Key Battles for Packers at Falcons
By andrewgarda
As the Green Bay Packers get ready to take on the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, the NFC North has started to tighten up.
Well, not the Bears, but you can’t have everything.
For the rest of the North, the Minnesota Vikings’ loss to the Philadelphia Eagles last week knocked a hole in their armor and kept them close to the rest of the pack.
Or the Packers, if we want to be on the nose with our descriptions.
There’s a good chance the Vikings beat the Bears next Monday night (what did the country do to be consistently have the Bears forced upon them in prime time?) which means the Packers have to find a way to beat Atlanta to stay within striking distance.
Atlanta is on a two-game skid, after a surprising win over the Denver Broncos. Their offense hasn’t been as dominating as it was to start the season, and so the chinks in the defense are being exposed.
Meanwhile, the Packers seem to have finally gotten their offense going, but find themselves bereft of options in the backfield. That might just work out fine though, as the up-tempo offense the team ran last week seemed to be just what the doctor ordered and came about, in part, because they had almost no options in the backfield.
The Packers are going to want to attack the Falcons struggling defense and put it on its heels early. Ideally, that will mean touchdowns, not field goals or punts, but even a three point kick at the end of a drive will put pressure on the Falcons offense to keep up.
It will also wear out the Falcons defensive unit, assuming the Packers own defense keeps the drives short for Atlanta.
The speed the Packers played with was just more comfortable for Aaron Rodgers as well, as he seemed more settled than he had in weeks. He made quicker decisions, threw with more authority and with the exception of Jordy Nelson, appeared to connect with the receivers more effectively than he has all season long.
It’s hard to know what is wrong with Nelson, by the way, whether his injury is still bothering him or if the time away mentally is still lingering. A short, quick tempo game will help lessen the impact his poor play (and lack of chemistry with Rodgers) has on the offense, and it could be that he’ll find more separation down the road as teams adjust to the targets Davante Adams and Randall Cobb get.
Then again, the Packers spread the ball out so effectively last game that, if they keep it up, defenses will have a nearly impossible time slowing the offense down. There are only so many ways you can cover receivers when any number of them can be the primary on a play.
And again, add speed into that mix and you give the defense even less time to react.
Right now the Falcons are stumbling, and the Packers have a chance to put them on their back again, even on the road. They have to do it striking hard and fast, getting the offense into rhythm and holding the accelerator down.
Even Matt Ryan and Julio Jones will have a hard time keeping up with that.
Comments (19)
Community Guy
October 28, 2016 at 06:31 am
love the vision and optimism. the Packers may need to consistently go to their 3rd and 4th passing options as Rodgers did against the Bears. can Davante have another solid game? also, i am looking forward to better special teams play from the Pack.
dobber
October 28, 2016 at 08:01 am
I think you're right: this is another game where the opposing D will scheme to take away Nelson and Cobb, forcing the Packers to beat them with Adams and Montgomery/Knile Davis. Those are the key players in this one on the offensive side of the ball. If Drop-vante shows up on Sunday, it could be a frustrating day.
RCPackerFan
October 28, 2016 at 06:42 am
The key for me in this game will be the Packers Redzone scoring offense.
I think one of the biggest problems with the Packers offense this year has been the Redzone offense.
They are averaging 4.2 red zone scoring attempts per game. (2nd most in the league)
They are scoring TD's in the redzone at only 52% of the time. (18th in the league)
They simply haven't been converting enough trips into the redzone into TD's. In the last game they should have had 2 more TD's but had to settled for FG's. They ended up going 3-6 in the Redzone, scoring 3 TD's out of 6 trips.
Against the Cowboys they went 1-4 in the redzone.
If they start converting more of their trips into the redzone into TD's, the offense will take off.
The good news is, that against the Bears their last 4 drives they went 3-4 in them in scoring TD's. Hopefully that continues this week.
NickPerry
October 28, 2016 at 06:45 am
People have to remember the 2015 Falcons started out very quickly too. They started 5-0, lost to the Saints in week 6, beat the Titans in week 7, and then dropped 6 in a row. They lost to teams like the Vikings, Bucs (Twice) and Colts. Every year is different but I think this is a very winnable game for the Packers.
Hold Jones to yards between the 20 yard lines. I don't give a damn if they have 450 yards at the end of the game as long as Matt Bryant is the main source of scoring.
Packers have to get pressure. If Matthews is down they still have several options to rush the QB. Frackrell deserves time, he's been good in his limited chances. The pass rushers are going to have to show up and be effective
Several scouts thought Montgomery should be a RB in the NFL, not a WR coming out of Stanford. He played there in HS and some at Stanford. He might not be the guy you want blocking 300 pound lineman, but Monty will only get better the more he's used. The Packers love those "Big RB" and haven't given Rodgers a viable "3rd down RB" since Jackson. Jackson was actually a decent blocker, all Monty has to do is slow the pass rusher down a tad and let Rodgers do the rest. I think he can do that. Montgomery could turn out to be the best think to happen to the Packers Backfield since Eddie Lacy 4 years ago.
