One-Two Punch Kayos Green Bay in Home Opener

By Eric Goska

The Packers were dealt a one-two punch Thursday night unlike any they had absorbed in more than a century of playing professional football.

So effective was the combination that it ranks among the most productive in NFL history.

The Atlanta Falcons dominated Green Bay on the ground and through the air in administering a 35-14 beatdown at Lambeau Field. Not only did the victory halt the Packers string of successful home openers at 13, it left the Green and Gold with far more questions than answers.

Top of the list: How to tighten a defense that hemorrhaged 498 yards. Also: How to ensure two players – no matter how talented – don’t account for 80 percent of that total.

Bijan Robinson pounded out 194 yards rushing on 29 carries. Drake London soared for 194 yards on nine receptions.

The two supplied 16 of Atlanta’s 25 first downs. They accounted for 11 of the Falcons’ 13 offensive plays of 10-plus yards.

Robinson ripped off a 55-yard run on the Falcons’ first drive to six points. London snagged passes of 68 and 40 yards on consecutive advances to set up Atlanta’s final two touchdowns.

Mr. Robinson averaged 6.7 yards a carry. Mr. London averaged 21.6 yards a catch.

The tandem earned those titles of respect due to their superlative performances.

Over the years, of course, Green Bay has helped many backs extract 150 or more yards rushing (51 instances) at its expense. It has enabled many wideouts to secure 150 or more receiving yards (54 occurences).

What the club has never done is dole out 400 scrimmage yards to two players in the same game. Robinson (213) and London (194) commandeered 407.

London, selected eighth overall in the 2022 draft by Atlanta, and Robinson, taken in the same spot a year later by the team, have played in 48 regular-season games together. In 18 of those, they combined for more than 200 yards from scrimmage.

Prior to Thursday, they had twice accumulated more than 300. Their best effort had been a 396-yard outing in a 24-14 takedown of Buffalo last season.

The Packers, generous to a fault, allowed the duo to crack 400. In doing so, Green Bay joins seven other teams – Oilers (1963), Giants (1965), Colts (1972), Dolphins (1976), Lions (2007), Raiders (2015) and Eagles (2018) – to have permitted such shenanigans and it, like the others, paid the price with a loss.

Extra Point

The Packers did not rush once in the fourth quarter, opting instead to pass on all 22 of their offensive plays in the final 15 minutes. Since 1953, Green Bay is 1-14 in regular-season games in which it completely abandons the running game after 45 minutes of play.

The 400 Club
The eight times two teammates accounted for 400 or more yards from scrimmage in one regular-season game in NFL history. (list generated using Stathead at Pro-Football-Reference)

Yds   Tandem                                                                         Team              Date
531   Antonio Brown (306)-DeAngelo Williams (225)       Steelers         Nov. 8, 2015
481   Art Powell (247)-Clem Daniels (234)                           Raiders          Dec. 22, 1963
442   Kevin Curtis (221)-Brian Westbrook (221)                 Eagles            Sept. 23, 2007
414   Ernie Green (222)-Jim Brown (192)                             Browns          Nov. 14, 1965
410   Ron Jessie (220)-Lawrence McCutcheon (190)         Rams              Oct. 3, 1976
409   Amari Cooper (217)-Ezekiel Elliott (192)                    Cowboys       Dec. 9, 2018
407   Bijan Robinson (213)-Drake London (194)                Falcons          Sept. 24, 2026
401   Rich Caster (204)-Eddie Bell (197)                               Jets                Sept. 24, 1972

Marshall Faulk Number, Soon Bijan Robinson and Jahmyr Gibbs Qualify

 By John Turney

Credit: Tristar Cards

Back in the 1990s, STATS, Inc., now STATS Perform, introduced a Roger Craig "number" and in later volumes of their publications, changed it to the "Marshall Faulk Number," which was the harmonic mean of rushing yards and receiving yards in the same season. To score high one must do well in both categories so unlike a mean, a large average yards per game is not sufficient because it can be leveled. 

