- 1 minute ago
Grant McAuley and Mike Johnson react to the Atlanta's dominant victory over the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field, their first win in Green Bay in 18 years. They analyze the return of Michael Penix Jr., who threw for 256 yards and a touchdown while orchestrating a balanced offensive attack. Plus, a deep dive into Bijan Robinson’s near-career night with 194 rushing yards, Drake London’s 194-yard receiving performance, and how Tommy Rees and the offensive line set the tone on the ground.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Michael Penix Jr. was back and in a big way the Atlanta Falcons offense Mike was indeed back maybe
00:07back again for the first time this year and it felt about as good as it has for a long
00:11time when
00:12you watch the way the Falcons were operating moving the ball you had the running game going
00:16you had the quarterback play you needed you had huge huge performances in the passing game and
00:20the defense came to play and all of that added up to the first win for the Falcons at Lambeau
00:25Field
00:25in 18 years Mike I would say that this was a banner evening for the Atlanta Falcons yeah I
00:30don't know I've been trying to think all night uh or at least for the last hour about a 180
00:36that has
00:36ever been done in my opinion in a week-to-week for a week-to-week football team much less
00:41on a short
00:42week for three days off from the last time you took the field I can't imagine that anybody saw this
00:47one coming I think in my wildest dreams when you looked out it was like hey if Michael Penix can
00:51go for 200 yeah if he can get over the you know 12 completion plateau and if Drake can get
00:56the ball
00:56a little bit maybe he can turn it into a Bajon game I never in my wildest dreams imagined we'd
01:02see
01:02the offensive output the tenacity played with on both lines of scrimmage and the just overall inept
01:08offensive capability of what Green Bay put out there tonight so yeah you're right a banner day for a lot
01:14of different reasons it feels like this franchise after having two wheels off the road has somehow found
01:20its way back into the middle of this thing and it feels really really good to watch this team and
01:24these players succeed yeah it really did it was a return to form for Atlanta's offense which lest we
01:29forget has a whole lot of really talented players but it is very hard to win in the NFL if
01:33you are
01:34not able to operate in an efficient manner and I think that was the number one thing you wanted to
01:38see from Michael Penix and you knew that he had his own things that he had to go through in
01:42order to
01:42get himself back to being the player he wants to be but being able to operate as consistently as they
01:47did and I'll paint you a picture the first possession the interception and maybe there's
01:52some folks out there thinking oh no here we go again and then the Packers score the first points
01:56of the game yeah and maybe you're thinking all right well uh that whole thing you're talking about
01:59about the two wheels off the road maybe we are going to continue kind of careening in this uh in
02:03this direction but it could not have been a more night and day difference when all was said and done
02:09the Falcons did what they needed to do and that was just wipe that put it behind them and Michael
02:14Penix really settled in huge game from Drake London huge game from B. Sean Robinson and the
02:19defense also made plenty of plays but this just felt like the most complete game and it shouldn't
02:24surprise anybody because you needed the quarterback you needed the leader of this offense to get out
02:28there make the plays make the throws and keep things moving and Michael Penix did just that yeah
02:32and I think I look at Bears mentioning when you look at the way this this game flowed from Michael
02:36Penix once he throws the interception you're like oh that ain't good you know because you don't want
02:40him to go out there after having I think I counted it 312 days off you don't want him to
02:44go out there
02:45and start second guessing the throws right you don't want him to go oh man I forgot about this
02:49or I'm rusty or I don't feel I don't want to throw across the middle again and I was actually
02:53really
02:53impressed with the way he kind of rebounded from that and it's not necessarily a throw but it's the
02:58confidence that he went to the line of scrimmage with and huge shout out to Tommy Reese for the game
03:03plan put together I thought he did a nice job you saw a double screen and explosive to Bajon really
03:08leaned on the
03:08run game I thought he you know formationally made Green Bay to where they could not be right up front
03:13and you allowed Michael Penix to settle in you did have the one bad throw but sure I thought you
03:17went
03:18right back to him and allowed him some easy throws and you could see it building Grant like by the
03:22second quarter right by the second quarter by the third quarter all of a sudden Drake London on the
03:26double moves and you're taking shots down the field and once that started to happen and once you
03:31connected and once Green Bay fell behind and could not block the pass rush for Atlanta you knew there was
03:36blood in the water right and you knew that Michael Penix was going to be able to operate at a
03:39high
03:40level and really Tommy Reese got to showcase a lot of his skills shout out to the big guys up
