Atlanta Falcons Green Bay Packers Matchup

armand34

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Atlanta has so much hype of being the best in the NFC at this point...they really don't scare me, it stinks we got to play in their dome but I'm not worried about their defense...Their offense has posted up great numbers, but I feel we can match up very well against them...if this game was in Lambeau, I would give us a 75% chance of winning this game, being in the dome...60%...I really feel there isn't a play or player we can't stop on their team on both sides of the ball...I'm just confident about this game
 

Mushroom

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Something tells me that Monday morning the Packers are going to be talk of the NFL once again.
I kind of hope we win, and nobody notices....
 

KilrB

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I agree, but they are a good team. Having playing in a Dome the week before will help going into the Dome in atlanta.
 

Big Dan

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I tend to agree. Vegas has Atlanta by 3. Home field is an automatic 3, so they seem to feel the 2 teams are equal, or very close to it. If we play like we did for the final 3 quarters of Sunday's game, we should be in really good shape. I think we can indeed play at that level, or very close to it. I look at this past Sunday's game not as an anomaly, but as a "turned the corner and gearing up for the stretch run". Very reminiscent of last year.
 

Mr. StyleZ

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All I have to say is our defense is going to make Matt Ryan crap his pants..





















Or did the Rams already make him do that?

You must be logged in to see this image or video!
 

AC Hartman

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The beginning of the season we were thought of as a top team. We had some bumps and injuries. We started winning and now we are considered one of the best again. I like it when we are under the radar.

The Falcons look good and it should be a tough game. We should win.
 

PFanCan

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I think it is going to come down to which team protects the ball best. A single INT or fumble could be the difference.
 

+RAY+

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I think it is going to come down to which team protects the ball best. A single INT or fumble could be the difference.

I agree.. I think this is going go be a slugfest. It will boil down to who has the better defense that day. Im hoping Clay will have another big day in Atl. The Pack is going to win, but, it will be one hell of a fight!
 
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Going to be a good ol fashion shootout.

Hope CM3 will post good numbers sunday.
 

Raptorman

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All I have to say is our defense is going to make Matt Ryan crap his pants..






Or did the Rams already make him do that?

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I'm not sure what worries me more the picture or the fact that you have it!:happy0005:
 

Falconfansince82

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Falcon fan here, and I live in the metro Atlanta area, so I've seen every Falcon game since the 80's. Ryan is 17-1 at home, and undefeated against the NFC. The only home loss came against the Broncos back in '08. Here's how Green Bay can win.

Defense:

1) Must pressure Matt Ryan by jamming the receivers at the LOS and not allowing free releases. He'll look for White, Jenkins, Gonzo and then the running back. If those aren't available, he'll either throw it away or just scramble. He'll rarely take a sack and will rarely force the ball into coverage.

2) Contain Michael Turner. We average 129 ypg which is 7th in the league. Arm tackles will not bring Turner down. His game revolves around 3-5 yard runs that is designed to wearing the D down. GB will have to penetrate the backfield and force Turner to dance around and ultimately lose yardage. This will force 2nd and long and 3rd and long.

3) The Falcons do a great job of holding on to the ball (only 5 fumbles whereas you guys forced 10 fumbles all year). Ryan has only thrown 5 picks all year. It's not easy, but I know you guys are well equipped to strip the ball at any given opportunity, so our receivers and backs will have to protect the ball at all times.

4) Confuse Ryan at the LOS. Gotta watch out for the no huddle as it gave St. Louis and Baltimore absolute fits. The Falcons have also played a few 3-4 teams this year, with only one loss to a 3-4 team (pittsburgh). Woodson and Matthews will be the key. I know GB will blitz Woodson from anywhere, so it will be imperative for the Falcons to know where he is at all times.

5) 3rd downs. I can't say this enough for you guys, but we lead the league in 10+ plays per game. Part of that is because we're able to convert 3rd downs 49% of the time. We're also 2nd in the league in TOP pg and nearly doubling the number of plays against our opponent.

With that said, if you have us on 3rd down, you gotta shut down all of Ryan's options and force him to hold on to the ball longer than he has to. It's also key to force him into 3rd and long situations. If you take away White and Gonzo, he'll have to look to Finneran, Snelling and/or Turner for the first down.

We're not flashy by any means, so you won't see any reverses, wildcats, or flea flickers. We rarely beat ourselves with silly penalties or turnovers.

Last but not least, Ryan can move the ball downfield in crunch time. So, you'd have to be up by at least 10 with 1 minute to play to secure the win.

Here's the biggest key of the game defensively for you guys. While we are tops in the league in TOP AND 10+ plays, we are awful in the red zone. Too many times, we'll settle for 3 instead of 6. So, even if we're in the red zone in 1st and goal situations, chances are we'll settle for 3.

