Lambeau Field is usually where visiting teams get swallowed up. On Thursday night, the noise came back the other way.
The Packers’ 35-14 loss to the Atlanta Falcons in Green Bay’s home opener turned into a second-half chorus of boos, and Tucker Kraft didn’t sugarcoat what that felt like. As Matt Schneidman posted from the locker room, Kraft said, “It’s pretty disappointing, especially for a home opener.”
He expanded on that frustration when speaking to reporters, saying the crowd reaction was tough because Lambeau is supposed to feel different. “That’s pretty tough.
Like everyone pictures Lambeau Field and not boos. I don’t picture boos.
I picture my home stadium. That’s tough.
It’s pretty disappointing, especially for a home opener. It’s pretty disappointing.
It’s not going to help us…
Kraft’s point was blunt: booing won’t push this team forward. He said it would not help Green Bay win, noted that the Packers are grown men who can still go play, and said the night would have been easier with 70,000 people behind them instead of against them. At Lambeau, that landed hard.
Matt LaFleur sounded just as worn down after the game. In the Associated Press recap carried on FOX Sports, he summed it up this way: “Well, that was a humbling night,” then added that the staff and players have extra days to look in the mirror and find answers before getting back to work.
The loss got away from Green Bay fast after an early spark. Jordan Love opened the scoring with a 4-yard touchdown pass to Christian Watson, giving the Packers a 7-0 lead. From there, Atlanta ripped off 27 straight points and never let Green Bay settle in.
Michael Penix Jr., back in action after a torn ACL, shook off an early interception and found his rhythm. Bijan Robinson gashed the Packers for 194 yards and two touchdowns, while Drake London piled up nine catches for 194 yards. Atlanta rolled to 498 total yards, including 242 on the ground.
Green Bay’s offense never found balance. According to the Packers’ official recap, Love finished 28 of 53 for 312 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.
Most of that production came after the game had already tilted away. The Packers managed only 17 rushing yards, while Matthew Golden led the receiving effort with five catches for 100 yards and a late touchdown.
Kraft’s own night reflected the larger mess. He caught four of eight targets for 26 yards and, for the first time in his career, dropped two passes, according to NBC Sports’ weekly report. With the run game nowhere to be found, Love was forced to keep throwing, and too many chances slipped away.
The box score told the story plainly: Atlanta had 498 total yards to Green Bay’s 329, and the Falcons controlled the ground game 242-17. After Week 3, both teams sit at 1-2.
For Green Bay, the sting also came with history attached. The Packers had won 13 straight home openers from 2013 through 2025, matching the NFL mark set by the Miami Dolphins. Their last opening loss at Lambeau before Thursday came in 2012, a 30-22 defeat to San Francisco, as noted in the Associated Press account published by WISN.
The Packers were also missing key pieces. Micah Parsons remains on reserve/PUP while recovering from a torn ACL and has to miss at least four games under league rules.
Josh Jacobs is on the commissioner’s exempt list and unavailable. Aaron Banks was inactive at left guard.
And Zach Tom’s replacement, Zach Bako-Bewele, is out for the season with a torn patellar tendon.
Atlanta took advantage of every opening. ESPN framed Penix’s return as a major swing for an offense that had managed just 16 points over its first two games with backup quarterbacks, and once he settled in, the Falcons stayed on schedule.
Green Bay entered the night having allowed 2.9 yards per carry through two weeks; on Thursday, that number jumped to 5.9. Robinson’s 55-yard burst was the kind of run that only happens when the front can’t set the edge and the defense has too many holes to plug.
The weather didn’t change anything. It was a cloudy 61-degree night with 76,955 in attendance, and the usual Lambeau wall of sound never really arrived for the home team. Packers Wire called it the worst home loss of the LaFleur era, and the numbers back up the frustration.
Green Bay is now 1-2 and heads to Tampa Bay on Oct. 4. After Thursday, the Packers will have to rebuild the kind of sound that used to come naturally at Lambeau.
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 🡒]