The skill group the preview called the one thing Atlanta had going for it turned out to be the whole game. Robinson ran for 194 yards and 2 touchdowns, a week after 72 on 16 carries against the Panthers. London caught 9 balls for 194 yards, 4 weeks after a 4-catch, 51-yard afternoon was the best thing about the Carolina loss. It takes a quarterback to get London to 194, so whatever Penix's final line was, the passing game was working. The box score we pulled led with the 2 194-yard days and didn't list Penix's own numbers, but the offense ran through him from start to finish.
Green Bay was a 4.5-point favorite and didn't look like one after the first quarter. It was 7-7 after 15 minutes. Then the Falcons scored 10 in the second quarter and 7 in the third while the Packers put up 0 and 0, and by the fourth it was 24-7. Green Bay's only other touchdown was Jordan Love finding Christian Watson for a short score, and by then Atlanta was running the clock with Robinson.
The preview said the matchup came down to whether Penix could find his rhythm faster than Green Bay could fix its line, and it was never close. With Reed out, the passing game leaned on Watson and Matthew Golden, and Watson's touchdown is the only Packers passing moment the box score we found bothered to mention. Up front, a line without Aaron Banks and Zach Bako-Bewele couldn't keep drives going long enough to answer. The other side of that question looked just as bad. A defense that got Lukas Van Ness home 1.5 times against the Jets gave up nearly 500 yards to a quarterback in his first game back from knee surgery, and a 194-yard rushing day says the run defense was the bigger problem.
Atlanta's defense was the unit most likely to cost it this game on paper. A.J. Terrell went to injured reserve, C.J. Henderson moved into a starting corner job, and Samson Ebukam sat out with a hamstring. Still, a defense missing its best corner and an edge rusher held a Packers offense to 7 points through 3 quarters. Green Bay was without Anthony Campbell and Warren Brinson on its defensive interior, and Javon Hargrave played through a concussion and a knee injury. Robinson ran right through that thin front.
This result flips Atlanta's season. The Falcons lost their first 2 games by a combined 38 points, then won this one by 21 on the road. They found out the Penix-Robinson-London offense is the one they should have been running all along. Green Bay is 1-2 and headed into a long weekend with a banged-up line, no Reed, and a run defense that couldn't get Robinson on the ground. The Jets comeback bought them a week of goodwill, and the second and third quarters spent it.