Top 10 Packers for Thursday Night Showdown Against the Atlanta Falcons

There is no rest for the weary as the Green Bay Packers will return to Lambeau Field for the first time since the end of August to welcome the Atlanta Falcons on Thursday Night Football.

The Packers are 1-1 on the heels of a come from behind victory against the New York Jets. It was not a win that’s going to make a highlight reel at the end of the season, but the Packers were desperate to get the taste of losing out of their mouth.

Now, they have a chance to get to 2-1 before a mini-bye early in the season and heading to Tampa Bay for a date with the Buccaneers.

Their opponent this week should give them a good opportunity to get to 2-1, as the Atlanta Falcons have struggled mightily through two games this season. They have yet to run a play in their opponent’s red zone. Of course, they’ve been without their top two quarterbacks, and one of them is set to return this week.

Michael Penix will start on Thursday for the Falcons, and he at least gives them competence under center.

How much will he be able to do having not played since last November, and taking minimal practice reps? That’s part of the challenge in front of Green Bay’s defense.

Offensively, there are opportunities for the Packers if they can keep their quarterback upright.

Here are our top 10 players for Green Bay’s Thursday night showdown.

10 Anthony Belton

Belton may very well make this list for the rest of the season. He was in the background during training camp after being removed from the team’s competition to start at right guard.

Belton was moved to tackle, and it turns out the Packers did that with an eye on having an insurance policy in the event Zach Bako-Bewele continued to struggle with his knee injury.

“I thought he did a nice job,” offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said of Belton. “Obviously we kind of kept him over there. I didn’t want to say that we knew this would happen, but just in case and unfortunately it did happen, and he stepped in and did a nice job. Expecting him to just anchor down the right side and do a great job.”

Great job might be a stretch. Replacing Bako-Bewele is tough for any player, let alone a young one with limited reps like Belton has at the position. The reality is, however, the Packers don’t have a ton of options. Belton has to be good or this Packers’ offensive line will continue to struggle. They’re playing whack-a-mole at both guard positions, and are desperate for some stability.

Belton needs to provide that at tackle while the rest of the guys need to play better to keep Green Bay’s offense on track.

9 Keisean Nixon

Keisean Nixon has had his ups and downs this season. Week 1, he was active with one sack, one PBU, a TFL, and an interception.

Last week against the Jets, Nixon got picked on during a series that ultimately led to a Jets touchdown. He allowed two completions, and was flagged for a big pass interference penalty that put the Jets in prime scoring position.

Nixon is a better player than what he’s given credit for, but there’s little doubt that other teams saw the film of Sunday’s game and may try to attack Nixon in key situations.

The Falcons have plenty of faults offensively, but their skill position group is solid, led by Drake London.

The Falcons could try to keep London on Nixon’s side of the field and attempt to use that as a way to get the ball out of Michael Penix’s hands quickly. Nixon will need to be up to the task.

8 Lukas Van Ness

Is the breakout season that everyone around the Packers was hoping for finally here? Lukas Van Ness has been injured, ineffective, or some combination of both with occasional flashed of the potential that caused the Packers to use a first round pick on him in the spring of 2023.

Without Micah Parsons in the lineup, the Packers desperately needed someone to step up as a pass rusher, and Van Ness has been up to the challenge through two games.

Through two games, Van Ness has 2.5 sacks and four TFLs. He’s been active and disruptive in both games. His performance Sunday against the Jets was arguably the best game of his career.

“Yeah, I think we’ve seen enough from Lukas over the course of his time here,” head coach Matt LaFleur said. “The big thing I would say with him is just the availability, and when he’s out there, he’s been impactful. And sometimes that stuff doesn’t always show up on the stat sheet, you know. But he has, he’s, he’s playing like an animal right now, and we need him to continue to do that.”

The Packers do need Van Ness to continue on this trajectory as the status of Parsons remains uncertain at this time. Thursday’s game is a prime opportunity for Van Ness to continue being disruptive. Penix has struggled with injuries during his career including three torn ACL injuries dating back to his days in college.

