Falcons Snap the Packers’ 13-Year Home-Opener Streak

The Atlanta Falcons beat the Green Bay Packers 35-14 on Thursday night at Lambeau Field, ending a 13-year home-opener winning streak. Bijan Robinson ran for 194 yards and two scores, Drake London caught nine passes for 194 yards, and Michael Penix Jr. started for the first time since tearing his left ACL on Nov. 16.

Atlanta had scored 16 points in two games and had not reached the red zone. Green Bay needed one win to own the NFL record alone. The Packers still went home 1-2, matching the Falcons, after a night that turned on a blocked kick, an empty backfield, and a quarterback who had refused to play until the knee felt right.

The Packers’ Record Night Never Arrived

Green Bay entered Thursday tied with the Miami Dolphins of 1976 through 1988 at 13 consecutive home-opener wins, a run that began in 2013 and had survived the Jets, the Bears, and the Saints in one-score games. A win over Atlanta would have made the Packers the first franchise to 14. Next Gen Stats had already noted that every other team in the league lost at least three home openers during that same stretch.

The 13 straight wins in home openers ended in a 35-14 loss, the club’s first home-opener defeat since a 30-22 loss to San Francisco in 2012. Atlanta, which had not won at Lambeau Field since 2008, rolled up 498 yards, 25 first downs, and 37:05 of possession in front of 76,955. The Packers finished with 328 yards and were booed through long stretches of a Thursday night they had treated as a date with history.

THE HOME-OPENER CLOCK

1. 2012: San Francisco beats Green Bay 30-22 in the last home-opener loss before the streak.
2. 2013 through 2025: Thirteen straight home-opener wins, tying the Dolphins’ 1976-88 record.
3. Sept. 24, 2026: Atlanta wins 35-14 and leaves the two clubs tied at 13 forever.

Matt LaFleur’s team had opened with two road games, then came home as a 1-1 club that had just survived the Jets in overtime. The record was supposed to be the reset. It became the footnote.

Sixteen Points, Then a 35-14 Road Win

Penix sat the first two weeks while he finished rehab, Tua Tagovailoa strained an oblique in practice, and Cooper Rush started. Rush threw two interceptions in a 20-13 loss at Pittsburgh, including a pick-six by T.J. Watt, then was pulled in a 34-3 home loss to Carolina after a fumble and two more interceptions. Undrafted rookie Jack Strand came in and gave the ball away twice more. Kevin Stefanski, in his first season as Atlanta’s head coach, said after that game there was no way to win in the NFL like that.

The drought was not a talent problem so much as a quarterback-availability problem, and Thursday made that plain. Atlanta scored 27 unanswered points after falling behind 7-0, turning a 7-0 hole into a 27-7 lead, and left Wisconsin with its largest road margin since a 29-3 win at Carolina in 2019.

ATLANTA’S FIRST THREE WEEKS

Linebacker Divine Deablo said the Falcons had put bad film on the field and wanted to show who they were. They did it on a short week, in a building where they had lost four straight visits, against a Packers team that had not lost a home opener in 13 seasons.

Why Penix Sat Out the First Two Games

Penix had not played in 312 days. The left-knee ACL he tore against Carolina on Nov. 16 was his third ACL, after two on the right, and the fifth season-ending injury of his football life. He was medically cleared before the last preseason game and still told the staff he was not ready. Safety Jessie Bates III, whose locker sits next to his, watched him break down over it.

That dude was crying, he was trying to get back, dying to get back. I know how much it means to him, and I know how much he means to this locker room.

Jessie Bates III, Falcons safety, after the game in Green Bay

A hard Saturday workout produced no next-day soreness. Penix told Stefanski after the Panthers loss that he could play, then confirmed it Monday. He was the 15th quarterback to start a game for Stefanski and the 11th to win one in the coach’s 104 career games. He is 4-8 as a starter since Atlanta took him eighth in the 2024 draft, and this was his 13th career start.

The first series looked like rust. Xavier McKinney intercepted him on the fourth play, and he went 1-of-5 with that pick across the first two drives. Then the night flipped. NFL reporter Albert Breer logged him at 16-of-18 for 234 yards after the first quarter. He finished 18-of-25 for 256 yards, one touchdown, and one interception, a 101.4 rating, including 7-of-8 for 129 yards on third down and a 158.3 rating in those spots. He was 17-of-20 after those first two drives.

“Definitely after that interception, I started getting a rhythm, and everything started clicking,” Penix said. London called him the definition of resiliency and said that after the pick Penix figured it could not get worse, so he just played. Robinson said Penix looked comfortable and was balling. Stefanski said he was proud of a rehab that is not easy, and that Thursday was something to build on.

“It felt great to get a win, felt great to come out of there healthy. Just blessed,” Penix said. “I have been through a lot, but I’m blessed. I wanted to be out there, but it’s all God’s plan.”

Robinson and London Matched at 194 Yards

Robinson carried 29 times for 194 yards, 6.7 a pop, with scoring runs of 3 and 2 yards plus bursts of 55 and 31. He added two catches for 19 yards, 213 from scrimmage, and finished a yard short of his career high of 195, set against the Rams in 2025. Next Gen Stats tracked the 55-yard run, the longest in the league this season, as 89.6 yards of actual distance. NFL Research has him at 145.4 scrimmage yards per prime-time game, minimum five, the high mark on record.

“I’m big on trying to put defenders in a bind,” Robinson said. “When you get to a defender, and his eyes start getting big, that’s when you know you’ve got him. Couple times tonight those defenders’ eyes were getting really, really big.” A former Texas teammate on the Packers asked why he had to do it against them. Robinson told him that was just how they had to do it.