Offense:

1) You can throw on our secondary all day long. We constantly play 5-10 yrds off the receiver, so any intermediate route will be open. We've also been burned a LOT by big plays down the field (think Lance Moore's TD against us and Mike Williams burning Dunta for a TD). You guys specialize in big plays with Greg Jennings, and with Rodgers big arm, it could make for a long day for our secondary. We're 24th in the league in pass defense btw.

2) We're still a young defense, but you can definitely beat us with trick plays and misdirection plays. We do a horrible job defending against reverses and screens, though we've done slightly better defending screens lately.

3) We do a horrible job closing out teams during the middle of the game. We constantly allow teams to march up and down the field the majority of the game, but we are able to hold it down in the 4th quarter.

4) You gotta watch out for Abe, and that's pretty much it. Biermann hasn't had a big game since the Cleveland game nearly a month ago. We do rotate our interior lineman in and out to keep them fresh. We do try to blitz, but we rarely get to the quarterback with any consistency. In fact, we get "close" but rarely able to finish taking the quarterback down.

Special Teams:

You guys should absolutely own us. Every kickoff and punt return has me sweating bullets. Too many times, Koenen has to bail us out by making a touchdown saving tackle.

On the flip side, we rarely get any explosive plays from our return team.

So that's about it.

tl:dr

Keep White in check

Force Ryan to hold on to the ball/make bad throws

Get off the field on 3rd downs.

-------

Keep Rodgers upright and he'll have plenty of time to exploit our secondary

-------

Tell your returners to put on their track shoes.

I look forward to an exciting game between the two teams Sunday :).
 

FrankRizzo

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Great stuff from Falcons fan since 82! Thanks.
I was a huge WILLIAM ANDREWS fan back in that day. Then Gerald Riggs.

John Abraham is the guy to worry about... isn't he coming off a nagging injury?

I'm confident Turner won't hurt us much. But Roddy White scares me, even though we have 2 great corners and a great safety. I hate Roddy White because of Fantasy Football. I made a terrible mistake of taking Ryan Grant instead of Roddy because I loved the fact that Grant got all our carries, didn't platoon like so many backs. It seems White always gets open somehow, like he doesn't command the same level of respect/attention from defenses that guys like Marshall and Calvin and AJ do, but he should.

I think this is a game that Clay Matthews will take over with at least a couple sacks and one strip-sack of Ryan.
 

Croak

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Falcon fan here, and I live in the metro Atlanta area, so I've seen every Falcon game since the 80's. Ryan is 17-1 at home, and undefeated against the NFC. The only home loss came against the Broncos back in '08. Here's how Green Bay can win.

Defense:

1) Must pressure Matt Ryan by jamming the receivers at the LOS and not allowing free releases. He'll look for White, Jenkins, Gonzo and then the running back. If those aren't available, he'll either throw it away or just scramble. He'll rarely take a sack and will rarely force the ball into coverage.

2) Contain Michael Turner. We average 129 ypg which is 7th in the league. Arm tackles will not bring Turner down. His game revolves around 3-5 yard runs that is designed to wearing the D down. GB will have to penetrate the backfield and force Turner to dance around and ultimately lose yardage. This will force 2nd and long and 3rd and long.

3) The Falcons do a great job of holding on to the ball (only 5 fumbles whereas you guys forced 10 fumbles all year). Ryan has only thrown 5 picks all year. It's not easy, but I know you guys are well equipped to strip the ball at any given opportunity, so our receivers and backs will have to protect the ball at all times.

4) Confuse Ryan at the LOS. Gotta watch out for the no huddle as it gave St. Louis and Baltimore absolute fits. The Falcons have also played a few 3-4 teams this year, with only one loss to a 3-4 team (pittsburgh). Woodson and Matthews will be the key. I know GB will blitz Woodson from anywhere, so it will be imperative for the Falcons to know where he is at all times.

5) 3rd downs. I can't say this enough for you guys, but we lead the league in 10+ plays per game. Part of that is because we're able to convert 3rd downs 49% of the time. We're also 2nd in the league in TOP pg and nearly doubling the number of plays against our opponent.

With that said, if you have us on 3rd down, you gotta shut down all of Ryan's options and force him to hold on to the ball longer than he has to. It's also key to force him into 3rd and long situations. If you take away White and Gonzo, he'll have to look to Finneran, Snelling and/or Turner for the first down.

We're not flashy by any means, so you won't see any reverses, wildcats, or flea flickers. We rarely beat ourselves with silly penalties or turnovers.

Last but not least, Ryan can move the ball downfield in crunch time. So, you'd have to be up by at least 10 with 1 minute to play to secure the win.