His mobility is likely sapped, which makes him a sitting duck for Green Bay’s pass rush. That could lead to a big night for Green Bay’s breakout star on defense.

7 Skyy Moore

Maybe Skyy Moore will prove to be the 2026 Packers’ version of Desmond Howard. There’s a long way to go before anything like that can be said with any seriousness, but through two games, Moore has already made an impact as a returner.

He had a kickoff return of 43 yards, and a punt return of 66 yards in Sunday’s win over the Jets. After years of putrid return games, the Packers appear to have found an answer for him, which makes his teammates more excited to block for him.

Skyy Moore beats four tacklers. Key blocks include Whyle and McDuffie on the left and Niemann on the right. pic.twitter.com/q7HOXyFNNz
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) September 21, 2026

““I think all 11 guys out there did a really good job. I think that’s what it talks about. It’s not just one guy,” special teams coordinator Cam Acord said. “Obviously Skyy is the guy with the ball in his hand and does a tremendous job for us. It’s still early in the year. We’ve still got some stuff we can improve on. Obviously you’re always looking to improve. He did a great job getting vertical and the guys did a great job finishing their blocks and competing down the field. I think it always goes back to the strain, you know, and finishing the play. You never know what play’s going to happen, when you’re going to get a big one, when you’re not. It goes back to the guys just every single play showing up. It’s all 11 guys out there. You look at it and watch and all 11 guys are doing their job. That’ good to see. But there’s still a lot we can clean up, for sure, too.”

Moore may have become more important on offense as well with the injury to Jayden Reed. During training camp, Moore was running as the primary backup to Reed in the slot. Whether his role expands on offense remains to be seen, but the Packers need him to continue to contribute in the third phase of the game.

6 Tucker Kraft

It feels like it’s go time for Tucker Kraft. Kraft has been quiet through two weeks as he’s still working his back from an ACL injury that he suffered last November.

He’s caught five of his nine targets for just 80 yards on the year. One of his two catches on Sunday resulted in a fumble that could have been a disaster if Anthony Belton had not recovered it.

Kraft is expected to be one of the team’s best players. Furthermore, he should be an outlet on plays where Jordan Love is under pressure. When the offense is struggling, Kraft’s ability to make plays after the catch should be something that they lean on.

He’s also grown into one of the leaders on the team, and noted that even with a win Sunday, they need to keep working.

“We can’t let this win mask our problems,” Kraft said after Sunday’s game.

One of the best ways to lead is by example. Kraft playing well makes the whole offense better. This week is when the Packers should make him a focal point.

5 Jordan Morgan

Jordan Morgan was supposed to be one of the stable points of the Packers’ offensive line. That line of analysis is kind of silly in hindsight. He’s played a grand total of three games at left tackle and two of them came this season.

Morgan, like the rest of the line, was dreadful in Week 1 against Minnesota. He was better in Week 2, but still not good enough for a player who was anointed as the blindside protector of the starting quarterback without any competition.

The left tackle situation is something that needs to become something the Packers don’t have to worry as much about. With injuries to Aaron Banks and Zach Bako-Bewele, the Packers are playing musical chairs all over the offensive line as it is. Those who were expected to be starters have to play well. That includes Morgan and Sean Rhyan along with Anthony Belton.

“He was going through some stuff, I think, this last game.” Offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said.” “You saw some better fundamentals with him. There were a few times where we’ve got to get on the page with the snap count and stuff like that. We had some issues with that. So again, just the controllable things that we can control, like coming off on the ball, things like that, we’ve got to clean up because there was too many issues last game, and we were lucky to get a win with those things, penalties and what not.”

4 Christian Watson

After a big first week of the season, Christian Watson struggled much like the rest of the passing game in Week 2. Without AJ Terrell in the lineup, who was placed on injured reserve with a groin injury, Watson should have a prime opportunity to have a big week.

