Falcons Clips
Tua Tagovailoa’s chance to be the Falcons’ starting quarterback may have come and gone.
Tagovailoa was set to start in Week 1 before an oblique injury in the days before the game knocked him out of consideration to play against the Steelers. Tagovailoa also missed Week 2, which gave Michael Penix enough time to finish his road back from a torn ACL and move to the top of the depth chart.
Penix led the Falcons to a win over the Packers last Thursday and Tagovailoa is now in the backup slot. Tagovailoa said on Tuesday that he views his role as making “sure you’re not the reason [Penix is] failing.”
“I’m always going to look at it as a competition,” Tagovailoa said, via Marc Raimondi of ESPN.com. “But as I said, this is the job description right now. Mike’s the guy. We have to do everything we can to support him, and we’re going to support him.”
Penix has a long history of knee injuries and a short history of sustained success as a starter, so Tagovailoa’s role could change at some point in the future. For now, though, he’s going to be an observer on gameday.
One of New Orleans’ key offensive players is set to be sidelined for a bit.
Via multiple reporters, head coach Kellen Moore said in his Monday press conference that running back Travis Etienne will have some “time lost” due to the hamstring injury he suffered in Sunday’s loss to the Raiders.
Moore did not specify a timeline for Etienne’s return.
In his first season with the Saints, Etienne has rushed for 128 yards and caught 11 passes for 51 yards in three games.
The Saints also have Alvin Kamara, Kendre Miller, and CJ Donaldson on their 53-man roster at running back.
As of last Sunday night, there was optimism that an MRI would show that Bears quarterback Caleb Williams had suffered a Grade 1 hamstring injury. For six days, the Bears managed to keep the specific degree of the strain secret.
The secret is now out. ESPN reports that it’s a Grade 2 injury, which “could” keep Williams out of action for three to four weeks.
That’s on the short end of the usual window for a Grade 2 hamstring strain — three to eight weeks.
Whatever the specific grade (and there are surely shades of gray between 1 and 2), a hamstring injury needs time to recover. And then even more time. It can feel fine with normal running. Then, when the athlete hits full speed in a game, it can grab. And then it’s aggravated. And more time can be missed.
Tyson Bagent, once cleared from a concussion he suffered last Sunday, will be the starter. Case Keenum is Bagent’s backup.
Williams has already been ruled out for Monday night’s game against the Eagles. In Week 4, the Bears host the Jets before traveling to Green Bay and then Atlanta. Next up will be the two Super Bowl teams, with a home game against the Patriots in Week 7 and a Monday night visit to Seattle in Week 8.
The Falcons may have a special combination in quarterback Michael Penix and wide receiver Drake London.
Penix has only made 13 starts so far in his NFL career, but when he plays, he gets the best out of London. In those 13 games over three seasons, London has 91 catches for 1,356 yards.
That makes London’s per-game average with Penix seven catches for 104 yards. In London’s 52 other career games, with all other quarterbacks, he averages four catches for 55 yards.
The Falcons’ passing game was a disaster in the first two weeks of this season, before Penix was cleared to return from last year’s torn ACL. But on Thursday night, the passing offense came alive, and if Penix and London can both stay healthy, the Falcons may just have a dangerous offense the rest of the season.
Michael Penix’s return to the Falcons starting lineup didn’t get off to a great start, but that just turned out to be one more chance for him to show his ability to bounce back from an adverse situation.
Penix threw an interception on the fourth offensive play, which seemed like an omen that it would be a long night for the Falcons in the quarterback’s first start since last season’s torn ACL. It turned out far differently, however. Penix finished the night 18-of-25 for 256 yards and a touchdown to tight end Austin Hooper in a 35-14 rout of the Packers.
“I knew we had a long game ahead of us, so I just continue to keep my head down, continue to keep working and doing what I can to help this team win a football game,” Penix said of his response to the interception.
Nine of Penix’s passes went to wide receiver Drake London for 194 yards and the wideout had a succinct way of summing up Penix’s return from both the injury and the early stumble.
“He’s the definition of resiliency,” London said.
Penix noted that it is a “long season” and that the Falcons were “far from perfect” on Thursday night, but they were leaps and bounds better than they were in the first two weeks and Penix’s play gives the team plenty of reason to believe that more good days are in their future.
Falcons running back Bijan Robinson and wide receiver Drake London ran wild at Lambeau Field on Thursday night.
Robinson had 194 rushing yards and London had 194 receiving yards as the Falcons crushed the Packers 35-14.
Via Josh Dubow of the Associated Press, London and Robinson are the first teammates each with more than 150 yards from scrimmage in a road game at Lambeau Field. They’re also the fist teammates each with 190 or more yards from scrimmage in a road game in 50 years: It was last accomplished by Rams running back Lawrence McCutcheon and wide receiver Ron Jessie at Miami in 1976.
Robinson and London have now played together in three games when they both had 150 or more yards from scrimmage. They’re the first pair of teammates in NFL history to top 150 yards in the same game three times.