Here's the biggest key of the game defensively for you guys. While we are tops in the league in TOP AND 10+ plays, we are awful in the red zone. Too many times, we'll settle for 3 instead of 6. So, even if we're in the red zone in 1st and goal situations, chances are we'll settle for 3.

Offense:

1) You can throw on our secondary all day long. We constantly play 5-10 yrds off the receiver, so any intermediate route will be open. We've also been burned a LOT by big plays down the field (think Lance Moore's TD against us and Mike Williams burning Dunta for a TD). You guys specialize in big plays with Greg Jennings, and with Rodgers big arm, it could make for a long day for our secondary. We're 24th in the league in pass defense btw.

2) We're still a young defense, but you can definitely beat us with trick plays and misdirection plays. We do a horrible job defending against reverses and screens, though we've done slightly better defending screens lately.

3) We do a horrible job closing out teams during the middle of the game. We constantly allow teams to march up and down the field the majority of the game, but we are able to hold it down in the 4th quarter.

4) You gotta watch out for Abe, and that's pretty much it. Biermann hasn't had a big game since the Cleveland game nearly a month ago. We do rotate our interior lineman in and out to keep them fresh. We do try to blitz, but we rarely get to the quarterback with any consistency. In fact, we get "close" but rarely able to finish taking the quarterback down.

Special Teams:

You guys should absolutely own us. Every kickoff and punt return has me sweating bullets. Too many times, Koenen has to bail us out by making a touchdown saving tackle.

On the flip side, we rarely get any explosive plays from our return team.

So that's about it.

tl:dr

Keep White in check

Force Ryan to hold on to the ball/make bad throws

Get off the field on 3rd downs.

-------

Keep Rodgers upright and he'll have plenty of time to exploit our secondary

-------

Tell your returners to put on their track shoes.

I look forward to an exciting game between the two teams Sunday :).


Thanks for that overview. I really knew very little about the Falcons except that they were winning all the time, that they have a stellar running back and that they don't lose on their home turf. (hopefully that last one changes on Sunday)
 

Big Dan

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Wow. That's some seriously in-depth analysis. Like Croak, I didn't know a lot about the Falcons, but now I feel like I'll have a better handle on what they're trying to do on Sunday, which will make watching the game much more enjoyable. Thanks!
 

Murgen

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You guys should absolutely own us. Every kickoff and punt return has me sweating bullets. Too many times, Koenen has to bail us out by making a touchdown saving tackle.

Apparently you haven't seen our Special Teams in action. Falcons are 18th, GB 30th in Special teams efficiency on football outsiders. Yeah, last week, GB was 31st. So No, we won't own you in special teams. Not unless the Vikes want to lend us Percy Harvin or Dallas Dez Bryant.

Welcome to the forum. Should be a good interesting game of two non-flashy teams going at it in a good old fashioned grind it out football game. I know I'm looking forward to see how GB does against a real contender instead of those last two teams we put out of their misery.
 

PackerFanLV

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Once again I have a good feeling about this game, I feel we match up well with th falcons. I also think the falcons are more afraid of us then we are of them. The key is pressure on Matt Ryan knowing that we play so much man coverage. I think tramon should hold white to hold him in check. I think if Matt has time to throw the ball he will torch us, I think he is the most complete qb we have to face so far this season. Like I said I have a good feeling about this gamE.
 

Falconfansince82

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Great stuff from Falcons fan since 82! Thanks.
I was a huge WILLIAM ANDREWS fan back in that day. Then Gerald Riggs.

John Abraham is the guy to worry about... isn't he coming off a nagging injury?

I'm confident Turner won't hurt us much. But Roddy White scares me, even though we have 2 great corners and a great safety. I hate Roddy White because of Fantasy Football. I made a terrible mistake of taking Ryan Grant instead of Roddy because I loved the fact that Grant got all our carries, didn't platoon like so many backs. It seems White always gets open somehow, like he doesn't command the same level of respect/attention from defenses that guys like Marshall and Calvin and AJ do, but he should.

I think this is a game that Clay Matthews will take over with at least a couple sacks and one strip-sack of Ryan.

He is coming off an injury, but I have a feeling the coaches wanted him well rested as possible against GB. And historically, he's been the man when it comes to pressuring the QB. He currently leads the team with 8 sacks. The next closest are Jonathan Babineaux and Curtis Lofton with 2 sacks a piece. In comparison, Biermann only has 1 sack.

White does get open because he's a very physical receiver. He has a background of being a wrestler in hs and college. It's just that he rarely burns you for the 70+ yard plays that ESPN likes.

I also forgot one other thing. You guys should go after Thomas DeCoud. Most of the big plays given up on defense has been because of him. He's been out of position on a lot of those plays deep down the field.