Watson is the Packers’ big-play guy, and they need someone to step up in the absence of Jayden Reed. Matthew Golden has been excellent early in the season even if the numbers are not gaudy, but these are the situations where the Packers need their big money players to step up.

Christian Watson 81-yard catch-and-run!

GBvsMIN on CBS/Paramount+
Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/SVOKajdaok
— NFL (@NFL) September 13, 2026

3 Jordan Love

Matt LaFleur said that his third down offense was disgusting. He’s right. The Packers are currently the worst team in the league at converting on third downs. There are a variety of reasons for that. They have to stay ahead of the sticks on first and second down to be in more manageable situations.

“I think that is really the majority of it,” LaFleur said. “I mean, I think you look at our third downs, I want to say we’re last in the league in distance to go. It’s almost third and 10 every time, which, if you’re in those situations, it’s a low percentage, so we got to get into the third and threes, the short yardage situations, and then do a good job, you know, executing in those moments.”

Part of staying out of those downs and distances is getting better play on the earlier downs from the quarterback. Jordan Love is currently at the bottom of the league in completion percentage. That’s a collective effort from Love making better decisions and putting the ball in better spots, along with his receivers making plays on the other end of the pass.

Thursday’s game is about getting the Packers to 2-1. When Aaron Rodgers was under center and the Packers welcomed a bad team to Lambeau Field, it was almost always money in the bank that the Packers were going to win big.

Love needs to get his team to that level where games like Thursday against a poor Falcons team are a stone cold lock.

Love and the offense need a big night to get on track to build some confidence before a stretch of five games in the month of October against NFC opponents.

2 Zaire Franklin

Who is the leader of Green Bay’s defense? Would anyone argue it’s not Zaire Franklin? Last week after Jayden Reed and Zach Bako-Bewele left the game with serious injuries, Franklin was seen on the Fox broadcast rallying his troops on the sideline.

“He wears the ‘C’ for a reason,” defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon said.

That reason was on full display as Franklin helped his defense suffocate the Jets in the second half of Sunday’s 20-17 victory.

Thursday, the Packers have a different challenge coming into Green Bay with Bijan Robinson, one of the best running backs in the league, set to face them.

“Yeah I mean however you want to rank him in the world, put him up there,” Gannon said. I mean high volume guy, can beat you multiple ways, really good contact balance to get extra yardage. He can hit home runs. In the pass game, I would say elite. In the run game, I would say elite and the offense is running through him, so we got a big-time challenge. We know that he’s going to make his plays. We got to minimize him as much as we can.”

Stopping the run is Franklin’s primary duty on defense as a physical presence in the middle. In the passing game, more on that with our next guy.

1 Edgerrin Cooper

Zaire Franklin might be the leader of the defense. Lukas Van Ness might be having a breakout season. Who has been the best player on Green Bay’s defense through two weeks? It’d be hard to argue against Edgerrin Cooper, even if he would not agree with that.

Cooper said he was playing below his standard, which drew a laugh from his defensive coordinator, while acknowledging there is still some meat on the bone.

Yeah, I think nobody’s ever a finished product, one,” Gannon said. “Two he is playing extremely well right now. But that I’m going to keep that between Coop and I and Sam what I want to see him do better. But I do think there’s another level he can get to.”

If there is another level that Cooper can get to, that’s a scary thought for opposing offenses. Cooper has been incredibly active through two weeks. He has one sack in each of the first two games, and had another wiped away by an illegal contact penalty Week 1 in Minnesota. He has five TFL’s through two games, and now will have to show some of his ability when Bijan Robinson gets out into the passing game.

Cooper is good at a lot of things, and one of those is coverage. He was a big reason the Packers shut down Detroit Lions’ running back Jahmyr Gibbs in last year’s season opener.

Gannon will likely do his best to ensure that Robinson is often matched up with Cooper in situations like that to keep him from wrecking the game through the air.

So much for Banks getting up until gametime.

Plus the rest of the Packers -Falcons injury report. ⬇️https://t.co/A1Zj6fGm3X
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) September 23, 2026

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