GREEN BAY, Wis. — Will a deafening chorus of boos from almost 77,000 disgruntled fans at Lambeau Field help an ailing Green Bay Packers team magically flip a switch? Probably not.
But it’d be nice if they gave those fans something to cheer for, too.
The fact of the matter is that, aside from a pair of choppy, discombobulated scoring drives, there wasn’t much to cheer for in Thursday night’s dreadful loss to the Atlanta Falcons. It was the first time the Packers dropped their home opener since the 2012 campaign, ending a 13-year streak of victories in front of a green-and-gold crowd.
The Packers didn’t just lose—they had the brakes beaten off of them. All three phases—offense, defense, and special teams—played their role in a 21-point loss. Jordan Love was hit 12 times, the Packers’ defense surrendered 194 yards apiece to Bijan Robinson and Drake London, and Trey Smack had a 47-yard field goal blocked when the Falcons only had 10 men on the field.
That’s hardly even scratching the surface of just how grisly a shellacking the Packers took in front of a primetime audience. Tight end Tucker Kraft had his hand in the mediocre on-field product displayed by the Packers’ offense, but he still took offense to the boos that rained down onto the field.
“Yeah, it’s pretty tough,” Kraft said after the loss. “Everyone pictures Lambeau Field, and not boos. I don’t picture boos when I picture my home stadium. That’s tough. It’s pretty disappointing, especially for a home opener.”
Kraft didn’t make much of his eight targets in the loss. Only four were caught, and he managed to churn out 26 yards, but he also had a pair of drops. Thursday night marked 11 days since Kraft returned for the first time since sustaining a torn anterior cruciate ligament last November, so it’s expected that he doesn’t fully look like himself yet. After totaling 65 yards in the Packers’ Sept. 13 loss to the Minnesota Vikings, Kraft has just 41 over the last two games combined.
A little grace can be extended considering there isn’t a single member of the Packers’ offense who looks like themselves. Love is completing a league-worst 52.4 percent of his passes, Christian Watson—renowned for his prowess as a blocking receiver—whiffed on multiple blocks in last week’s narrow win over the New York Jets, and a foreign backfield tandem of MarShawn Lloyd and Kaleb Johnson can’t consistently run the football behind a replacement-level offensive line, which also can’t protect the quarterback.
Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?
“It’s just an execution problem right now, more than anything,” said Love. “It’s a close game, and I feel like we went out there on offense and couldn’t consistently put drives together, couldn’t stay on the field; that’s not a good recipe at all. It’s not a great feeling as an offense to have repeated drives that don’t go anywhere, but at the end of the day, we have to still fight.”
The Packers went three-and-out five times in the game. They converted on six of their 15 third-down attempts, and five of them came in the second half when matters had already gotten out of hand. The inability to sustain drives placed the Packers’ once-surging defense in compromising situations, contributing to the Falcons’ run of 27 unanswered points.
The quarterback was getting decimated behind a makeshift offensive line, and the defense couldn’t stop a nosebleed. The only silver lining is that the Packers were penalized just six times—right around league average of 6.25 for a single game—after 26 flags were thrown their way in their first two games. That’s not worth booing, right?
“It’s not going to help us win,” Kraft said of the boos. “I don’t know what people think that’s gonna rally us or something like that.
“We’re grown men; we’re mentally strong enough, capable enough to get back on the field and play ball, but it’d be much easier with the 70,000 people behind us rather than opposing us.”
Zachary Jacobson is the author of The Packer Dispatch. He is entering his 12th season covering the Green Bay Packers after spending seven as the Editor-in-Chief of Packer Report. He is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America. Follow him on Twitter @zachjacobson or contact him via email at itszachariahj@gmail.com.