03:44front
03:44too for getting it done but I just don't think in my wildest dreams you would have ever seen this
03:48output coming and uh you know hats off to all these guys for getting the work in I mean wildest
03:52dreams
03:52most reasonable expectations I mean any combination of those two things you would certainly take but
03:58yeah this was um the kind of performance that you just I don't think you could have possibly
04:02gone out there and expected and scripted it this way but if things just started to kind of
04:06fall into places you were talking about you know maybe breaking the ice a little bit and getting
04:10back in there getting comfortable again and starting to feel like himself and that was going to be a
04:13huge part of this both physically and mentally for Michael Penix to just feel like he was back
04:17where he belonged doing the things that he knows how to do and feeling comfortable doing those things
04:22so he was the headliner but really the entire Atlanta offense was the story in this game
04:26completely different group operating at a completely different level Michael Penix in this game was 18 to 25 for
04:32256 yards had one passing touchdown also had the one pick early but you know that it was so far
04:38in
04:39the in the rearview mirror by the time this game got rolling that it's it's hard to even pick nits
04:43about that as you just said uh as far as his performance goes 194 yards on the ground 29 carries
04:49that is for B. Sean Robinson who had two scores Brian Robinson Jr. also got into the end zone on
04:54the
04:54running attack and then there's Drake London targeted 10 times nine catches for 194 yards for Drake
05:00Austin Hooper had the touchdown reception from Michael Penix I mean there were just different
05:04guys at different times but if you were thinking about what it is to see the Atlanta Falcons offense
05:09and the Atlanta Falcons in general having success this year there are three names that I think you
05:14can put on the very short list Michael Penix Jr. B. Sean Robinson and Drake London and we got a
05:19whole
05:19heap of help but of all three of those guys reminding you what this team can be capable of when
05:24they're all
05:24out there in the field at the same time and healthy yeah I couldn't I couldn't agree more and I
05:28think
05:28there was also kind of a referendum on what the offensive line has been over the first couple
05:32weeks rightfully so I don't think they've played extremely well we've made mention a number of
05:36times of you know the contract extension and Jake Matthews and Juwan Taylor and whether or not those
05:41guys have been able to rise up to the occasion and I think you saw them really thrive tonight in
05:45a more
05:46balanced offense I also you know a couple of players made mention about Kevin Stefanski and last week's
05:52post-game locker room about holding them accountable and really letting them know for a guy that's so
05:58even keel how intense he actually felt like they needed to play I thought they answered with that
06:02mentality tonight a lot of times you talk about teams really taking on coaches personalities Kevin
06:07Stefanski has had to be kind of reserved he's not the kind of guy that's going to be a real
06:11boisterous
06:12personality in front of the microphones but I thought his team absolutely reflected the intensity that so
06:17many players said he had Sunday in that post-game locker room and you add in the fact that you
06:22know like I
06:22said tonight's the first time that Tommy Reese has been able to really showcase what this offense is
06:26supposed to be the whip motions the the double moves the different things different play calls I
06:33mean a power on the goal line with with a center as the fullback Juwan Taylor reporting is eligible in
06:39a
06:39heavy formation I mean there's so many different things that I loved about the way they went about
06:43it but more than anything it was just the tenacity that every position feel like they they played with
06:48tonight Mike I know you're a big racing guy and you enjoy to to watch that kind of competition and
06:54if you
06:55really think about this the Falcons offense with no quarterback was like bringing that car to the
06:59starting line and getting it rolling but not having the steering wheel attached I mean there just there
07:02was no direction that it could go and you could certainly step on the gas and you know see a
07:07little
07:07bit here and there but you were not set up to succeed but Michael Penix really you know took a
07:11rudderless offense and was able to get it again on on task and on target and on time for the
07:17vast majority
07:18of this game Falcons first win at Lambeau Field since 2008 that was Matt Ryan's rookie season so I'm sure
07:24he was
07:24happy to see another one of those some 18 years later they dropped four meetings in a row there
07:28so not playing there an incredible lot but still not a fun place to play Packers went up 7-0
07:33early
07:34in this game Atlanta then dropped 27 unanswered points to take a commanding lead Green Bay finally
07:39found its way back into the end zone midway through the fourth quarter and Atlanta had an answer for
07:43that and much of this night the answer that Atlanta had was Bijon Robinson what can you say about the
07:47performance that he just put out there one yard shy of his career high 194 yards on the ground for