London, who had six catches for 80 yards in the first two games, went for a career-high 194 on nine grabs, half of Penix’s completions. A 68-yard strike on third-and-2 set up Nick Folk’s 31-yard field goal. A 40-yard catch set up Robinson’s last score. London grinned and called himself slow, said he had to run extra this week, and still could not complain. He and Robinson became the first teammates with 190-plus scrimmage yards each in a road game since Lawrence McCutcheon and Ron Jessie did it for the Rams at Miami on Oct. 3, 1976.

Brian Robinson Jr. added a 16-yard run and the 7-yard touchdown that made it 24-7. Folk also hit from 44. Austin Hooper caught the 5-yard score that put Atlanta up 17-7 with 59 seconds left in the half. The skill players who had been stuck behind a third-string passer for two weeks finally had a quarterback who could keep a defense honest, and Lambeau spent the rest of the night chasing them.

Jacobs, Parsons and 17 Rushing Yards

Jordan Love completed 28 of 53 for 312 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception, a 75.4 rating and 5.9 yards per attempt. He entered the night at 52.1 percent, worst among qualified starters, and left at 52.8 percent. Christian Watson scored from 4 yards at 5:13 of the first quarter, his fourth touchdown of the season, on an 87-yard drive, and finished with seven catches for 96 yards. Matthew Golden had five for 100 and a 15-yard score, his first career hundred-yard game and first touchdown. None of it moved the sticks on the ground.

Green Bay ran nine times for 17 yards, 1.9 a carry. MarShawn Lloyd led the team with 11 yards on four attempts. Atlanta ran for 242. Jeff Ulbrich’s defense allowed 328 yards and put Love under 12 quarterback hits and 23 pressures, a 41.8 percent pressure rate, with one sack from Cameron Thomas. C.J. Henderson, filling in with A.J. Terrell on injured reserve, saw 12 targets and allowed five catches for 52 yards with three passes defensed. The Packers’ defense did not force a three-and-out.

WHO WAS MISSING IN GREEN BAY

• Josh Jacobs: The lead back has been on the commissioner’s exempt list since Aug. 30 and cannot practice or play while the league reviews his case.
• Micah Parsons: The edge rusher opened the year on the physically unable to perform list after an ACL and meniscus tear and must sit at least the first four games.
• The right side of the line: Aaron Banks and Zach Tom were out, with Tom done for the year on a patellar tendon tear, and Jager Burton started at left guard.

Love still found Watson and Golden downfield. He could not threaten a defense that knew the next play was another dropback. Atlanta’s own account posted the rush number the next morning and left it there.

Woke up still having allowed only 17 rushing yards last night

— Atlanta Falcons (@AtlantaFalcons) September 25, 2026

A mini-bye is next, with Tampa Bay (0-2) on the other side of it. The run game that has not topped 70 yards in a game this season does not get Jacobs back on a timetable anyone in Green Bay controls.

Harrison’s Block Kept Green Bay From Tying

The Packers had two chances to keep the night from getting away, and they missed both. After Folk’s 44-yarder made it 10-7, Love moved into field-goal range with help from a 34-yard pass-interference flag. Trey Smack then lined up from 47. Zach Harrison blocked it with 3:42 left in the half. Penix went 63 yards the other way and hit Hooper on third-and-goal, 17-7, 59 seconds left.

Green Bay’s first drive of the second half reached the Atlanta 8. Lloyd got four yards on two carries, Watson was tackled a yard short, and Love’s play-action pass on fourth-and-1 sailed high. The Falcons answered with 92 yards, Robinson’s 31-yard burst in the middle of it, and Brian Robinson’s 7-yard run for 24-7. Folk’s 31-yarder after the 68-yard London catch made it 27-7. Golden’s 15-yard score at 8:18 of the fourth cut it to 27-14, and that was the last time the building had a reason to stand.

THE THREE PLAYS THAT CLOSED LAMBEAU

• Blocked field goal: Harrison gets a hand on Smack’s 47-yard try, and Atlanta scores six plays later to go up 10.
• Fourth-and-1 at the 8: Love misses Watson, and the Falcons drive 92 yards for 24-7.
• Watts interception: After Golden’s 20-yard catch, Xavier Watts picks Love and ends the last push.

Robinson’s 2-yard run at 3:33, plus a two-point conversion, made it 35-14. The Falcons went 6-of-10 on third down. Green Bay went 6-of-15 and punted five times. The record night had been over since the block.

Atlanta’s First Lambeau Win Since 2008

The last time the Falcons won in Green Bay, Matt Ryan was the rookie quarterback. Ryan is now president of football operations, Ian Cunningham is the new general manager, and Thursday was the first win in those jobs as well as Stefanski’s first as Atlanta’s head coach. Robinson is averaging those 145.4 scrimmage yards under the lights. London finally had a quarterback who found him on time. Penix came out healthy, which was the part he kept repeating.

Atlanta visits New Orleans on Monday night, the second of three straight prime-time games, with Baltimore on Sunday night after that. Stefanski would not call Thursday a corner turned. “Every week in the NFL is hard,” he said. “It’s just hard. Next week is going to be hard, and the next one after that. We don’t ride the roller coaster in our building. We just stay focused on what is in front of us.”

Green Bay is 1-2 with a broken opener streak, 17 rushing yards, and two stars still off the field. Atlanta is 1-2 with 35 points, two 194-yard nights on the same sheet, and a quarterback who waited until he could walk into Lambeau without guessing about the knee. The Dolphins’ old record is still the record. Nobody in that building came for a tie.