Albert Breer on Packers’ Problems, Chargers-Bills, Rams-Broncos

All right.

Welcome in to the Brew Report for Friday, September 25th.

Week 3 is underway, and we got a fairly shocking result out of Thursday Night Football with the Atlanta Falcons who looked pretty listless over the first two weeks of the season, going into Lambeau Field and knocking the crap out of the Green Bay Packers, and I, I don't say that lightly.

This was an ass kicking and Again, the Falcons did not look good in week 1 and losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

They did not look good in week 2 and getting blown off the field by the Carolina Panthers.

But tonight, they had Michael Pennox Jr.

making his first start with Kevin Stefanski.

As his head coach, and they score more points than any opponent has in a Lambeau home opener since 1971.

That's the year after the merger.

Obviously, the implications for Green Bay are not good.

Let's start with the Falcons, and I think you have to give Atlanta credit again after the way The season started.

It was not pretty in Pittsburgh in the opener.

It got even worse last week against the Carolina Panthers.

And for the Falcons to gather themselves again after getting blown off the field by Carolina in week two to play the way they did, they deserve a lot of credit for that.

It starts, of course, with Bejon Robinson, who was undoubtedly the star of the evening.

A couple of huge plays, he winds up with 213 yards from scrimmage on 31 touches, 194 yards, and 2 touchdowns on 29 yards rushing, and really, that is the story.

Of tonight.

The Atlanta Falcons were able to run the ball successfully, consistently on the Packers, and I thought maybe most glaring of all was where it showed up at the very end.

Yeah, there were big plays earlier on, but the Packers still had a glimmer, a glimmer of hope halfway through the 4th quarter.

Jordan Love with a touchdown pass to Matthew Golden, 15 yards.

That draws the Packers to within 13 points.

So at that point, we're early in the 4th quarter, the Falcons were doubling up the Packers in total yards.

Now you've cut the lead to 13 points, and again, you've got an outside shot at a comeback, you've got a little momentum, and the Falcons proceeded to line up .

And drive the ball right down Main Street, 8 plays, 67 yards to slam the door shut, and 7 of those 8 plays were on the ground.

So, again, this is a veteran offensive line, this is an elite tailback, um, and a new coaching staff finally putting it all together.

And a big part of this story, of course, is also gonna be the fact that they had their young quarterback back in there.

And this is the ideal environment to introduce your young quarterback back into, of course, coming off of the ACL, being able to run the ball that well.

They rushed for over 200 yards.

And that allowed for Michael Pennox to settle in.

He was not great in the first quarter, he threw a pick.

Um, after the first quarter, he was 207 for just 22 yards.

Over the last three quarters, 16 of 18, 234 yards, a touchdown pass, that means he, means he finished 18 of 25.

For 256 yards and a touchdown pass.

Drake London, of course, the great young young receiver, winds up with 194 yards on 9 catches.

So, if you are looking for encouraging signs for the Falcons, and again, on defense, they're without Jalen Walker, they're without James Pierce, they're without AJ Terrell.

They were able to put together a complete performance where they ran the ball, they were able to stop the run, they were able to affect Jordan Love.

In the end, they wind up with an incredible, incredible 242 to 17 edge and rushing yards.

And so, everything you'd want if you're the Falcons, again, coming off of a little bit of an embarrassing loss in week two to Carolina, coming off of an 0-2 start you got.

Now, what does this mean for the Packers, and where does this leave the Packers?

Well, to this point, we've got the collapse in Minnesota.

We've got uh a game against the Jets, which should have been their get right game where they were down by 10 points late, they were able to come back and squeak out a win in overtime, but I, I think you look at like the totality of that one, and I'm not sure how much positive you're gonna take from that one.

And now this.

And now the Packers find themselves in this position.

And it's not like we're looking at this and saying , OK, now the Packers are in an impossible situation.

The look of the division right now, it doesn't look like anybody's gonna run away with it.

You've got the Bears at 1 and 1, the Packers are now 1 and 2.

You have the Vikings who have looked really good so far.

The Vikings are 2-0.

The Lions are 1 and 1.

I'm not sure if there's gonna be a 13 or 14 win team in the division.

So the Packers do have time to get their act together.

Uh, you, you would think that over the course of time, you know, they're gonna get Jaden Reid back, that young receiver group could grow up a little bit more with Christian Watson and Matthew Golden, both very good players.

Tucker C Kraft will get more comfortable.

They bring back Micah Parsons, Luca, Lucas Van Ness's performance through 3 weeks has been pretty encouraging, but there's a lot to clean up here.

You could hear the way that the faithful at Lambeau Field was reacting, and, and, and, and it wasn't great.

And so there's a lot of pressure on Matt LaFleur, there's a lot of pressure on Jordan Love.

I mean, look, at this point, we're right now talking about Matt LaFleur in his 8th year as the Packers' head coach.

This is Jordan Love's 7th year um in Green Bay, his 4th year as the starting quarterback.

They've been pretty good for a long time now, and there's been pressure on them to find a way to put it over the top.

Is that gonna happen this year?

The early signs aren't great, but again, they're 1 and 2.

They do have time to work all of this out.

All right, spinning it forward to Sunday, the first game that I want to look at, we picked out 2 for you.

Two teams going in completely opposite directions.

You got the Buffalo Bills, who will be playing at home, who are on a long week, I guess is what you would call it, uh, coming off of playing last Thursday night.