Watch out for Grimes (3 picks) and William Moore (4 picks). You CAN attack Grimes due to his height, but he is always on top of the receiver, so Rodgers will have to place the ball only where his receiver can catch it. Finally, Dunta, for the most part, has shut down his side of the field thus why Grimes is 2nd on the team in interceptions.
 

PackersRS

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Thanks for the in-depth Falconsfansince82, it's really appreciated.
IF you have any questions about our team, please ask away!

Honeslty, maybe, probably I'm being cocky, but I don't think we have any weakness on our D. Our weakness is the OLB opposing Matthews and Brandon Chillar, who innexplicably keeps coming up on passing downs, despite being exploited all the time.

But, as you know, we're leading the league in scoring D. We have allowed just 9 passing TDs all year long, and just 4 rushing TDs.

On offense, we've been struggling. Really struggling. The last two games, it seems like Rodgers is back on his 09 form, but it's a small sample, he has struggled all year.

And on ST, we've been much better than in 09, where we were quite frankly ridiculous, but it's not a strenght by any means.
 

packerfan4ever

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I think Nance is going to help win this game,A-Rod is going to have a good game just fell good the d-line is going to give Ryan headache all day they have stopped some good runners and w.r don't think they will stop now.
 

Falconfansince82

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Thanks for the in-depth Falconsfansince82, it's really appreciated.
IF you have any questions about our team, please ask away!

Honeslty, maybe, probably I'm being cocky, but I don't think we have any weakness on our D. Our weakness is the OLB opposing Matthews and Brandon Chillar, who innexplicably keeps coming up on passing downs, despite being exploited all the time.

But, as you know, we're leading the league in scoring D. We have allowed just 9 passing TDs all year long, and just 4 rushing TDs.

On offense, we've been struggling. Really struggling. The last two games, it seems like Rodgers is back on his 09 form, but it's a small sample, he has struggled all year.

And on ST, we've been much better than in 09, where we were quite frankly ridiculous, but it's not a strenght by any means.


Thanks man! I do have a couple of questions.

1) What should we look for when we're on defense? Do you run any trick plays or employ any screens?

2) Other than Jennings, who should we look out for?

3) I don't know much about the packers' offense, so was the game against the Vikings typical of the packers offense or more of the product of the Vikings' ineptitude?

How good is your D-line and O-line?
 

SpartaChris

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Atlanta is a very good football team. I picked them as the best in the NFC a few weeks back, and I'm sticking with that until proven otherwise.

The one edge I give to Green Bay is how we were able to bounce back from all of that adversity we faced earlier in the season. Things looked pretty bleak for a while, but now they're looking better.

The dome noise could be a problem, but I think we're better suited for it thanks to playing last week in Minnesota. The Metrodome is one of the worst domes to play in, but I think it gave us some good experience.

Atlanta has some solid weapons. This is not a game to be overlooked or cocky about. They are tough at home and this game could make all the difference when it comes to securing a 1 or 2 seed for the playoffs, should both teams go on to the post season.
 

SpartaChris

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Thanks man! I do have a couple of questions.

1) What should we look for when we're on defense? Do you run any trick plays or employ any screens?

2) Other than Jennings, who should we look out for?

3) I don't know much about the packers' offense, so was the game against the Vikings typical of the packers offense or more of the product of the Vikings' ineptitude?

How good is your D-line and O-line?

To answer the question- Yes. The Packers have the ability to light up the scoreboard on a whim and have put up a total of 85 points to only 10 of our opponents over the last three games. But they've been pretty shaky on offense for most of the season, and a lot of that scoring has come against some pretty bad teams. Not having Grant or Finley has certainly hurt our offensive production, but I believe we're starting to find ways to get our offense back.

Things to watch- We don't do the wildcat or a bunch of trick plays either, but Aaron Rodgers is among the most mobile QB's in the league. Jenning is obvious, but you also have Jones and Driver for WR's to keep an eye on. Jones and Jennings both put up more than 100 yards against the Vikings last week.

We do run screens, and Jackson is ok at them. Our running game isn't outstanding to say the least, but Nance showed a few things last week that could have him seeing a bigger role.
 

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The main thing that the Pack brings to the game on offense is our receivers. Not only are they good, but each and every one knows different formations. Therefore, your team may align ur best CB on Jennings, but the next play he will play slot, or #2. That way you can't shadow him all game unless you play man-to-man all day.

Our screens can be deadly because our recievers/TE's aren't selfish so they will go all out on blocks if they need to. Jackson has had some pretty good runs.

The last thing is Rodgers himself. He's as elusive as they come, and can run very very well if not taken into account. He throws well off the run, and is fast enough to get the first down before the secondary knows whats going on.
 

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