Packers vs. Falcons: Quick Takes from Green Bay’s 43-37 Win

Quick takes from the Packers' 43-37 win over the Falcons in Week 14. 

The Green Bay Packers (10-3) held on for a nervy six-point win despite leading 31-7 at half time, as quarterbacks Aaron Rodgers and Matt Ryan combined for over 700 passing yards and seven touchdowns during a 43-37 shootout Monday night at Lambeau Field. 

 

It was over when…

…James Starks rumbled for 41 yards off left tackle with under two minutes to go in the fourth quarter, ensuring Atlanta wouldn’t get the football back and sealing the escape. The dagger really should have been Jordy Nelson’s 10-yard touchdown with 24 seconds to go in the first half, which put the Packers up 24 points. The Falcons’ late rally required the use of a second winning moment.  

 

Game Balls

  • Aaron Rodgers: Every week, he makes the difficult look mundane. Rodgers completed 66.7 percent of his passes, averaged 9.1 yards per attempt and threw three touchdowns with zero interceptions. That’s a career day for most quarterbacks. It’s just another day at the office for the MVP front-runner. His strike on 3rd-and-17 in the first quarter, his Houdini act to avoid a sack and find Nelson for a score before the half and his perfectly thrown deep ball on the final touchdown to Nelson are beginning to feel like routine plays. They are most definitely not. 
  • Morgan Burnett: It’s tough to give a game ball to a member of the Packers secondary, but Burnett led the team in tackles, had a tackle for a loss and picked off Matt Ryan in the first half. He probably should have scored on the interception return but ran out of gas. Davon House made a few nice plays on the ball after finally getting a chance on Julio Jones late in the contest. You wonder what Jones’ final line would have been had House started in place of Sam Shields, who was clearly dealing with some rust after missing most of the week’s practices. 
  • Mason Crosby: He made all three of his field goal attempts, including a 53-yarder. He also did a decent job of directionally kicking away from Devin Hester. The one mishap was the blocked extra point, which almost became a big deal late in the game. 

 

Stat of the Game 

207: The amount of total yards from James Starks and Eddie Lacy. The two backs carried 23 times for 148 yards and caught seven passes for 59. Each had a rushing touchdown, and Lacy caught a score in the first half. How do you stop the Packers offense when Lacy and Starks average 6.4 yards per carry and also make big plays underneath in the passing game? The Packers made Atlanta pay for committing two safeties deep. 

 

Other Notes

-- Giving up 11 catches and 259 yards to Julio Jones is a problem. Obviously. No player has ever totaled more receiving yards in a single game against the Packers. But the bigger concern Monday night was probably the lack of consistent pressure from Green Bay’s front. The Falcons aren’t strong along the offensive line but Matt Ryan only took one sack and endured just four quarterback hits. That’s not good enough. Top quarterbacks are hard enough to handle in today’s NFL, but the task multiplies in difficulty without a pass rush. Julius Peppers was a ghost, and Clay Matthews went long stretches without impact. Being up 31-7 at half time should be every pass-rusher’s dream scenario. 

-- The Packers did exactly what they had to do on offense. Mike Nolan tried to play two safeties deep the whole game, so Green Bay pounded Lacy and Starks and hit underneath receivers for yards after the catch. Atlanta essentially picked a slow death over the fast one. The trouble now is carrying over that success against defenses like the Lions and Seahawks, who have athletic linebackers and safeties and who can rush the passer with four. Much harder task. But the Packers have the weapons to make it happen. 

-- Remember those red zone issues from last week? They mostly disappeared Monday night. The Packers scored touchdowns on their first four trips inside the Atlanta 20-yard line. Green Bay had to settle for one field goal in the second half and finished 4-for-6 after running out the fourth-quarter clock inside the red zone. The difference was the offense’s ability to run the football down in the condensed area. Meanwhile, the defense gave up five touchdowns in five trips to the Falcons. Perhaps the focus will shift this week to preventing seven points inside the Green Bay 20-yard line. 

-- There was a sense post-game—even from Mike McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers—that the Packers went into coast mode after going up 24 points at half. Understandable given how dominant Green Bay has been at home this season (Monday marked the fifth time this season the Packers have entered half time up 20 or more points at home), and maybe there was some mental fatigue after everything that went into beating New England last Sunday. The Packers probably won’t play an uglier second half on defense this season, but it’s possible Atlanta’s late rally could serve as a focusing point for the final three games. You can never let your foot off the gas in the NFL. 

-- The win improves the Packers to 10-3, keeping Green Bay a game ahead of Detroit in the NFC North and in possession of the No. 2 seed in the NFC. Translation: it was important. Now comes a tricky road game in Buffalo. The Bills defense will be a good barometer for the Packers offense. One might argue this is the most difficult game remaining on Green Bay’s schedule. 

 

Zach Kruse contributes to Cheesehead TV. He is also the Lead Writer for the NFC North at Bleacher Report. You can reach him on Twitter @zachkruse2 or by email at [email protected]. 

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Comments (19)

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jeremyjjbrown's picture

December 09, 2014 at 02:38 am

"One might argue this is the most difficult game remaining on Green Bay’s schedule."

Harder than Detroit? Their a division rival and it will probably be for the division championship.

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Nikolaj Andersen's picture

December 09, 2014 at 03:16 am

Yep. Agree completely. Detroit is still Detroit even if they have their choke-clock on snooze for a game or two.

