Grading Green Bay Packers’ Loss at Atlanta Falcons
The ball was in Jordan Love's hands with a chance to win the game.
Instead of a storybook ending, the Green Bay Packers failed to even pick up a first down. Their final drive was the culmination of a fourth quarter full of blunders that ended in a 25-24 loss at the hands of the Atlanta Falcons.
The Packers likely feel like they let one get away. They were leading 24-12 in the second half. They were able to move the ball until the fourth quarter hit. Jordan Love and Co. hit a wall.
In their three possessions in the fourth quarter, they did not get a first down.
They botched a quarterback sneak attempt on a fourth-and-1 after AJ Dillon stumbled short of the sticks on their next-to-last possession.
They weren't close on four pass attempts on their final drive.
Here are our grades from the Packers' first loss of the season.
Pass Offense
The numbers on the surface for Jordan Love are pretty pedestrian. One of his three touchdown passes came on a pop pass that any functioning quarterback could have completed. His other two scoring strikes, to Jayden Reed and Dontayvion Wicks, were nice throws.
Love's big blunders came in the fourth quarter. With the Packers leading 24-19 with a little more than 10 minutes to play, coach Matt LaFleur dialed up a play-action shot play.
Love missed the read and threw to a well-covered Dontayvion Wicks instead of Romeo Doubs, who was breaking open. The broadcast showed that Doubs might have scored on the play. At a minimum, it would have put the Packers in a position to get more points and give their defense a break.
Instead, the pass was incomplete and the Packers went three-and-out.
Love didn't turn the ball over for the second consecutive week, although he had good fortune when AJ Terrell dropped an interception that hit him between the numbers.
Packers QB Jordan Love before facing the Falcons.
Photo by Dale Zanine/USA Today Sports Images
Love also confirmed a botched quarterback sneak was on him as he did not relay the appropriate live word to his offensive line. The result, on fourth-and-1 with about 6 minutes remaining, was a false start that forced the Packers to punt.
Overall, Love was 14-25 for 151 yards and three touchdowns. The touchdown passes are nice, but the Packers have such a small margin for error that the misses loom large. To be fair, Love was missing four of the offense's best players, but the NFL is a results-based league. Love's misses loomed large.
Grade: C-
Rush Offense
Coach Matt LaFleur says AJ Dillon is the same player that he was two years ago. He brushed off a question about Dillon's weight.
Whether he's heavier or not, there's no denying Dillon doesn't look anything like the same guy the Packers were so excited about after a huge performance against the Tennessee Titans during his rookie season.
Dillon has consistently been tackled by the turf monster in the young season, including a third-and-1 on the Packers' final possession with the lead.
Dillon was drafted to salt games away like the one the Packers played in on Sunday. For his size, Dillon goes down too easily on first contact.
He's been talked to consistently about his pad level. When he runs behind his pads, he's tough to bring down, but those plays are fewer and further between.
He finished Sunday's game with 55 yards on 15 carries. That was good for 3.7 yards per carry.
Emanuel Wilson and Patrick Taylor added six yards on four carries.
The Packers clearly have a hierarchy at running back. Dillon is their primary guy behind Aaron Jones, who missed the game with a hamstring injury.
The timetable for Jones is unclear, but the Packers is completely different with Jones on the field as opposed to Dillon.
They need Dillon to rediscover the form from his rookie and sophomore campaigns.
Grade: C-
Pass Defense
The pass defense was perhaps the most frustrating portion of the game for the Packers. They didn't give up a boatload of yards, but it was the timely misses that plagued this part of the team.
Jaire Alexander and Quay Walker dropped interceptions that hit them right in the hands. Had Alexander caught his, he might have scored.
Darnell Savage mistimed his jump on a trick play by the Falcons that might have resulted in a pass breakup. Instead, Savage missed the ball, Mack Hollins made the catch and the Falcons scored a touchdown.
The score was 24-12 at the time, and the Packers' offense was rolling. The game could have been completely different if Savage makes that play. Instead, it was another near-miss in a game full of near misses.
The front that was ferocious a week ago had a nice week, but only sacked Desmond Ridder once. They allowed him to escape the pocket for two third-down conversions to keep drives alive.
This is the part of the defense that is supposed to be their strength. Considering the quarterback it was playing against, it was not nearly good enough.
Grade: C
Rush Defense
Back in 2012 the Packers faced the Chicago Bears on Thursday Night Football.
The Bears were unveiling an offense that included receivers Alshon Jeffery and Brandon Marshall.
Jay Cutler did what he usually did against Green Bay. He threw the ball to the Packers four times that night as Green Bay won 23-10.
Afterward, Charles Woodson gave a legendary quote that will live forever.
"Same Old Jay."
Sunday's game against the Falcons feels a little like that quote. The Packers' defense was good last week against the Bears' run game, with their backs averaging a paltry 3.3 yards per carry.
Falcons rookie Bijan Robinson, as it turns out, is a different animal than the trio the Bears threw at them a week ago.
Atlanta had little, if any desire to throw the football. It only opened up the offense once the game got into a passing script for them.
The Packers gave up 172 rushing yards on 35 carries to the duo of Robinson and Tyler Allgeier. Rdder added 39 yards on 10 carries and a touchdown on a zone-read play that has plagued the Packers, oddly enough, since 2012.
"You guys saw it, they shredded us, consistently," LaFleur said after the game.
Last week felt like a step in the right direction for the Packers' run defense.
Sunday? It was the same old Jay (defense).
Grade: F
Coaching
LaFleur's aggression was on full display early in the game. He opened the day with a flea-flicker, trying to use the Falcons' aggressive defense against them.
A drive that started promising ended in disaster. The Packers were in field goal range when they took an inexcusable delay-of-game penalty.
The entire NFL takes timeouts to avoid delays that end up inconsequential. This blunder cost the Packers three points in a game they lost by one.
It's not as if LaFleur was debating whether or not to go for it. It was a fourth-and-long situation.
Those are the types of situations the Packers need LaFleur, a veteran head coach, to help mask some of the issues a young team can present.
Today, he failed on the first drive of the game.
Coordinator Joe Barry's defense reared its ugly head again.
The Packers are relying on a talented defense to help work through the growing pains of a young offense. They came up small as they've done far too often since Barry took over as the defensive coordinator.
Grade: D
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