Falcons hoping for complete game against Packers 

By D. Orlando Ledbetter

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

FLOWERY BRANCH With the streaking Green Bay Packers coming to town and a possible home-field playoff advantage at stake, it might be time for the Falcons to produce that elusive "Complete Game" they keep clamoring about.

While crafting the best record in the NFC at 8-2, the Falcons have also been gnashing their teeth over their inability to put together a full 60-minute game, where they dominate an opponent from beginning to end.

"I think it's a lack of consistency," Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan said Monday. "That's why we haven't been able to do it. I'm not sure as to why, but the biggest thing that we need to do is remain focused on the process."

The Falcons believe that continued preparation and attention to detail will eventually lead to them clicking for a full game. With six games left and the NFC playoff picture starting to take shape, the timing would be fortuitous.

The Packers are tied for first place with Chicago in the NFC North. Since losing to Miami 23-20 on Oct. 17, the 7-3 Packers have won three straight and have outscored their opposition 85-10.

The Falcons need a victory to secure the head-to-head tie-breaker against the Packers and to stay in front of several teams.

New Orleans (7-3) and Tampa Bay (7-3) are a game back in the NFC South.

In the NFC East, Philadelphia (7-3) and the New York Giants (6-4) are both in good playoff position.

In the sub-par NFC West, Seattle (5-5) is a game up on St. Louis (4-6) and two games up on San Francisco (3-7) and Arizona (3-7).

The Falcons opened the season with a loss and then ripped off four straight wins. They followed up a loss to Philadelphia by winning the next four games.

But they also needed late-game heroics to beat Cincinnati, Tampa Bay and Baltimore. They trailed in the third quarter against the Rams last Sunday before dominating down the stretch.

"We've just made the plays when we needed to," said Ryan, who directed a seven-play, 80-yard touchdown drive in the final 65 seconds to beat Baltimore on Nov. 11.

The Falcons know it will be difficult to keep their the current four-game winning streak going against the Packers. Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers has the second-highest quarterback rating in the NFC and linebacker Clay Matthews leads the league with 11 1/2 sacks.

"You need to string them together in this league in order to be relevant in December," Ryan said. "Hopefully, we'll be playing beyond the regular season. So we've done a good job in both of those stretches and the last four. But that's something that we need to continue throughout the year."

As a rookie, Ryan led the Falcons to 27-24 victory over the Packers at Lambeau Field on Oct. 5, 2008.

On Sunday, Ryan and the offense was close to operating at full throttle against the Rams. They scored on four straight possessions after starting the game with a three-and-out drive. They finished the game by scoring on three of four drives.

However, four of their scores were field goals. Three of the field goals came after drives stalled at the 11-, 6- and 3-yard lines.

"We moved the ball effectively in our no-huddle offense," Falcons coach Mike Smith said. "We'd like to finish those drives off with touchdowns instead of field goals."

Ryan thinks the offense will do just fine in the red zone.

"We still need to clean some things up," Ryan said. "There are a lot of areas where we need to improve. That's going to be our focus this week."

Smitty makes plea for fans to be on time, loud for Packers 

4:20 pm November 22, 2010, by D. Orlando Ledbetter

FLOWERY BRANCH Tell your preacher to let you out of Sunday service early.

Take the MARTA if traffic is your issue.

Cut the tailgate off a little bit earlier.

Basically, as Kim Zolciak sings, Dont be Tardy for the Party!

Falcons coach Mike Smith, who is 18-3 in the Georgia Dome in three seasons, is asking the fans to be on time and loud for Sundays 1 p.m. game against the Green Bay Packers.

I just want to talk a little bit about the upcoming game and how important it is for our fans to get out there, Smith said. We want it to be like Thursday night (against the Baltimore Ravens). That was a big advantage for us as a football team to have the fans in the stands, rocking and rolling.

The Falcons are 8-2 and have the best record in the NFC. Green Bay is 7-3.

It should be a good game, Smith said. The Green Bay Packers are on a roll. They are playing good football. It ought to be an exciting afternoon. We are hoping that everyone will come and help us win the game.

With the Green Bay Packers coming into town (and they seem to be the new team to beat this week listening to all the pundits), I wanted to take a look at what theyve done that is so impressive.

Looking at their schedule, they beat Philadelphia, the opening weekend of the season. Kevin Kolb started the game, but Michael Vick came in and finished the game 16 of 24, 175 yards passing, one touchdown thrown and a quarterback rating of 101.9. He also had 103 yards rushing. After that they beat Buffalo (but then other than Detroit and Cincinnati, who hasnt). They lost to Chicago, barely squeaked out a win with Detroit, lost to Washington and Detroit and as of late theyve got on a four-game win streak beating Dallas, the New York Jets (3 field goals) and two against the Vikings.

