The Green Bay Packers’ night at Lambeau Field unraveled in a way that was impossible to miss and even harder to explain away: nine rushing attempts, 17 yards, and a 35-14 loss to the Atlanta Falcons that snapped a 13-game home-opening winning streak.
Green Bay jumped in front early when Christian Watson hauled in a 4-yard touchdown, but that was about the only clean moment the Packers had before Atlanta took control. Bijan Robinson answered with a 3-yard score, and from there the Falcons kept stacking drives, field goals and touchdowns until the game belonged entirely to them.
Atlanta’s ground game was the hammer. The Falcons ran for 242 yards, controlled the ball for more than 37 minutes and piled up 27 straight points after Green Bay’s 7-0 lead.
Robinson did the heavy lifting with 29 carries for 194 yards and two touchdowns, while Drake London matched him in a different way, catching nine passes for 194 yards. Nick Folk added two field goals, Austin Hooper caught a 5-yard touchdown, and Brian Robinson scored on a 7-yard run before Bijan Robinson finished the job from 2 yards out after London’s 40-yard gain on Keisean Nixon.
By the second half, the crowd’s frustration was obvious. The Associated Press described Lambeau as sounding like a chorus of boos, and the Packers had little to offer back.
The most brutal number of the night might be the simplest one. Green Bay’s running backs, MarShawn Lloyd and Kaleb Johnson, combined for just 17 yards on eight carries, with Jordan Love adding the ninth rushing attempt. That total left the Packers with a ground attack that never threatened Atlanta and forced Love into a far heavier load than Green Bay wanted.
The season-long picture is even rougher. Through three games, the Packers have rushed for only 146 yards - 66 at Minnesota, 63 against the New York Jets and 17 on Thursday.
As Rob Demovsky wrote, “That’s their fewest rushing yards through the first three games of a season since 1933, per ESPN Research.” Bijan Robinson, by himself, ran for 194 yards against Green Bay.
Josh Jacobs remains on the commissioner’s exempt list while the NFL reviews his personal-conduct case, so he has not played in a regular-season game. He pleaded no contest on Sept. 10 to misdemeanor battery and criminal damage to property tied to a May incident, and the league still has not handed down a suspension or reinstatement. That is why Lloyd and Johnson opened the season as the featured backs, with USA TODAY updating that status again Thursday as court records in the case were unsealed.
Love finished 28 of 53 for 312 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. Matthew Golden had five catches for 100 yards and a 15-yard touchdown, the first 100-yard game of his career.
Watson added seven receptions for 96 yards along with the opening score. The numbers were there, but much of it came after the game had already tilted hard in Atlanta’s favor.
Green Bay also left points on the field early, with a blocked field goal and a failed fourth-down try in the red zone before the deficit grew. Michael Penix Jr., who returned from last November’s torn ACL, threw an interception on Atlanta’s opening possession but settled in after that and finished 18 of 25 for 256 yards.
Afterward, Matt LaFleur did not try to sugarcoat it. “It was a butt-whooping,” he said.
The Packers are 1-2, have opened a season 1-2 for the first time under this staff, and now sit at 48.7 rushing yards per game, last in the NFL. Their next chance comes on the road at Tampa Bay on Oct. 4 at 1 p.m.
ET.
Green Bay’s home-opening streak, which had run from 2013 through 2025 and tied the Miami Dolphins for the NFL record, is over. The Packers’ run game is still nowhere to be found.
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