Bijan Robinson set the tone, Michael Penix Jr. looked right at home again, and the Atlanta Falcons left Lambeau Field with a loud statement.
Robinson ran for 194 yards and two touchdowns, Penix threw for 256 yards and a score in his first game back from a torn ACL, and Atlanta rolled past the Green Bay Packers 35-14 on Thursday night. The Falcons turned an early 7-0 hole into a runaway, ripping off 27 unanswered points while the crowd at Lambeau drifted into boos.
The ground game was the separator in every sense. Atlanta piled up 242 rushing yards. Green Bay managed just 17.
That imbalance helped Atlanta (1-2) erase the sluggish start that had defined its first two games, when Cooper Rush had been under center and the offense had sputtered badly. With Penix back, the Falcons moved with purpose and confidence, and Bijan Robinson was the engine.
Drake London was right there with him. London caught nine passes for 194 yards, and he and Robinson became the first teammates to each top 150 yards from scrimmage against the Packers at Lambeau Field.
Green Bay (1-2) opened the night with a 7-0 lead, but the game changed fast. Late in the first quarter, the Packers appeared to have forced a third-and-11 incompletion, only for Brenton Cox Jr. to be flagged for roughing the passer. Robinson answered on the next snap with a 55-yard run, then finished the drive himself with a 3-yard touchdown.
That penalty fit a familiar pattern for Green Bay. The Packers had entered the game with an NFL-high 26 penalties through two weeks, and the sloppiness showed up again in a game that never really settled into their favor.
Atlanta took over from there and led 17-7 at halftime. Nick Folk pushed the Falcons in front with a 44-yard field goal late in the second quarter, and after Zach Harrison blocked Trey Smack’s 47-yard try, Penix found Austin Hooper for a 5-yard touchdown with 59 seconds left before the break.
The Packers had a chance to tighten things up early in the third quarter, but Jordan Love couldn’t connect with Christian Watson in the end zone on fourth-and-1 from the 7. Atlanta answered with a 10-play, 92-yard drive that ended in Brian Robinson’s 7-yard touchdown run and stretched the margin to 24-7.
Love finished 28 of 53 for 312 yards with two touchdowns and an interception, but the numbers came in a game where Green Bay was chasing too much and running too little. MarShawn Lloyd and Kaleb Johnson combined for only 17 yards on eight carries.
The Packers’ offensive line was also shorthanded. Left guard Aaron Banks was out with a toe injury, and right tackle Zach Bako-Bewele tore his patellar tendon Sunday and will miss the rest of the season. Rookie fifth-round pick Jager Burton made his first career start at left guard, while 2025 second-round pick Anthony Belton started at right tackle.
Atlanta kept control into the fourth quarter. Folk added a 31-yard field goal, Love hit Matthew Golden on a 15-yard touchdown with 8:18 left, and Bijan Robinson finished the scoring with a 2-yard touchdown run.
The loss snapped a long run of home-opening success for Green Bay. The Packers dropped a home opener for the first time since a 30-22 loss to the San Francisco 49ers in 2012, ending a streak of 13 straight home-opening wins from 2013-25 that had matched the NFL record shared with the Miami Dolphins, who also won 13 in a row from 1976-88.
Atlanta also played without cornerback A.J. Terrell, who did not play after being placed on injured reserve this week because of a groin injury.
For the Falcons, the night belonged to the return of Penix and the explosion from Robinson. For Green Bay, it was another game defined by penalties, missed chances and a defense that never found a way to slow Atlanta down.
Falcons: At New Orleans on Monday, Oct. 5.
In Other News...
Al Michaels Turned A Falcons Broadcast Into A Michael Penix Joke
Al Michaels had a brief but noticeable slip during Thursday nights Falcons-Packer matchup, and it landed in a place Atlanta fans know well: around Michael Penix Jr.s college path. While talking about the quarterback on the broadcast, Michaels mistakenly said Penix spent two years at Oregon after starting at Indiana, before quickly correcting himself and noting that Penix actually played at Washington instead.
The correction mattered because Washington is a rival of Oregon, and the mix-up did not go unnoticed. Fans immediately lit into the error on social media, turning a simple broadcast miss into another talking point around Penix, who has already been under a brighter spotlight as Atlantas quarterback situation continues to draw scrutiny. [Read more 🡒]
Falcons Fans Will Love How Stefanski Closed Out Green Bay
Kevin Stefanskis late decision against Green Bay fit the kind of aggressive edge Falcons fans have been waiting to see. With Atlanta sitting on a comfortable lead, he opted to go for two instead of settling for the extra point, pushing the margin to 21 and making the math even tougher on the Packers in the final stretch.
It was a fitting cap to a strong all-around afternoon for Atlanta, with Bijan Robinson powering the ground game for 194 yards and two touchdowns and Michael Penix Jr. adding 256 passing yards and a score. The choice also showed clear awareness of what Jordan Love could still theoretically do, but it left Green Bay needing a very specific sequence it could no longer realistically put together. [Read more 🡒]
Michael Penix Jr. Already Put Falcons Fans On Edge In Debut
Michael Penix Jr. stepped into the Falcons starting quarterback job in their 2026 season debut on Thursday night against the Packers, and the opening minutes gave Atlanta fans plenty to feel all at once. Penix was intercepted on the first drive, but the Falcons settled in quickly enough to answer Green Bays early touchdown pass from Jordan Love, with Bijan Robinson sparking the offense on a 55-yard run and later finding the end zone on the ground.
Atlantas response turned the mood in the building fast, especially once Penix connected with Austin Hooper for a touchdown pass and the Falcons pushed out to a 17-7 lead late in the second quarter. For a quarterback making his first start, the early turnover was the kind of jolt that can linger, but the way the Falcons steadied themselves around him suggested this debut was going to be watched closely all night. [Read more 🡒]