Robinson, who also had two catches for 19 yards, totaled 213 yards from scrimmage. He’s the first player to top 200 yards from scrimmage in a game this season, and he has an NFL-high 467 yards from scrimmage this season. He’s averaging 155.7 yards from scrimmage through three games.
In the first two weeks of the season, the Falcons’ quarterback play was so bad with Cooper Rush getting benched for Jack Strand that it was easy to overlook what dynamic playmakers the Falcons have. If the now-healthy Michael Penix can just execute his job competently and get the ball to those playmakers consistently, the Falcons’ offense is going to be a real threat for the rest of the season.
The fans in Green Bay loudly booed during the Packers’ 35-14 loss to the Falcons on Thursday night at Lambeau Field. Packers tight end Tucker Kraft did not appreciate that.
“That’s pretty tough,” Kraft said of the booing. “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. It’s pretty disappointing. It’s not gonna help us win. I don’t know what people think, that’s gonna rally us or something like that. But 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.”
Kraft, who caught four passes for 26 yards, admitted that he didn’t play to his own standards, and that the Packers need to play better than they have during their 1-2 start.
“Long season, we’re three games in, we’ve dropped two to NFC opponents, though,” Kraft said.
Kraft said the Packers can’t listen to boos, cheers or anything else.
“We can’t let external noise divide us,” Kraft said. “Us guys in this locker room, we’re really all we’ve got. We spend a lot of time together, so just continue to stay close and build off each other.”
The Packers had won 13 straight home openers. They were unable to get to 14.
The Falcons dominated at Lambeau Field on Thursday night, beating the Packers 35-14.
After the game, Green Bay coach Matt LaFleur called it what it was.
“It was a butt-whooping,” LaFleur said. “That was at least three-quarter butt-whooping right there.”
His comments came in the context of the potential impact of a roughing the passer call that extended Atlanta’s initial scoring drive on the flow of the game. Asked about that specific call, LaFleur said, “I’m not gonna answer that. I’m not gonna get fined.”
For now, no one is getting fired. Asked if the play of the offensive line will prompt changes to the coaching staff, LaFleur said, “I’m not even going to respond to that question.”
He also declined to hang the sluggish performance of the offense on the blockers. “I don’t want to put all the blame on the offensive line,” LaFleur said. “There’s enough blame to go around to everybody.”
Still, the numbers say it all. The Packers couldn’t run. They had nine rushing attempts for 17 yards, against 53 passes. And they clearly miss starting tailback Josh Jacobs.
“I mean, I think we all saw a dynamic running back on the other side, and I think Josh is a dynamic running back,” LaFleur said. “But it is the situation, it’s the circumstance. And it is what it is right now. And we’ve got to find a way just to either — well, one, we’ve got to put them in a better position, and then those guys gotta go do it.”
They have extra time to figure out how to do it before a Week 4 game at Tampa Bay, for a renewal of the old NFC Central “Bay of Pigs” rivalry. With Green Bay at 1-2 and the Buccaneers at 0-2, it could be time for Chris Berman to dust off that name, for the first time in a long time.
Drake London and Bijan Robinson combined for 407 yards and two touchdowns, leading the Falcons to a 35-14 rout of the Packers on Thursday night.
It was the Packers’ first home-opening loss since 2012.
Both teams are 1-2.
After their first two games, played without starting quarterback Michael Penix, the Falcons ranked 29th in total offense (262 yards per game) and last in scoring (16 total points). They did not have a single red zone snap.
Penix’s return changed everything.
He had a slow start, throwing an interception on the team’s first possession, but he went 13-of-15 with a touchdown in the second and third quarters. Penix finished 18-of-25 for 256 yards with a touchdown and an interception.
London, who had six catches for 80 yards in the first two games, caught nine passes for 194 yards. Robinson, who had 37 carries for 80 yards in the first two games, had 29 carries for 194 yards and two touchdowns. He also caught two passes for 19 yards.
They are the first teammates with at least 190 yards from scrimmage in a road game since Lawrence McCutcheon and Ron Jessie did it for the Rams against the Dolphins in 1976.
The Falcons outgained the Packers 498 yards to 328, with two kneel downs in victory formation dropping them under 500 yards. They were 6-of-10 on third down.
Green Bay led 7-0 on Christian Watson’s fourth touchdown catch of the season, but it was short-lived. The Falcons went on a 27-0 run before Matthew Golden scored his first touchdown.
The Packers managed only 17 yards rushing.
Jordan Love was 28-of-53 for 312 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. Golden caught five passes for 100 yards, and Watson had seven receptions for 96 yards.
The Falcons are dominating the Packers at Lambeau Field.
Brian Robinson scored on a 7-yard run with 3:38 left in the third quarter, giving the Falcons a 24-7 lead. Atlanta went 92 yards in 10 plays after a fourth-and-1 stop of the Packers.
Jordan Love threw incomplete in the end zone as Green Bay turned it over on downs at the Atlanta 7.
The Falcons have outgained the Packers 340 yards to 171.
In his 2026 debut, Michael Penix is 15-of-22 for 132 yards with a touchdown and an interception.
Bijan Robinson has 20 carries for 158 yards and a touchdown and two receptions for 19 yards.
