Atlanta Falcons at Green Bay Packers Open Thread
by Dave Choate on Oct 5, 2008 8:00 AM EDT
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via thegooley.com
The Packers are a better team than the Falcons, but their up and down season is very familiar.
Rising star quarterback Aaron Rodgers could miss the game, which gives the Falcons a real shot at pulling off the upset here. It will take Michael Turner having a quality game--and some tight defense on a couple of terrific Green Bay receivers--but I do believe it can be done. The last thing I want to see is another 23-9 loss, so hopefully the offense gets in gear.
Come join the party after the jump.
UPDATE: Aaron Rodgers will start for the Packers. Bad news for the Falcons!
Who? Atlanta Falcons at Green Bay Packers, 1 p.m. ET
Where? Lambeau Field, Green Bay, Wisconsin
Weather? Rainy and below 50 degrees. That's chilly for most, but it'd be a pleasant fall day here in New England.
Fun Fact? This will be the first time the Falcons have played the Packers without Favre in quite some time, giving us a reprieve from the constant reminders that the Falcons traded away the future Hall of Famer.
Injuries? WR Laurent Robinson and DT Jason Jefferson are doubtful and likely unlikely to play. Sam Baker, Grady Jackson and Lawyer Milloy are all questionable, but I could see them all playing. For the Packers, safeties Aaron Rouse and Atari Bigby are doubtful alongside FB Korey Hall and RB Kregg Lumpkin. DE Cullen Jenkins is out, and LB A.J. Hawk and QB Aaron Rodgers are questionable and (hopefully) not able to kick our butts.
Odds? Green Bay over Atlanta 3.5, Over/Under 40.5
Foe? Brandon at Acme Packing Company will be dealing with this injury plagued squad this weekend. Stop by and wish him well as we hopefully kick his butt.
GO FALCONS! Let's pack away these Packers!
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OT: Matt Schaub
benched for today’s game, Rosenfels will start per ESPN. Promising young starter pounded into mediocrity behind a poor O-line. Are you paying attention Falcons?
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
Naturally, the moment I post this ESPN starts saying Schaub has a virus. Mmmm…crow….
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
Speaking of Schaub
My brother-in-law told me yesterday he may go for the fantasy team Quadra-Matt of Matt Ryan, Matt Hasselbeck, Matt Schaub and Matt Stafford next year. He needs only draft Stafford out of Georgia for that to happen.
F him!
We want to keep him one more year! We could have a decently experienced O-line to protect him (finally), and with depth in the trenches + what can only be a better defense, along with a remarkably easier schedule than the murderers row we’re on this season, we could have a decent chance at a really memorable season.
That’s not to take away from this season, considering we’re still in the drivers seat in the East for where we end up. Beat 5-0 Vandy (!!) and Florida, and we might see ’Bama again. And hopefully not fall flat on our faces this time. A man can dream.
Ryan kicks off the game in style
Victimizing a depleted Packers secondary on a great pass to Roddy White.
Roddy White
sure can catch well when the defender falls down.
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
4th & goal
Nice call. Because it worked. Would have sucked to have only gotten 3 down that deep.
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
The offense
is what had me worried more. Hope it’s a good omen. I thought the D would be terrible this year but they’ve done a pretty good job w/the personnel they’ve got.
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
Weak defense
The Packers’ losses on defense raise the fair question of whether the Falcons are doing this well solely on their own merits or because Green Bay doesn’t have a good defense. Either way, though, I’ll take it.
Absolutely
they are hurting pretty badly today.
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
Packers come up short
The offense gets another shot at it. A 14 point lead early against the Packers would force Aaron Rodgers to air it out, and I’m not sure his arm’s up to it.
Keep THAT up
and it will be a good day.
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
!
No kidding. Mix in a little Norwood, and the Packers look to have trouble. And with a coach that understand the mantra of getting your talented players on the field, we might actually see a good dose of Norwood today.
Packers screw the pooch
And the Falcons are getting the ball back. I’d pinch myself, but I don’t want to ruin this.
Upsets
will happen. If you’re an underdog in 10 games, odds are you’ll win 1 or 2.
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
True
But you never quite expect it, regardless. The Packers seemed way out of our league just a couple weeks ago.
Is that parity?
A few injuries and a couple of weeks later, and the Falcons are actually dominating the game at this point. Go figure.
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
Exactly
I saw 4 probable wins before the season started. I was definitely hoping for more, but looking at the Pack weeks 1 and 2, it didn’t seem like we’d even compete.
Why
Why do we not throw him the ball? I only see him on the end-around, and running as a diversion on plays we try to go deep on/handoff to Turner. I mean, he’s definitely a speedy dude, so why not let him lengthen the field like Philli does with DeSean Jackson?