We expanded it to go by games played, since old-school guys like Chuck Foreman and Lydell Mitchell, among others, would be on the list since they played mostly in 14-game seasons. We chose a minimum of 60 games rather arbitrarily or maybe to allow Billy Sims to be included on our list. That would be admitted to.

Later this season, barring injury, Bijan Robinson and Jahmyr Gibbs will reach 60 games played and will make our list. And they rank high. They are the Roger Craig and Marshall Faulk of today (along with all-time leader Christian McCaffrey.

Note that De'Von Achane and Breece Hall could also rank in the top 25 if they reach 60; Hall almost certainly will. Achane needs to play 14 of the next 15 games. We'll see on that one.

Here we are currently, allowing actives who may make 60 by end of season. Bijan looking strong.

Brock Purdy—First in Passer Rating, or Will Be Soon

 By John Turney

Back in the day, if you wanted to know who the “all-time leading passer” was, you reached for paperback record books like the ones above. The answer changed with the book—and with the system.

Before 1973, the NFL crowned its passing leaders with a moving target: yards one era, completion percentage the next, then various point and inverse-ranking schemes that compared a passer only to the men who threw that same season. When the league adopted the Pro Football Hall of Fame formula in 1973—the four-category scale Don Smith (Hall of Fame), Seymour Siwoff, and Don Weiss (NFL) built against a 1960–70 performance standard—the names at the top shifted because the method itself had changed.

That formula has its well-known limits. It rates the pass, not the quarterback. It ignores sacks, rushing, and era. But it has been the same formula since 1973. The intent was stability: a fixed standard instead of a yearly pile of category rankings that reshuffled every time the rest of the league improved.

The formula had many critics (rewards dink-and-dunk passers), and some semi-fans. Steve Young once said, "It's hard to do well in those categories. It's hard to throw touchdowns and to not throw interceptions." Both views have merit..

Be that as it may, we will likely have a new leader in about a month.. Current leader, Lamar, at the oment sits at the top with a 102.2 rating. Aaron Rodgers is slightly behind him. But when Brock Purdy reaches 1,500 pass attempts (he is 91 short), he will be number one with a rating around 104, barring injury and him throwing a mess of interceptions.

So at 26, he will be number one. 

Chart by PFR, with Purdy added by us

Is 1,500 pass attempts to sit atop a list like this given how many passes are thrown these days? Perhaps not, but that is what we have. And after all, Ken Anderson was just 27 when he surpassed Len Dawson to become the official all-time NFL passing leader. We say official because the NFL did not allow AAFC numbers in their NFL lists, but the Pro Football Hall of Fame did. After the 1983 season joe Montana made that problem moot since he ended that season with a 90.0 rating, about 3.5 "rating points" ahead of Otto Graham who'd been the Hall's number once since the system started. And Montana was 27, same as Ken Anderson.

Purdy, because of real time, will get the record, as we mentioned at 26, but he will be 27 when the season ends, and when next year's Official NFL Record & Fact Book is published, that will be his age. He will be the third 49ers quarterback (Montana and Young) to be first on the list as well.

This matters less and less, but in the 1970s at a young age`, it was fun getting those paperbacks and  seeing in print the new leader is passing. Stuff of great memories.

Von Miller—Late Career Slide?

 By John Turney 

Von Miller

Statistics usually don't tell the whole story, especially in football. Many times a player might have statistics that are not the norm for him, but there are reasonable explanations for it. In terms of a pass rusher, he might be getting extra blocking, or the offense running plays to help neutralize a player's skills.

However, with Von Miller, it seems his statistics as of late are telling the story. And it is backed up by watching him play, the old 'eye test,' as it were. The story is he's one of those players who is having a late-career slide.

In his years in Denver, and even the half-year in Los Angeles, he was as good a 3-4 OLB as there ever was not named Lawrence Taylor. He was a joy to watch; his speed his "ghost move", a move Miller where he would show the long-arm or stab first, drawing the tackle into a punch or an early set, then drop underneath the hands and vanish around the corner. The "now you see me, now you don’t" line he used while demonstrating it, plus the specific combination of fake and dip, is the version that caught on around the NFL, the move he is the father of.

But that was then. This is now. Today, the once super-elite edge rusher is average, if that, if the last two games as a Dallas Cowboy are any indication. However, and this is key, that is so far. There are fifteen games left and who knows; he may end up with a double-digit sack total and the Cowboys get into the playoffs and Miller is part of a defense that can help make a run for a title. 

That he's done before, once with the Broncos and once with the Rams. 

This is a guy who Pro Football Focus (PFF)  graded with an average grade of just under 90 from 2011 through 2022 when he was a starting All-Pro and about 67 since, when he's been a designated pass rusher.

Again, breaking down PFF and also Football Outsiders (FO) independent totals of QB pressures (combination of sacks, hits and hurries), the numbers tell the story

2011–2022 (11 seasons, excluding 2020 missed year)

PFF  average: 68

FO  average: 53

2023–2026 (3 full seasons)

PFF  average: 31

FO  average: 31

However, let's be fair: Miller is 37 and was always a speed/technique rusher. He was a guy who was timed in the 4.5 forty range and looked like it on the field. In his early days, he was more than a pass rusher. With defensive schemes of coaches like Wade Phillips and Vic Fangio, he would be asked to cover a back or the flat. With Phillips, it might be calls like "Will Wink" or "Sam Sink" that would send four of the 5-man line (three defensive interior players and two edges) after the quarterback and either the Sam backer or Will backer would drop. 

The same was true of the Fangio scheme; the edge players would have to drop sometimes, the flat or as a "bonus hook" player, and Miller was good at it. Some guys are just "there," and others can cover, be more than just there. Miller could cover, especially early in his career.

Given his age and performance, he likely won't get a dozen sacks like a 37-year-old Kevin Greene did in 1999, but he might get a handful in a season like James Harrison or Clay Matthews Sr. did in their late 30s. It's possible, at least. But does that help or hurt his legacy?

When does his production get to the point of being like Willie Mays in 1972-73 with the Mets or Hank Aaron with the Brewers in 1975-76, or a Johnny Unitas in 1973? When is he just is not himself and it starts to hurt your heart to see one of the best ever do it, being a shell of himself. 

To his credit, he came back from an injury plague in the 2023 season to be productive the last two years, but even then, watching him, it was not the same. Hopefully, this year will be more like 2024 and 2025 than 2023, but the film, SO FAR, isn't showing that. Obviously, things can change in the next span of games.

Of course, Miller is going to get a Gold Jacket, likely five years after he retires, but it will be based on the six All-Pro seasons in the first half of his career, around 140 career sacks, and his two rings that were aided by his 16 career playoff games (when his teams went 11-5) and when he recorded 10.5 sacks, 49 tackles, three forced fumbles ... including 4.5 sacks and two forced fumbles in Super Bowls alone.

 

Let's just hope the current version is not what is left in voters' minds, or they might ding him a year. Let's hope not, but that is a discussion for another day. 

Career stats and honors—

TUESDAY TIDBITS: "Whatever You do John, Don't Throw the Ball"

By TJ Troup

The 2026 season is off to a roaring start with so many storylines! Ok, folks what game so far surprised you the most? Which game this coming weekend stands out to you?

This coming Sunday the 27th is one of those days that truly stands out for all of you BALTIMORE Colts fans. The opening day game in '53 is of course the Bert Reich's once-in-a-lifetime performance, yet I want to highlight the '64 game of the Bears going to Memorial Stadium.

The Colts from 1955 through 1960 had won nine of twelve from the Bears and lost only once in Memorial Stadium. Then the Bears win six straight against the Colts.

During a stretch during the Bears 1963 Championship season the George Allen defense allowed just 31 points over the course of 23 quarters. The Unitas led Colts score 24 points in the first half, 28 in the 2nd in the demolition of Chicago. Everyone contributed for the Colts that afternoon.

Many times have mentioned Mr. Steve Sabol and we all know his creativity was the focal point at NFL Films. Really believe that the "America's Game" series was his best. For those of you that have never watched the 1970 BALTIMORE Colts, do yourself a favor and watch.

While Curry, Smith, and Curtis are insightful and entertaining in there comments want to pay a quick tribute to Mr. Ernie Accorsi. He is in his first year as PR director, and his commentary is a key component to why this chapter is so fun to watch.

Baltimore has a 1-1 record and are struggling against a woeful Patriot team, as they lead 7-6 in the 4th quarter. Head Coach Don McCafferty joined the staff in 1959 and developed a strong working/coaching relationship with John Unitas. The title of today's column comes from Accorsi, as McCafferty tells John to be conservative. Unitas's play-action touchdown pass to Roy Jefferson for 55 yards puts the game out of reach. Though they struggled with many a close game, this Colt team hoisted the Silver Trophy. Accorsi worked for a handful of teams during his long career, many of those teams had success. RIP Ernie!

Finally, am going to shift gears to go to the horsehide game. Two years ago the White Sox won 41 games and would rank with the worst teams in baseball history. This year has been "magical" for them and with six games remaining the Pale Hose can earn a playoff berth.

Fielder Jones
colorization by PFJ

Today is the 130th anniversary of Fielder Jones of the Sox hitting his 2nd home run of the season for the soon-to-be champions. Why is his home run significant you ask? Well, he now has tied Billy Sullivan for the team lead in home runs. The White Sox hit seven home runs all season; no that is not a misprint----SEVEN! There are teams in this era that hit seven in a week. See ya next week.

No Six-Pack for Green Bay in New York

By Eric Goska

Lukas Van Ness led Green Bay with nine combined tackles
including stuffing Jets running back Braelon Allen on
fourth down late in the fourth quarter.
(photos by Eric Goska)

Like winning, losing can become habitual.

Fortunately for Cheeseheads everywhere, the Packers kicked the habit in the Big Apple Sunday with a 20-17 overtime win against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium.

Green Bay entered the matchup riding a five-game losing streak (regular-season only). Had it faltered, the team from Wisconsin would have dropped more than a sixth straight game; it would have seen one of the longest streaks in NFL history come to an inglorious end.

Six straight losses. That’s a snootful. No coach or player wants to go there.

But for three quarters, that’s the direction in which the Packers were trending. Whether penalties (14 for 133 yards), fumbles (five with one lost) or third-down efficiency (1 for 9 for 11%), Green Bay appeared destined to start the 2026 season 0-2.

That outcome appeared even more inevitable after Jason Sanders booted a 32-yard field goal to put New York up 17-7 with 11 minutes, four seconds left in the fourth quarter. For the Packers, engineering a comeback under those conditions had become a distant memory.

In dropping five straight prior to Sunday, the Packers had all but ceded the final 15 minutes to the opposition. The Broncos, Bears, Ravens and Vikings (twice) had outgained them 479 yards to 267 and had outpointed them 65 to 9.

Why should the Jets not follow suit?

Simply put, New York ran up against a Green Bay defense that, having played well throughout, took control. The unit gave up 41 yards on 18 plays (2.28 average) in the fourth quarter and overtime. More importantly, Lukas Van Ness and Co. did not allow a third- or fourth-down conversion during that stretch.

That late-game chokehold is even more impressive given the length of time Green Bay’s defense spent on the field. The Jets ran 22 more offensive plays than did the Packers (72 to 50) and had the ball for almost 11 additional minutes (37:40 to 26:57).

But Green Bay’s defense didn’t wilt, and the Green and Gold now have their first win since Dec. 7, 2025. Further, the team extended its all-time NFL record of 565 consecutive regular-season games without a six-game losing streak.

Wideout Matthew Golden caught four
passes for 58 yards for Green Bay.

Owning that record is a testament to how well the team has played over these past three-and-a-half decades: 27 winning seasons, 25 playoff appearances and two Super Bowl wins. It’s a resume most teams would love to have.

No more so than Arizona or Cleveland. The Cardinals have endured 14 six-game losing streaks during Green Bay’s run of avoidance and the Browns 15. One of Arizona’s and four of Cleveland’s flings with futility stretched into double digits.

That just doesn’t happen in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Some may not remember the last time the Packers lost six or more regular-season games in a row. George H.W. Bush (the first Bush) was president. The price of gas was just over a dollar a gallon. Social media as we know it today did not exist.

Green Bay, under head coach Lindy Infante, closed out the 1990 season with consecutive losses to Minnesota (7-23), Seattle (14-20), Philadelphia (0-31), Detroit (17-24) and Denver (13-22). In opening the 1991 campaign, the team fell to the Eagles (3-20) and Lions (14-23) before squeaking past the Buccaneers 15-13 to end a seven-game skid.

In the time since, the Packers have suffered through three five-game losing streaks. In addition to the one they just ended, the Green and Gold bungled five straight in 2008 (games 11-15) and 2022 (games 5-9).

But that’s all in the past. Having dispatched the Jets, Green Bay has again put winning on the table. Packers fans can only hope victory becomes habit and not a one-time affair.

Six Pack Avoidance
Most consecutive games between losing streaks of six or more games (regular season only).

No.      Team                  Years                 Record During Streak
565       Packers             1991-2026              348-214-3 (.619)
553       Dolphins          1967-2003              345-204-4 (.627)

488       Patriots            1993-2024              325-163-0 (.666)
480       Bears                1929-1968              302-155-23 (.653)
424       Steelers            1999-2026              267-154-3 (.633)

TUESDAY TIDBITS: "Run to Daylight"

By TJ Troup 

The first week of the season in the books, and boy, oh boy, was there a lot to savor from the games, yet some teams' performances have raised questions. Those questions will be answered in due time. 

Ok, folks please share which game stood out to you and why? For the upcoming week, which game will have you get out the smokehouse almonds & Dr. Pepper? Oh, not all of you have those treats on your coffee table? Watching the Bills win at Houston in a game that saw many lead changes kept my attention till the final gun. As usual will go back in history to hopefully enlighten/entertain all of you with teams or games in the past that take us to the league this year. 

The 1954 Champion Cleveland Browns allowed just 34 points over the course of 25 quarters late in the season. This past Sunday in Jacksonville, the Browns defense allowed 34 points in the first half in a loss that begs the question: how bad is this team going to be? 

Making a prediction, this Browns team will not play for the silver trophy in February! When time permits, hopefully you will read Eric Goska's outstanding article on the Packers loss in Minnesota, and my segue to Green Bay's opening day loss to Detroit in 1970. 

The Packers getting beat in a dominating shut-out victory by division rival Detroit was embarrassing enough, but in the Lions highlight film for the '70 season, Van Patrick stated that the Lions "ran to daylight"! Seem to recall a Packer coach that used that phrase in a book he wrote with W.C. Heinz in '63? 

The merger will allow the best second-place team from each conference to earn a playoff berth, known as the "wild card". The Lions, who closed with a rush (6-1-1) to end the '69 season open in Green Bay and for the first time in thirty-six years, shut out the Packers 40-0! 

Altie Taylor

Detroit gains its fifth-most rushing yards in a game (at this point in team history) with 266. Mel Farr and Altie Taylor combine to gain 144 yards on 33 carries. Larcenous left corner Lem Barney, who has intercepted 18 passes in his last 29 games, returns an interception 40 yards for a touchdown in the 3rd quarter to seal the game. Detroit limits the Packers to just 114 total yards for the game (their best mark of the season). After a 5-4 start, the Lions again close like gangbusters to finish 10-4 and earn the NFC wild-card berth.