07:53Bijon Robinson yeah no and I love the way he got these yards he got it by doing a bunch
07:57of
07:57different things I admittedly and you and I've had this conversation and had it in postgame a bunch
08:02last year where you'd watch this offense and it felt like the rushing yards were almost empty
08:06because you could rush the ball really well between the 20s and yet when you got towards the end zone
08:11when you got in the tight red it didn't feel like you had much form because you're a wide zone
08:15football
08:15team you didn't pull the guards you didn't run power you didn't run gap scheme plays I don't know
08:19that Bijon in the first couple of weeks and a lot of this has to do with the quarterback position
08:22really felt comfortable and some of the gap designs but my goodness he felt comfortable
08:27today there's no two ways about that the way in which he kind of pressed the hole on duo
08:32Brian Robinson had a good night as well but you saw a number of times on the goal line Chris
08:36Lindstrom pulling kicking guys out Matthew Bergeron pulling kicking guys uh getting up you know in the
08:41hole and making sure you're driving your legs I thought it was beautiful the run game plan was
08:46beautiful this is what Bijon Robinson in this offensive line ought to be capable of and uh
08:50Green Bay really didn't have any answers defensively no they did not and they certainly
08:54didn't have any answers on the ground you look at the final numbers here 242 rushing yards for the
08:58Falcons you had the 194 from Bijon Robinson 50 more on 10 toads for Brian Robinson who also found his
09:04way into the end zone 17 yards rushing for the Packers who I understand they fell behind so you can't
09:10really run it as much as you want to and Jordan Love had to huck the ball around a lot
09:14in this game
09:14as well but Atlanta really wasn't letting them get anything going and they've got all kinds of
09:18things to deal with and to figure out because this has been a rough start for the Packers they lost
09:23a
09:23couple of games on the road and they lost their home opener I should say for the first time since
09:282012
09:29they just don't really lose games like this at Lambeau Field and this was an emphatic exclamation
09:35point type win for the Atlanta Falcons it really you had to have it because where your season would go
09:39like what place it would go to if you lost this game even in a hard-fought game wasn't a
09:44whole lot
09:44of fun to think about for Atlanta yeah and you mentioned uh the 13 home home openers that you've
09:49won uh straight but you know we talked about it in the pregame show a little bit but John Robinson
09:54and
09:54really a lot of these Atlanta Falcons players over the last couple of years have shown up when it
09:58comes to primetime football I mean you mentioned a couple of games that maybe you shouldn't have won
10:02last year to be honest with you the Rams the Buffalo Bills some of the teams you're able to beat
10:07in
10:07primetime that really uh you know you start the year off with the Minnesota Vikings I mean that's
10:11one of those things where you look at these guys rising to the occasion and you make a statement
10:15you're just not used to seeing the Green Bay Packers in Lambeau as steady as that franchise seemingly
10:19is kind of be caught on their heels like this but you're right I mean Jordan Love was able to
10:24throw it
10:24around a little bit but they they abandoned the run and that's you're right a lot of it has to
10:29do with
10:29what the score of the game was and what you feel like was working and what was not but this
10:33is
10:33something they actually have gone through over the first couple of weeks of the season they've had one of the
10:37lowest rush rates in the NFL they abandoned it early again today and you forced I don't know
10:42what the final number was for Jordan Love but it had to have been over 50 passing attempts which is
10:46just it's kind of insane when you look at the the trajectory of what they've got going offensively
10:51but um yeah I mean it just an unbelievable job in both lines of scrimmage Michael Pennick stepping
10:57back into it and everybody really the skill players getting it done yeah a lot of guys getting it done
11:01on this night and let's put a number on it for Jordan Love it was 53 passing attempts by the
11:06time
11:06things were said and done and I did say they had a couple of road games they split those road
11:10games
11:10they lost the opener they gave up 39 points to the Vikings to open week one then last week were
11:15able
11:15to eke out a win in overtime otherwise this could have been kind of a disaster scenario as well for
11:20the Packers but I would say coming out of this game it's got to be feeling kind of like a
11:23disaster
11:24scenario but we'll dig into all of that and of course we will continue to discuss the return of
11:28Michael Pennick's a huge game from the Atlanta offense some really really nice plays
11:31and and good overall and all-around play from the Falcons on both offense and defense we're going
11:36to be hearing from head coach Kevin Stefanski from Michael Pennix jr and more as we will send it back
11:41up to Lambeau Field and hear from our own Dave Archer Mercedes-Benz the official luxury vehicle of
11:45your Atlanta Falcons this is the Mercedes-Benz postgame show I'm Grant McCauley he's Mike Johnson
11:49more to come on the Atlanta Falcons radio network