Great comparison
He’s not as talented as DeSean Jackson (at least not yet) but hook him up on a short route with some blocking available and see if he can take off.
I agree
I think DeSean is faster and more talented, but why not use what we’ve got? The same problem plagues us at Georgia, we run certain sets with certain people, which makes us ultrapredicatble. We have so many widerecievers that it’s hard to rotate them all in during all the different sets, and they sort of fall on sets they do well at. However, that means our opponents can see certain play types coming. And yes, I’m aware we’re trying to build a tendency so that in the future we can spring more interesting plays out of those sets, but in the mean time, we look rather repetitive, in the same way a number of the Falcons sets do.
Perhaps they don't trust him
somehow as a receiver. It’s like Mularkey knows he wants to get in his hands but they’re afraid to let him get hit after the reception or something.
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
That's a possibility
But I’d like to see the kid get more involved in the passing game. If you take away Roddy White, who else do we even have right now?
Nice throw by Rogers
Arm looked OK there.
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
Problem with Packers
Is that they have that big play potential. The Falcons will have to do better in coverage today.
This team
Has to recover a little quicker when they’re scored on. WE seem to look a little stunned on offense in the drive after.
That'll happen when we're forced to start a rookie at CB
This game looks like it will be close. I was hoping for a statement game by the Packers but we’ll see.
Yeah
We had 10 out of our 22 starters on the injury report this week so this team isn’t the same as it was even in week 1. Still, can’t take away what the Falcons are doing this year. Remind me of when the Packers went from 4-12 to 8-8.
White is pretty important to the Falcons offense huh?
67 yards receiving out of 70 total. Feel like he’s going to be a big player for awhile.
He's blossomed
And now he’s got 93 yards. Until Laurent Robinson comes back, he’s the only serious receiving threat we have. Even then, he’s still easily our best.
Beautiful throw
on the TD. Ryan laid it in perfectly.
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
This kid
Looks legit. I know there’s still a lot that can go wrong, but I’m eating a big plate of crow wings on the Ryan pick so far.
The debate with Ryan
was about ‘was he worth a #3’. He was unquestionably the best talent at QB.
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
Well
My thought at the time was that Flacco or Henne would’ve been less than a significant downgrade and we could have gotten Dorsey, as well. Time will tell if I was wrong there, but I am happy to say Ryan hasn’t done many of the things I slammed him for before the draft.
Holy crap
Matt Ryan to Roddy White for a TD. Two TDs for Ryan, over 100 yards for White already. The fact that the Packers are keying on him and he’s still getting it done tells you something.
That return
may have taken a little momentum away from us after the TD.
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
Abraham
Racks up yet another sack. Guy’s a monster when the rest of the line actually does something to help him out.
Driver
The Packers aren’t leaning on Greg Jennings, which is a surprise. This is what makes them dangerous in the passing game.
ABRAHAM!
Nails Rodgers again! They seem to have figured out how to actually maximize his talents in this defense.
Penalty
takes points off the board, then a miss. Love when that happens.
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
Why do the words
‘Dahl’ and ‘penalty’ appear together so much?
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
Much better half
than I expected. 30 minutes to go!
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
Ryan to White
Is proving to be quite the connection. Now the Falcons need to develop a legit #2 and we’ll start looking pretty damn good.
8 yard line
a good place for a punt. Hold them this time.
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
Run defense
statistically is our Achilles’ heel. When teams can run on you, you usually lose.
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
What a gift
missing GB Jennings on that pass. He had all day.
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
Two yard pass to finish the drive?
Weak. Falcons get a chance to put more than 10 between us and the Packers.
On punt returns
Is it still common practice to let the ball go if the returner is inside the 10? It used to be that way, Jennings does it a lot it seems.
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
Fair catches inside the 10, I meant to say.
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
It's still common
Jennings is just not a good kick returner. I know I’m preaching to the loud and vocal choir here, but his continued employment frustrates the hell out of me.
Dumb penalty on GB
Pulled Turner down after he was out of bounds.
Make ’em pay, boys!
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
Jenkins!
Lost the damn ball, it fell right next to him.
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
Missed tackles at the goal line
down at the 5. Hate it.
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
offense getting into a bit of a groove
havent seen much of that this season
EH.
Would’ve like to see them go for it. I have a feeling that missed field goal earlier due to the penalty is going to haunt us.
Guess they're due
After losing the last one on the penalty. Could have been worse the way they were moving it.
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
Jenkins
Wide open, Ryan missed him. Damn, he could have run all day.
