The Falcons didn’t just beat the Packers in Week 3. They sent Green Bay hunting for help.
Atlanta’s 35-14 win in Green Bay was the clearest sign yet that this Falcons defensive line is for real, even without Jalon Walker and James Pearce Jr. What started the year with plenty of red flags has turned into a front that leads the league in pressure rate, and the Packers spent Thursday night getting shoved into panic mode.
The box score only shows one sack on Jordan Love, but that barely tells the story. Atlanta got to him 32 times while blitzing just 18% of the time, with Jeff Ulbrich sending four.
Love never looked comfortable, and the Packers’ ground game was even worse. Green Bay managed only 17 rushing yards, the lowest total Atlanta has ever allowed in franchise history.
That kind of beating tends to leave a mark. In the days after the loss, the Packers started working the free-agent market for offensive line help.
They first added OG Laken Tomlinson to the active roster off Dallas’ practice squad. Then came Mekhi Becton on the practice squad.
On Wednesday, Adam Schefter reported Green Bay signed 36-year-old guard Kevin Zeitler.
Atlanta’s pressure came from everywhere. Cameron Thomas led the way with seven pressures, Brandon Dorlus and Gervon Dexter Sr. had six apiece, and 10 different defenders got at least one pressure on Love in the Thursday night win.
There were a few snaps that made the problem impossible to ignore. In the second quarter, Divine Deablo came free untouched, drilled Love for what looked like a sack, and forced a fumble before replay review wiped it away. It still summed up the night: the Packers’ protection had no answers.
Then came the play that swung the game even harder. On the opening drive of the second half, Green Bay was in the red zone and trailing 17-7.
After Christian Watson was stopped short of the line to gain on the previous snap, the Packers went for it on fourth and short instead of taking the points. Dexter bulldozed into the backfield, Love had to throw across his body to Watson, and the pass fell incomplete.
Atlanta turned that into a 10-play, 92-yard touchdown drive.
The pressure also helped set up the final blow. On Xavier Watts’ game-sealing interception, Dorlus beat his blocker with a swim move and forced Love into a hurried throw, and Watts jumped the pass intended for Matthew Golden.
The Falcons controlled the line of scrimmage from start to finish, and the Packers’ response has made that painfully clear. Green Bay went straight to the market for reinforcements, hoping Zeitler, Becton, and Tomlinson can hold up better than the group that got overwhelmed by Atlanta last Thursday.
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Chris Olave will draw attention, but Juwan Johnson has emerged as a particularly important piece in recent games and could become the kind of chain-moving threat that tilts the matchup. Atlanta has linebackers with coverage ability, and how well they handle Johnson in the middle of the field may go a long way toward deciding whether the Falcons can keep this one in the kind of defensive game they prefer. [Read more 🡒]