a perfect 5 of 5 on third downs in that stretch. His 5-yard touchdown pass to tight end Austin Hooper with 59 seconds left in the first half sent the Falcons into the locker room ahead 17-7.
He finished 18 of 25 for 256 yards, one touchdown and one interception, in his first game action since tearing the ACL in his left knee in a loss to Carolina on 16 November, per the Associated Press.
“It felt great to get a win. It felt great to come out of there healthy,” Penix said after the game, according to AP.
Robinson and London break the game open
Penix’s return also reopened Atlanta’s running game. Robinson had 111 rushing yards in the first half alone, according to ESPN. A 55-yard burst late in the first quarter set up his 3-yard touchdown that tied the game, and his 2-yard score in the fourth quarter capped the scoring. Brian Robinson Jr. added a 7-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. As a team, Atlanta outrushed Green Bay 242 yards to 17, according to the ESPN box score.
London was just as hard to contain, with nine catches for a career-high 194 yards. AP noted that Robinson and London became the first teammates since 1976 to each reach at least 190 yards from scrimmage in a road game.
The turnaround was stark. Over the first two weeks with third-string quarterback Cooper Rush, the Falcons scored 16 combined points, the fewest in the league. They also went 27 straight drives to open the season without a single red-zone snap, a streak ESPN Research says is tied with the 1997 Detroit Lions for the second longest in the past 45 seasons. Atlanta ended it in the first quarter on Thursday.
Green Bay’s run game disappears
For the Packers, the problems ran deeper than one bad night. Green Bay played without star edge rusher Micah Parsons, who is recovering from an ACL injury, and without running back Josh Jacobs, who is on the commissioner exempt list.
Without Jacobs, the ground game collapsed. The Packers carried the ball only nine times for 17 yards, partly because they trailed for most of the night. MarShawn Lloyd ran four times for 11 yards and Kaleb Johnson four times for 6 yards. Green Bay has now rushed for 146 yards through three games, its lowest total at this point of a season since 1933, according to ESPN Research.
Love threw for 312 yards and two touchdowns, to Watson and Matthew Golden, but needed 53 attempts to complete 28 passes and also threw an interception. Working behind a line missing two starters, right tackle Zach Bako-Bewele, who is out for the season with a knee injury, and left guard Aaron Banks, Love was hit 11 times, ESPN reported.
The frustration was audible. The Packers were booed off the field at halftime at Lambeau, and the boos continued in the second half. Green Bay also wasted a chance to answer on the opening drive of the third quarter, when a fourth-and-1 throw from the Atlanta 7 fell incomplete.
What comes next
The Falcons visit the New Orleans Saints on Monday, 5 October. The Packers travel to face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on 4 October, with Parsons expected back in a few weeks, according to ESPN.
For more NFL coverage, visit the LiveNewsWorld NFL section, including our report on the Giants turning to Jameis Winston after Jaxson Dart’s knee surgery.
For Atlanta, the takeaway from the Falcons-Packers game is simple: with Penix back, an offense that looked lost for two weeks suddenly looks dangerous again.
