Everything was set up for the Falcons to advance to the NFC Championship. They had the week off, they had home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, and they were facing the Green Bay Packers who were coming off an emotional win over the Philadelphia Eagles in the Wild Card Round. However, the Packers came into the game against the Falcons with an agenda, scoring 28 points in the second quarter en route to a 48-21 win over the Falcons to earn a spot in the NFC title game.
“It’s extremely hard in this league to get the outcome that you want when we play the type of football that we played today,” Falcons head coach Mike Smith said. “Very uncharacteristic when it comes to turnovers, protecting the football and winning third down on defense.”
Smith is right on all three accounts. The Falcons turned the ball over four times, they could not get the Green Bay offense of the field and because of that, the Falcons only had possession for just 21 minutes when they average over 32 minutes per game.
The first quarter started in typical Falcons fashion when it comes to jumping on the board early. They were able to score first when Michael Turner scored on a 12-yard touchdown run. The score was set up thanks to the defense forcing a turnover, as Stephen Nicholas forced a Greg Jennings fumble which was recovered by Brent Grimes.
“We thought that the first quarter of the game went fairly well,” Smith said. “But one we got into the second quarter, it started to go away from us.”
Green Bay got the scoring started in the second quarter, producing a 13-play, 81-yard drive which ended with an Aaron Rodgers 6-yard touchdown pass to Jordy Nelson. The Falcons would answer on the ensuing kickoff as Eric Weems scores on a 102-yard return to tie the game at 14.
That’s when the Packers made their move and they would score on their next drive with a Rodgers 20-yard pass to James Jones to break the tie. The play of the game came in the Falcons next offensive series when Matt Ryan threw an interceptions to Tramon Williams which he returned 70 yards for the score to end the half. That was Ryan’s second pick of the game, as he threw his first pick to Williams in the end zone earlier in the second quarter which led to the Rodgers 20-yard TD pass to Jones.
“It was just not a very good decision on my part,” Ryan said, talking about the second pick he threw to Williams. We’re in field goal range at that point. I just needed to throw the ball away.”
Green Bay was able to add more to their lead in the third quarter with 14 additional points. The Packers opened the quarter with a 12-play 80-yard drive which ended with a Rodgers 7-yard touchdown run to increase the Packers lead to 21. Later in the quarter, Rodgers threw his third touchdown pass of the game to John Kuhn to go up by 28.
“They were a better team today,” Tony Gonzalez said who only had one catch for seven yards in the loss. “I don’t think there’s any dispute. The game wasn’t even close.”
All around, it was not a good day for the Falcons. The offense only gained 194 yards and the defense could never get off the field, as the Green Bay offense converting 8-of-12 on third downs. In fact the Packers did not punt one time during the game.
“We ran into hot quarterback playing at a high level,” Smith said talking about Rodgers who scored four total touchdowns in the win. “We obviously had a hard time stopping them.”
The Packers will face either the Seattle Seahawks or the Chicago Bears depending on the outcome of their game on Sunday. As for the Falcons, they will go home with a bad taste in their mouth, but all is not lost. They finish the regular season with a 13-3 record and their fourth division title in franchise history. While it may not be their ultimate goal, they have come a long way since the 2007 when this franchise was in disarray.
“I love this team,” Gonzalez said who could retire after this season. “I love the future of this team. It’s just the beginning of something great.”
Gonzalez along with Ryan, Roddy White, Turner, Weems, John Abraham and Ovie Mughelli will take part in the Pro Bowl which will be played in Hawaii two weeks from Sunday.
Loading ...
