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Packers Position Grades vs. Falcons: ‘F’ Doesn’t Do It Justice, So Let’s Go Lower

Our unit-by-unit report card following the Packers’ blowout loss to the Falcons breaks new grading ground.
Bill Huber|
Atlanta Falcons running back Bijan Robinson (7) scores a touchdown against the Green Bay Packers.
Atlanta Falcons running back Bijan Robinson (7) scores a touchdown against the Green Bay Packers. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

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Green Bay Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers were manhandled from start to finish and in every phase by the Atlanta Falcons on Thursday.

“You got three days to decompress and we’ve got to get back to work, and I fully anticipate that, just knowing the guys in that locker room,” coach Matt LaFleur said after the game. “We know it’s going to get loud. You got to ignore the noise and just focus on what we can do better. We all collectively and individually have something that we can get better at. So, it’s just roll up your sleeves and get to work.”

Following up on our postgame grades, we’ve rolled up our sleeves for a more in-depth report card broken down by unit.

Quarterbacks

Jordan Love threw for 312 yards and two touchdowns against the Falcons, which seems nice until you realize it took him 53 attempts to get there. He completed 52.8 percent of his passes. The yardage total included quite a bit of fourth-quarter fluff; the interception was irrelevant.

It was a 7-7 game after the first quarter. During the second quarter, Love was 1-of-7 passing for 8 yards as the Packers were outscored 10-0 and outgained 143-14.

A quarterback is supposed to be the rising tide that lifts all boats on offense. On the other hand, there’s no tide in the desert, and the offensive line is the equivalent of the Sahara. Love has gotten the crap kicked out of him, and it’s shown up in his erratic play.

On the other hand, you just can't miss this throw.

Grade: D.

Running Backs

The Packers ran eight running plays. Eight. Kaleb Johnson rushed four times for 6 yards and MarShawn Lloyd rushed four times for 11 yards. The one time they got in the open field, Lloyd had a one-on-one with a defensive back and was dropped like a ton of bricks after a gain of 2.

Lloyd leads the team with 68 rushing yards. That’s a 17-game pace of 385 yards.

Grade: F.

Receivers

Christian Watson caught seven passes for 96 yards and one touchdown; he’s scored at least one touchdown in all three games. As the only “big” receiver after parting ways with Romeo Doubs and Dontayvion Wicks, he needs to step it up as a blocker.

Matthew Golden caught five passes for 100 yards and one touchdown; it was his first 100-yard game and (regular-season) touchdown of his career. He dropped one pass but also drew a 34-yard penalty for pass interference.

Without Jayden Reed, Skyy Moore (three catches, 31 yards), J’Michael Sturdivant (three catches, 22 yards) and Bo Melton (zero catches) combined for six receptions for 53 yards. Three of those catches came in garbage time.

Grade: C-plus.

Tight Ends

Tucker Kraft talked extensively about how he expected to come back from his torn ACL without missing a beat. It’s easy to appreciate the confidence and expectations but he has not been anywhere near the dominant force he was before the injury. That’s not meant to be a knock on Kraft. It’s just the reality of coming back from a serious injury. (It should also serve as a word of warning that Micah Parsons can change the team’s fortunes.)

Kraft caught 4-of-8 passes targets for 26 yards. He had a modest 19 yards after the catch, dropped two passes and has been merely decent as a blocker.

“Just didn’t feel like we were playing our brand of ball,” he said after the game. “I myself was not playing to my standard, and that’s something I have to resolve on my own. And that could be the same case for some other people in here. The mistakes that we made, there’s no pointing fingers. It’s on us.”

Mark Redman barely played because the Packers barely ran the ball. He needs to be on the field more and relied on to get the run game going. Jonnu Smith had a couple short receptions in the second half.

Grade: C-minus.

Offensive Line

In the Packers’ modest eight handoffs to running backs, MarShawn Lloyd and Kaleb Johnson gained 7 yards before contact. Meanwhile, according to PFF, the line gave up an appalling 28 pressures. For reference, 27 offensive lines gave up fewer pressures in the first two games combined and only three gave up more. PFF charged the line with 12 quarterback hits vs. the Falcons; no other team has given up more than eight in the first two games combined.

In his NFL debut, Jager Burton gave up 10 pressures. That was followed by Jacob Monk with six, Jordan Morgan and Anthony Belton with five and Sean Rhyan with two.

Only one lineman in the first two games (the Lions’ Larry Borom with 11) gave up more pressures in the first two games than Burton did on Thursday.

There were blown blocks, missed assignments and miscommunication. This screen should have been a big gain. Instead, it was a loss of 3.

Under the standard grading scale, the “F” for failure is as low as it goes. Let’s break new ground with a “G” for ghastly. Never mind the “G” standing for greatness. A “D” for decent would be an improvement.

Grade: G.

Defensive Tackles

Green Bay’s defensive line wrecked the Jets’ run game on Sunday. On Thursday, it got wrecked by Bijan Robinson, who ran for 194 yards. In fairness, Robinson made something – and sometimes something big – out of nothing at times. By our count, he only gained 36 yards before contact on his 29 carries. There just wasn’t a lot of knockback that forced Robinson into making early decisions on the typically slick primetime Lambeau Field turf.

Javon Hargrave was an asset at times in his return from a concussion, including a pass deflection. Devonte Wyatt and Karl Brooks had the only pressures (one apiece). The Packers need a lot more from Wyatt.

Grade: D-plus.

Edges

Lukas Van Ness, Dani Dennis-Sutton, Brenton Cox and Barryn Sorrell combined for four solo tackles (one apiece), 12 assisted tackles, one tackle for loss (Cox), one quarterback hit (Van Ness) and two pressures (one each by Van Ness and Dennis Sutton). That’s not much, but at least they generally maintained contain on Bijan Robinson.

Cox’s most notable contribution was the game-changing roughing-the-passer penalty. The Packers were up 7-0 at the time; the game was tied 7-7 shortly thereafter. Coach Matt LaFleur didn’t want to be fined so wouldn’t comment but the problem is Cox went high and hit Michael Penix.

Everyone knew Micah Parsons’ absence would be a big problem. Van Ness has stepped up at times, but the rest of the group hasn’t done much. It was interesting to see Dennis-Sutton playing 10 more snaps than Sorrell.

Grade: D-plus.

Linebackers

Zaire Franklin tied for the team lead with 10 tackles and added one tackle for loss. His average tackle on a running play came 12.4 yards downfield, which isn’t ideal, obviously. Edgerrin Cooper had six tackles, including one tackle for loss, before exiting with a concussion. Cooper, who played like an All-Pro his first two games, will want to forget all about this game. He got blocked at the point of attack on Bijan Robinson’s game-changing run.

Both players missed two tackles, by our count.

Grade: D.

Cornerbacks

Coverage responsibilities aren’t always cut and dried, but PFF charged Brandon Cisse with five completions out of seven targets for 111 yards. Most of that came on the 68-yard completion to Drake London in the fourth quarter that helped the Falcons take a 27-7 lead. Keisean Nixon was charged with one completion (one target) for 40 yards that helped extend the Falcons’ lead to 35-14.

Neither player broke up a pass as Michael Penix, making his season debut, shook off a poor start to throw for 256 yards. He was 16-of-18 in the final three quarters. Jordan Love must be jealous of the clean pockets and easy completions.

London finished with 194 yards on nine catches. So, just like in Week 1 against Minnesota’s Justin Jefferson, the Packers got destroyed by the star receiver but shut down everyone else.

Grade: D-plus.

Safeties

Xavier McKinney had an interception to end the first possession. Evan Williams had a pressure to end the second possession. And that, really, was it in terms of impact plays.

Williams took a bad angle on Bijan Robinson’s 55-yard run and was in coverage on the end-of-half touchdown pass to Austin Hooper against a discombobulated defense.

Grade: C-plus.

Specialists

Daniel Whelan is the MVP through three games. He punted five times against the Falcons. Four pinned the Falcons inside their 20 and his net average was 45.6 yards. He might be the most improved, too. He has nine inside-the-20 points and one touchback this season compared to 18 inside-the-20s and eight touchbacks last year.

Trey Smack’s first career missed field goal was the block. The Falcons had 10 players on the field. With only Anthony Belton sticking out an arm to stop Zach Harrison, the Packers really only had 10, as well. So, instead of a 10-10 score, the Falcons turned the block into a touchdown to lead 17-7. Essentially, the game was over.

Grade: C-minus.

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.