Comparably, we lost our opener against Pittsburgh, we blew out Arizona, squeaked a win out against New Orleans and San Francisco, we beat Cleveland, lost a hard one to Philadelphia, and weve gone on a four-game win streak beating Cincinnati, Tampa Bay (wild-card contender), Baltimore (formerly #1 ranked team in the power rankings), and our so called trap game against St. Louis that we won convincingly.

Aaron Rodgers is 214/334 with a 64.1 completion percentage for 2,601 yards and a rating of 95.7.

Matt Ryan is 238/377 with a 63.1 completion percentage for 2,518 yards and a rating of 92.9. Only three spaces sit between Rodgers (ranked 7th) and Ryan (ranked 10th).

Michael Turner has 864 yds on 200 carries while Brandon Jackson has 488 yds on 122 carries.

Roddy White has 79 receptions for 1,1017 yds while Greg Jennings has 703 yds after 46 receptions.

Passing yards Green Bay( 247.1) 11th Atlanta (242) 13th

Rushing yards Green Bay( 100.5 ) 7th Atlanta (129) 7th

Opp passing yards Green Bay(211.3) 11th Atlanta (244.1) 24th

Opp rushing yards Green Bay( 112.1) 18th Atlanta (95.4) 6th

Overall what I am seeing is two very evenly matched teams with this game having the potential to go down to the last drive. If thats the case, we all know what happens. Home in the Dome? The Falcons win a close one.

"93Mustangs" wrote:

They're a very good team but looking at your breakdown of their wins and losses they don't seem that tough. I know they will be though.

I'm also starting to feel better about our team after that Philly loss (I said it would take me a while to get completely over that one).

The impressive thing to me is how they've responded after all their major injuries.

Jennings, Driver, Jones...all very talented and will be tough to deal with. As far as matching up with our secondary it kind of feels like the Cincy game with regards to their talent at receiver.

They're aggressive on D but I like our chances to give Matt time against the blitz and burn them there.

Toss-up...

"Slamee101" wrote:

The thing that concerns me about this game is the pass defense. Green Bay is kind of like the Saints in that they are pass-heavy, and I can see GB's game plan being to throw a lot of 7-10 yard passes and see how their YAC works out for them. As long as we're talking statistics, let's not forget that we still give up a lot of yards in the passing game. If our pass rush isn't better than it was against St. Louis, our offense is going to have to have a great game to keep up.

"Dessert Falcon" wrote:

They remind me of the Saints but the thing is Rodgers is great but he isnt Brees and he isnt as accurate as Brees. Another thing is we can take advantage of their pass protection and lack of a strong run game. They have some great receivers that can create mismatches against us in the secondary so we need to get after Rodgers. This game is a toss up but its hard to bet against the Falcons at home.

"DirtyBirdSupaBowl" wrote:

Bottom line against these guys is I don't want to get in a shoot out.

We need to control the ball..ie a heavy dose of Michael Turner this week,I can't remember the last time we lost a game if Turner puts up good rushing numbers.

Do what we have been doing..no turnovers.

Defensively Pass Rush is huge this week we need to get to Rodgers force him to get rid of the ball quickly if not I think our secondary is in for along day.

I'm still confident though they probably have as much trepedation about this game as winning in fortress Atlanta is one of the toughest places to win in the league since the regime has been in place.

"kiwifalcon" wrote:

This is a very good team. Not a lot of weaknesses but one sort of glaring one in their offensive line. It is very important that JA55 plays this weekend. We HAVE to get pressure on Rodgers like we did against Flacco. Their receivers are too talented and will get open if they get time to run.

As far as their defense goes they get some pressure. Matthews is among the best in the league at getting to the QB. Not a whole lot to worry about outside of him though. Their secondary is solid. Woodson is a stud but, again, outside of him nothing really sticks out. Collins is somewhat of a ballhawk but he's no Ed Reed or Troy P.

I've discussed this game with my friend who is a Packer fan a few times already. We both agreed it's going to be a very hard fought game, possibly a preview of the NFCCG. Obviously he thinks they have the edge and I think the opposite.

This will be a key game, the winner would hold the edge on the #1 seed and home field throughout the playoffs.

" CDuB2009" wrote:

Yeah, they managed to win strong against a terrible terrible terrible Cowboys team, and a terrible terrible terrible Minnesota game. They barely squeaked out a win against Detroit, and that was with significant players in action. Didn't they lose to Washington? And Miami?

"sporkdevil" wrote:

They did, however, unwittingly make the point that we've been a better team with the least of our usual starters on the field. Weird year, eh?

"TwinkieGorilla" wrote:

But in the Jets game.. we were given two picks that were questionable at best if we start wanting to get into they won on a pass interference.

Just saying. 😉 {awaits the chorus of repeats or objections to the phrase}

"pack93z" wrote:

"pack93z" wrote: