The Green Bay Packers' Week 3 loss to the Atlanta Falcons feels like a lifetime ago now. However, the surprise blowout was not only a recent thorn in the team's side but also a wake-up call to the defense, according to standout safety Evan Williams.
Entering Week 3, the Packers were still reeling from a season-opening meltdown loss to the Minnesota Vikings before narrowly escaping with an overtime road win over the New York Jets. The 0-2 Falcons, bringing back quarterback Michael Penix Jr., smelled blood in the water and blew out Green Bay on Thursday Night Football.
During a recent appearance on Up & Adams, Williams discussed how the loss to Atlanta was the "[kick] in the mouth" that reminded the team exactly what they had to do.
Packers' Evan Williams explains why blowout loss to Falcons was a turning point
It was a pretty embarrassing game for the Packers all around. They lost 35-14, and the defense, specifically, was absolutely thrashed. Falcons star running back Bijan Robinson ran for 194 yards, wide receiver Drake London matched him with 194 receiving yards, and the offense as a whole put up almost 500 yards (498), while controlling the ball for nearly 40 minutes of the game.
However, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, as the saying goes. While many see an ugly primetime showing, Williams believes getting shellacked by the Falcons was the reality check Green Bay didn't know it needed.
"Sometimes you got to get kicked in the mouth to understand what it really takes," Williams said. "What your standard needs to be to take it up a notch. Everybody in this league gets punched in the mouth every now and then, and it'll always be about how you respond that matters, right? That's something that we took on the chin."
Williams also highlighted how the Packers' defensive leaders had to have "hard conversations with [the] coaches," crediting players like linebacker and defensive captain Zaire Franklin and star safety Xavier McKinney for "getting together and deciding how [they were] going to respond."
To Williams' credit, the message has worked. In the three weeks since the Packers' loss to the Falcons, Green Bay's defense has been absolutely incredible. They've held opponents to under 15 points in every game during this stretch and also lead the league in interceptions this season (nine).
Granted, two of those three games have come against teams' backup quarterbacks, but Green Bay's defense has come together as they hoped. The group has bought into defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon. Williams credits "a belief in not only the scheme" but also the "11 men on the field."
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