What a disaster it was for the Green Bay Packers. They were routed 35-14 by the Atlanta Falcons, a team that was 3-34 against the Carolina Panthers in Week 2. Sure, there was a notable change at quarterback, but he was far from the biggest threat the Packers faced all night.
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“I don’t wanna put all the blame on the offensive line; I mean, there’s plenty of land to go around,” head coach Matt LaFleur said during the post-game press conference. “We gotta catch the ball better; certainly, there are some throws that I think (Jordan) Love would love to have back, just like there are some play calls that I would love to have back.”
Love showcased a rather disappointing performance, going 28-of-53 for 312 passing yards, scoring two touchdowns, and throwing one interception. But Love was under constant threat from the Atlanta defense, getting pressured on 42% of his dropbacks per Next Gen Stats.
The quarterback was averaging an accuracy rate of only 50% entering the Falcons game. But this time, too, he struggled to find his footing. Love overthrew passes, partly killing whatever chance the Falcons had to fight back.
Love cannot be blamed for all of his woes. He was without a good target in Jayden Reed, who was out injured. And then there’s the banged-up offensive line, which sorely missed Aaron Banks and Zach Bako-Bewele. Love’s pass-run ratio was alarming, posting 54 dropbacks against 9 pressures. However, he was remarkably sacked only once in the game, despite such a bad O-line showing.
That ended up taking out the run game for the Packers. Green Bay was already averaging an embarrassing 64.5 yards on the ground, but tallied only 17 yards in the Falcons game. Then there’s Atlanta’s Bijan Robinson, who inflicted a lot of damage on Green Bay, running for 55 yards in one play.
The Packers were booed after the game, and without a doubt, there are plenty in the fanbase who want to see some changes in the staff after this performance. LaFleur is part of that list too, but no one is under greater scrutiny than O-line coach Luke Butkus. However, the head coach is still rallying behind his men.
He outright refused to answer the question of whether he would make changes to the O-line coaching staff.
The Packers have not lost more than eight games in a season since 2018. But this year, they are already 2 losses in, along with a win that could have easily led to a 0-3 start for the team. The gauntlet of the schedule isn’t even here yet, raising doubts about whether Green Bay will maintain that eight-year record.
The Packers are set to play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday, a team coming in with a 0-2 record.