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TommyG's picture

December 09, 2014 at 05:27 am

Detroit is the biggest challenge remaining. Their is no argument to the contrary. Even with a game lead on the Lions, the Pack must win that final game in order to win the division.

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Irish_Cheesehead's picture

December 09, 2014 at 06:44 am

The last Lions victory in Wisconsin was on December 15, 1991

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DrealynWilliams's picture

December 09, 2014 at 07:58 am

"The last Lions victory in Wisconsin was on December 15, 1991"

I hate "stats" like that. Those teams are nothing like the two teams today.

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MarkinMadison's picture

December 09, 2014 at 07:17 am

The Lions game is the most important. I don't think the Bills game will be any less challenging.

The Bills have a good defense - top 5 good, and the Packers will be playing them on the road. The Bills beat the Lions 17-14 in Detroit. If they keep the Packers offense in check then this game could be a final drive game. Do not sleep on Buffalo. I can guarantee the Packers won't.

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Idiot Fan's picture

December 09, 2014 at 08:24 am

I guess one positive is that playing the Bills and Lions defenses, which are both legit top-5, should be good prep for the playoffs.

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DrealynWilliams's picture

December 09, 2014 at 09:11 am

"I guess one positive is that playing the Bills and Lions defenses, which are both legit top-5, should be good prep for the playoffs."

Yes! Totally agree. Dolphins as well.

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Bearmeat's picture

December 09, 2014 at 10:11 am

There are no offenses that can challenge GBs D left on the schedule, and looking ahead to the NFC Playoffs, the only "offense" team that's likely to be in it is the Eagles. You could make an argument for the Cowboys and Falcons (or Saints too I guess).

I'd rather have the work on D against elite O's. QB12 will take care of the offensive side. Like he said: "If we have to score (xyz), that's what we'll do."

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PETER MAIZ's picture

December 09, 2014 at 08:02 am

Detroit will be the hardest game even if at Lambeau. Stafford can be as damaging as Matt Ryan. If the Falcons can score 30 points on the Packers in the second half....I just think you can let this happen and win against the very best.

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egbertsouse's picture

December 09, 2014 at 08:05 am

The pass defense looks like 2011. It took a giant step backward. Buffalo and Tampa shouldn't be a problem but they need to get it fixed before they play Detroit.

CMIII is no longer the force he once was in the pass rush. He's a slightly above average player right now. He doesn't regularly beat single teams, much less doubles. Peppers was invisible. They need to come up with a pass rush if they are going to advance in the playoffs

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DrealynWilliams's picture

December 09, 2014 at 10:04 am

You again...

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Bearmeat's picture

December 09, 2014 at 10:12 am

(sniff sniff) I smell..BOVINE! :D

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4thand1's picture

December 09, 2014 at 10:26 pm

Me too, he's always been anti CMIII.

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Imma Fubared's picture

December 09, 2014 at 10:06 am

My two cents. At halftime I told wife that the Packers are not out of the woods. If Atlanta starts to throw the ball deep they have the speed and talent to mount a comeback.

Again this defense is just god awful. The Pack should make the playoffs but so what. All the good teams with both offense and defense will too and they understand, you pass pass pass against the Pack and let Rogers do his thing and you will win.

Atlanta made the big mistake by not realizing this till the second half.

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zeke's picture

December 09, 2014 at 11:32 pm

What did your cousin (oops, I mean wife) say when you told her that the Packers weren't out of the woods? Does she agree that making the playoffs is nothing, like all good Viking fans? Because what's the point of making the playoffs when it's so much more fun just trying to get to .500 every year?

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Imma Fubared's picture

December 09, 2014 at 10:08 am

PS the announcers were saying how awful Atlanta's pass defense was? Did they not see our pass defense or lack of.
Daton J isn't running over anyone and Peppers is out of gas. Mathews can't be everywhere. I do like benching Hawk for Barrington. Smart move. They finally got it.
Hawk is way to slow to play linebacker, a poor tackler and not agressive enough.

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4thand1's picture

December 09, 2014 at 10:31 pm

You must have missed the NE game. A lesser team would have gotten blown out by Atlanta. The packers woke up on offense and scored enough. They also sat on the ball for 4 downs to ice the game. Could have put up 50 again. In case you missed the memo, scoring is way up in the NFL. 300 yards passing is average.

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Bohj's picture

December 09, 2014 at 01:47 pm

- Buffalo will be tough no doubt. We are built for cold weather. And should be able to match up well against a kyle Orton led team.
- Cover two seems to be effectively dealt with now that we are using the vacated check down areas of the field. A good front four should effectively be neautralized by our oline right now.
- Calm down about our D. They went to sleep. Hard to wake up once you do that. Our pass rush has been good this year. We should be able to pick that up again. Our secondary is still good. Just not the best game plan for Julio. Should have rolled a safety over more often and had the bigger house on him more in hindsight. Capers got too cute with one on ones and we got burned. MM admitted as much.
- Lions......ya they're good. But we have more tape on them to exploit that D. Remember we played them on the second game of the year. And our offense got smacked in the mouth. MM and Capers have success in November and December because there is more tape out there to find favorable matchups. I have a good feeling about that one.
- You'll see peppers again. This year's theme was about body conditioning for the year. I can't help but think some of these guys were playing not to get hurt after our big lead and hoping they could survive the game. Hard to turn that switch once you play that way. Peppers sees a potential for a deep run. One he hasn't seen before. He's saving himself....guaranteed.

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