This week I believe they let loose the Kniles Davis express. Monty might not have to be the ONLY RB option the Packers have. Wouldn't be surprised a bit if Davis had a pretty good game.
RCPackerFan
October 28, 2016 at 07:04 am
'Montgomery could turn out to be the best think to happen to the Packers Backfield since Eddie Lacy 4 years ago.'
Completely agree... The loss to Dallas might have been a loss in the record books, but could actually be a huge win for the season. In that game they discovered they have a real weapon in Montgomery out of the backfield.
Last week they essentially focused their game plan around using Montgomery in the backfield and using his strengths.
When listening to McCarthy talk and praise Davis, it really gets me excited. Davis has a unique skill set. Don't only look out for Davis. Look for Jackson (assuming he plays) to have a bigger role this week. Jackson is also a fast RB.
What is crazy is looking at the transformation our RB position has went under in the last month. They went from the big bruising running of Lacy to speed with Montgomery, Davis and Jackson.
dobber
October 28, 2016 at 08:04 am
"When listening to McCarthy talk and praise Davis, it really gets me excited."
True, but too often MM will talk someone up and then completely ignore him. I think Knile Davis's role in the offense will be based almost entirely on game flow with MM having a quick trigger on the running game. If this starts to look like a shootout, I suspect he'll sit most of the game.
RCPackerFan
October 28, 2016 at 08:22 am
I get what your saying... But for me its the tone in which McCarthy speaks of him... Listening to his conference, I felt he was excited with what he saw.
What does that mean for this Sunday? I have no idea. I think you maybe right in that we may not see a lot of him, but he is still learning the offense. I would think we will gradually see more of him each week.
I'm not saying Davis will put up 200 yards this Sunday either. I'm just saying that I get the feeling that McCarthy is really excited to have him.
dobber
October 28, 2016 at 09:45 am
I think where he'll be most important is in the red zone where these spread offenses tend to bog down and in short yardage. The Packers will need him to threaten defenses on the ground in a way the lighter Montgomery won't.
RCPackerFan
October 28, 2016 at 10:03 am
Yeah, I completely agree with that. If he can add some power running that would definitely help out.
jlc1
October 28, 2016 at 11:45 am
I too am kind of skeptical of McCarthy's talking. He has spent a year and a half talking about "fixing" stuff and too little of it gets fixed. That said NFL coaches, McCarthy included, are pretty fixated on NOT telling the media what's on their mind.
pacman
October 28, 2016 at 12:49 pm
Ditto. I stopped listening to MM for a while now. Besides being frustrated with him not adjusting, it's not his job to tell the public any secret game plans.
Handsback
October 28, 2016 at 07:34 am
Nelson will take another year before he's totally recovered from his surgery. He doesn't have the quickness he used to so teams aren't that afraid of him. Green Bay will have to ride the short passing game and threat out of the backfield to win games. One of the benefits of the short game is that teams will crowd those short lanes. You can't take all of them away, but a lot. Once that is done, those long slants to Nelson/Janis/ whoever will open up. Green Bay still has some talent, they just have to play to their strength, which isn't pounding the ball with Lacy anymore.
Andrew Lloyd Peth
October 28, 2016 at 09:18 am
Here's a guarantee: The Falcons will bring big pressure and scheme to remove Montgomery, so that opens the middle of the field for Richard Rodgers.
RR, if you have any athletic ability at all, this is your game. Move the chains, big fella. Wear them down.
dobber
October 28, 2016 at 09:48 am
Actually, I think Atlanta will do what other teams have done against the Packers: rush four, shadow #12 with a LB or S, and drop into coverage. It's been effective more often than not against the Packers, and with the Falcons ability to move the football, I'd take that chance.
pacman
October 28, 2016 at 01:18 pm
Falcons saw the game. They saw Adams' catch in the end zone on a poor AR throw. That was only made because defender was not looking back. They saw a poor AR throw to a wide open Adams.
They saw the Bears play soft coverage. Most teams found out the way to beat the Packers is to play tight man coverage.
They saw Montgomery being hit out of the backfield. So they will have a shadow on him.
So we will see if our WR's can get open or if MM can scheme them open.
We will see if MM goes back to running the ball now that he has 2 or 3 RB's and sticks to it even if it is not working.
We will see if AR can get back to being elite.
We will see if there is any hope of a SB this year (which would be amazing considering the injuries).
(can you tell I'm still ticked off about wasting AR's best years?)
Rossonero
October 28, 2016 at 04:28 pm
McCarthy talked a lot about Ty Montgomery and then didn't use him for 4 weeks. Despite that negative comment, I have faith that knile davis will get 10-12 carries.
hybridauth_Facebook_100004084225446
October 30, 2016 at 09:57 am
21-34 sorry the pack lose this game .
tech2121
February 08, 2017 at 01:04 am
Nice read..
torrentbajrangi
August 26, 2017 at 06:41 am
YOU ARE PROVIDING USEFUL INFORNALTION. KEEP IT UP.