They've got a couple of great games in the books already.

The defense under Jim Leonard hasn't been perfect, but it's made some big plays.

And they were able to beat, I think, two teams that in the end will prove to be pretty good football teams in the Texans and the Lions, and Josh Allen looks like he's at the height of his powers.

You know, you look at the skill group around him, and again, you know, DJ Moore's nicked up, but you've got Dalton Kincaid, you've got Khalil.

Shakir, Keyon Coleman's even shown signs of life.

You've got James Cook.

I think you could argue when they are at full strength, this is as good a skill group as he's had around him, or at least his balanced of skill group as he's had around him.

And now they're coming back home looking to build on all that positive momentum.

And here comes a wounded Chargers team across the country.

And It's going to be an interesting litmus test, and it doesn't necessarily mean they need to win the game, but it's an interesting litmus test for Jim Harbaugh's program.

They have not run the ball well for two weeks.

Uh, uh, a hallmark of Jim Harbaugh's best teams has always been their ability to run the ball.

Mike McDaniel's offenses have always been, always found their foundation in the running game.

So can they turn that piece of it around?

Can Justin Herbert play better?

Can the defense play better under Chris O'Leary, their first-year off, first-year defensive coordinator who's, of course, replacing a really accomplished uh coordinator in Jesse Minter, and you're looking down the barrel of an incredibly, incredibly difficult stretch for the Chargers.

The fact that they lost to the Cardinals and Raiders in weeks 1 and 2 is tough enough.

Those were supposed to be the layups.

And we'll see how good the Cardinals and Raiders wind up being, but though, that was supposed to be where the Chargers built their cushion as they went into a brutal, brutal, brutal, uh, seven-game stretch.

So here's what it looks like.

They're in Buffalo this weekend.

They go to Seattle next week, then they have the Broncos at home, and they go to Arrowhead.

That's the next 4 games.

Then they have their bye.

Then they're at the Rams, then they get Houston at home, and then they're at Baltimore .

And so that's a seven-game stretch.

Without a real breather, and a 7-game stretch, and again, that Rams game is technically a road game, it's really a a home game, but that's, if you take that, we need to take that one out, that's a that that's a, that's a stretch with 4 road games in it.

And you go across the country to Buffalo, you go to Seattle, you go to the middle of the country to play the Chiefs, you go across the country to Baltimore, and the end of that stretch brings you to the middle of November.

So by then, you're gonna have a pretty good idea who most teams are, you'll have an idea who the Chargers are, but it starts here, and 0 and 2 is already a big enough hole.

So this is a very real gut check for the Chargers, and at the very least, You'd like to see some signs of life after back to back double-digit losses again, to two teams that we're picking in the top 3 in April.

So an important game for the Chargers there, a chance for the Bills to make another statement .

That's an important game in the, the 1 p.m. window.

And then on Sunday night, this is the other one you gotta love.

I think most people would look at this as the game of the week, and that's the Rams going to the Broncos.

Both of these teams got off to rough starts.

Both of these teams took it on the chin against rivals in week.

One, the Rams, of course, getting blown out by the 49ers in Australia, and then the Broncos getting blown out at Arrowhead.

Both these teams bounced back in week two.

And one of the things that I really liked about the way both these teams bounced back in week 2 is those were trademark type victories for them.

They won those games their way.

They wound up outlasting their opponents in the end.

If you look at it, the way that the, the Broncos were able to carry the second half against Jacksonville, the way that the Rams were able to wear down, and of course, there was a quarterback injury, but eventually wear out the New York Giants.

You really like where both those teams were coming out of week two.

And this was my Super Bowl.

This was my pick for Super Bowl 61, and I still think that that's very much on the board.

And so, what does Bo Nix look like in week 3 against a defense that played really, really well in week two?

What does the Rams front look like again without Miles Garrett against one of the best offensive lines in all of football?

What are the Broncos receivers look like going up against that revamped Rams secondary.

You've got Jalen Waddle added to the Broncos receiver group.

You've got Trent McDuffie and Jalen Watson added to the Rams secondary.

There's so many matchups to dig into here, and I'm excited for all of it.

And here's the other thing about that one, is, again, like the Chargers, you look at the Broncos schedule, and you look at the Rams schedule, and the next month is gonna determine a lot.

The Broncos, of course, the Rams on Sunday, then they're at the 49ers, at the Chargers, and then they host the Seahawks.

So that's their next 4 weeks, and then the next 3 weeks for the Rams at Denver, at Philadelphia, and then they play Buffalo.

And so, I'm not saying tripping up or stumbling over the next month could wind up costing either of these teams a season, but it certainly could affect seeding.

It certainly could affect whether games are being played at Sofi or Mile High in January, and that makes every one of them important, and that makes them having their act together important.

And of course, you know, losing in week one, you lose a little bit of that collateral.

That you'd like to have.

So, Broncos, Rams, certainly a huge matchup and a lot of them in, in week 3.

And we will have all of that covered for you on the other end of all of this.

We'll have another Breer report coming for you early next week.

As always, you can leave your comments and your questions down below here on the YouTube page or you can get to me on my social media at Albert Breer on Twitter, at Albert Arreer on Facebook, at Albert_Breer on Instagram.

Enjoy week 3, everybody.

We will see you guys on the other side.