Week 3 opens under the lights at Lambeau Field, where the Packers host the Falcons on Thursday night in an 8:15 p.m. ET kickoff. The headline is Michael Penix Jr.’s return to action, and Atlanta is handing the offense over to a new starting quarterback after a rough opening stretch.
Penix is back from a torn ACL that ended his 2025 season early, and the 26-year-old former first-round pick is set for his first year in Kevin Stefanski’s system. The Falcons have spent the first two games patching things together with reserve quarterbacks Cooper Rush and Jack Strand, and that showed in Week 2 against the Panthers, when the duo combined for a 28.8 passer rating.
Green Bay, meanwhile, arrives at 1-1 after barely surviving the Jets in overtime last Sunday. The Packers are still waiting on star edge rusher Micah Parsons to return from season-ending knee surgery, and the rest of the roster is dealing with its own issues up front.
That’s where the first bold call comes in: Atlanta’s pressure should finally turn into real damage. The Falcons are sitting in the bottom 10 in sacks with just four, but the pass rush has been getting home in other ways. Through two weeks, they’ve pressured opposing quarterbacks on 41.5% of pass-rush snaps, which ranks seventh in the NFL according to Next Gen Stats.
Green Bay’s offensive line is not exactly walking into this game healthy. The Packers put starting tackle Zach Bako-Bewele on injured reserve this week with a torn patellar tendon, and guards Aaron Banks (toe) and Donovan Jennings (hand) both left Sunday’s game against the Jets at different points.
Tackle Anthony Belton also showed up on the injury report this week with an elbow injury. With that kind of attrition, it’s fair to expect the Falcons to convert some of those pressures into sacks.
The prediction here: Jordan Love gets taken down at least three times.
The second prediction centers on Bijan Robinson, who remains one of the league’s most dangerous backs even if the matchup is tricky. Since Atlanta made him the No. 8 pick in the 2023 draft, the fourth-year pro has put together two 1,400-yard rushing seasons, piled up 35 total touchdowns, and earned first-team All-Pro honors in 2025 as both a running back and an all-purpose player.
Green Bay’s run defense has been stingy through two games, allowing just 174 rushing yards and 2.9 yards per carry. But the Packers have also given up three rushing touchdowns, and that could be the opening Atlanta needs near the goal line.
Robinson has not scored a touchdown yet this season, and while a big yardage night may be hard to come by, the expectation is that the Falcons will keep feeding him close to the stripe. The call: Robinson finishes with fewer than 50 rushing yards but still scores on Thursday night.
And that leads to the broader read on the game: this has all the ingredients of a clunky Thursday night matchup. Penix should bring some life to Atlanta, but he’s still coming back after more than 10 months away and will need time to settle in with teammates in a new offense. Green Bay, for its part, is already navigating a shaky start and a growing injury list.
Even so, the Packers are at home, and that should be enough to get them over the line. The prediction here is a tight, low-scoring Green Bay win, 10-7, to move to 2-1. The Falcons would fall to 0-3, with more questions than answers as Stefanski’s first season in Atlanta gets rolling.
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 🡒]