Green Bay Packers fans made their feelings known as they booed the home team throughout what became a brutal 35-14 Green Bay loss to the Atlanta Falcons on Thursday night.
Following the defeat, Packers tight end Tucker Kraft said he felt it was “pretty disappointing” to hear boos that were “not going to help us win” at Lambeau Field.
“It’d probably be much easier with the 70,000 people behind us rather than opposing us,” Kraft added.
During Friday’s edition of NFL Network’s “Good Morning Football” program, well-known analyst, reporter and show host Kyle Brandt offered a strong response to Kraft’s comments.
Tucker Kraft offered a “horrible take” about hearing boos during blowout loss at home
“The players are also not used to this, including Tucker Kraft, tight end. A guy who I like, a player who I like, and a player who almost always says the right thing,” Brandt said, per Ben Strauss of ClutchPoints. “But when you have times you’ve never been through before you start ad-libbing and Tucker Kraft afterwards, after maybe the worst Packers home game in years, decided to address the fans. Good guy, good player, but just a horrible take.”
Numerous stats show that Packers fans who flocked to Lambeau for the regular-season home opener had multiple reasons to feel upset. Thursday’s result was the largest home loss in Matt LaFleur’s eight years as the Packers’ head coach. Green Bay managed to rush for just 17 yards on nine attempts. Perhaps most embarrassing for the Packers, the Falcons entered the evening at 0-2 and were coming off a 34-3 Week 2 home loss to the Carolina Panthers that featured at least one Atlanta player seemingly ready to fight with a paying customer.
In short, the Packers’ loss to the Falcons may have been even worse than the final score would indicate.
It’s not the fans’ fault the Packers were blown out
“It’s very simple,” Brandt continued during the segment. “You come up, the microphone goes in front of you, and you say, ‘Yeah, they were right to boo. We were terrible tonight. I would have booed, too.’ And then that’s it. What you don’t do is say how disappointed you are in the fans. It’s not the fans’ fault that you guys couldn’t block anyone. It’s not the fans’ fault that you guys couldn’t tackle anyone.”
New York Yankees captain Aaron Judge once went down the “I would have booed, too” route regarding reactions he got at Yankee Stadium in the fall of 2022. All was eventually forgiven, and Judge is now a beloved figure among Yankees fans.
As for the 1-2 Packers, they next play at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Oct. 4. Thus, Green Bay players won’t have to worry about what they will or won’t hear from home fans until later next month.