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
Ryan to Jenkins
Has been a little like trying to catch your next train by jumping off the one you’re already on.
Dave
you have video of the games, right?
Satellite or internets?
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
Internets
But I’m not always watching live because I work Sundays. I kind of have to rely on you guys.
Ryan
looked like the Galloping Ghost there! Nice run young man.
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
Jenkins
Speak of the devil, very nice catch!
Ryan made a nice throw on the run, too. Big penalty on Blackmon at the end. Woo hoo!
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
Son of a BITCH
Jesus H. Christ! Ryan’s got to make that throw.
That would have put us up 2 TDs!!!
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
Is it just me?
Or does something bad happen whenever we throw to Hartsock?
That’s an absolute momentum killer. We need a quick stop.
So much for a quick stop!
Tackling is horrendous the last few plays. Falcons are looking rattled.
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
It's hard to hate a rookie QB for an INT
But when you’re that close to the end zone and it’s that bad a pass, I can’t help but be pretty ripped about it.
In times like this
I take a deep breath and an antacid, and tell myself ’it’s only a game’.
Rookie mistake, if he learns from it all will be forgiven.
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
Tie game
Ryan’s going to make the highlights tonight, but perhaps not in a good way.
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
Norwood
is an exciting back. I’d like to see him get more screens and short passes.
by armchair quarterback on Oct 5, 2008 3:24 PM EDT reply actions
I think
Given the need to chew time, move down the field and keep Ryan out of trouble, that’s exactly what the Falcons should be doing right now.
Ball control
is their thing, when they can do it. Great time for it.
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
Nice KO return
got to help. This is one of the first times this year that the Falcons are in a position to suck it up and take a game away.
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
I agree.
Especially the way GB moved down the field on the last drive.
by armchair quarterback on Oct 5, 2008 3:28 PM EDT up reply actions
Taking the FG
GB’s still got the momentum and lots of time. Grrr.
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
One thing in our favor
Their running game really isn’t good at grinding it out. They’ll have to air it to get down the field.
Playcalling
has been pretty good for GB lately though. Hold me Mama, I’m scared.
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
Thanks refs
10 yards for holding on GB, 2nd and 10. Exploit it Falcons!
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
Falcons penalty
Automatic first down. Coleman, it looks like. Sometimes the Falcons can’t stand prosperity.
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
12 men on the field
Cost us a time out as well.
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
Intentional grounding
That’s a loss of down, too. God, this game has gotten sloppy.
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
It wasn't Boley
It was Falcoholic interview karma.
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
Not to sound cliched
but that was freakin’ huge. Boley may have saved the game.
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
TD
Woo hoo! What a reversal of fortune.
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
Rodgers
almost threw another pick. He sure appears to be hurting.
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
Missed tackles
are really hurting us.
by armchair quarterback on Oct 5, 2008 3:47 PM EDT reply actions
WTF
Greg Jennings catch & run to our 25. Waaah.
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
Two minute warning
Packers at the 5 or so.
“Jesus, Allah, Buddah, I love you all!” Please let us win this one. Amen.
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
We have to recover the onsides
And if that’s not in their bag of tricks, we have to not turn it over.
I bet Adam Jennings
is on the ‘hands’ team for the onsides.
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
Remember the 'Al Bundy'
toilet & chair combined? Made for Falcons fans…
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
No time outs for GB
As Turner gets the first down. Yeah, it’s over.
Good game Falcons!
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
Well, gang
This was by far our best win of the season, and it was a hell of a nailbiter. Glad you guys were here to make sure I didn’t pass out.
Impressive showing by the Falcons.
Even a couple weeks ago I don’t think they would’ve had a chance. Shows how fast things can change in the NFL.
Good game
on both sides. I hope Rodgers heals up soon.
by armchair quarterback on Oct 5, 2008 4:00 PM EDT up reply actions
3-2 record
Didn’t think we’d have a winning record this late in the year. Woo hoo!
Have a good day, y’all.
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
Enjoy
the rest of your Sunday. See you next week.
by armchair quarterback on Oct 5, 2008 4:00 PM EDT reply actions
Remember the Bill Simmons note about the Falcons' season so far?
College kid goes to Vegas with a couple hundred dollars, and immediately wins a few more, sticks two hundred dollar chips in his pocket, and figures he’s playing with house cash from here on out.
I just feel like I stuck another chip in my pocket, and no matter what happens, I’m walking out of there with $100 profit.
I feel the same way
It’s been difficult at times to get excited about being a Falcons fan these last couple of years with coaching turnovers, legal problems and poor play on the field. This is finally a team headed in the right direction.
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