Green Bay Packers vs Atlanta Falcons: NFL Week 5 Thoughts

Columns, Top Story

Green Bay Packers 25 – Atlanta Falcons 14

 

My Father, Ronald Glazer watched the Packers eek out an ugly win: The Packer game was definitely an ugly one, even though it was fast paced and the clock seemed to run down quickly.  Aaron Rodgers called it a choppy performance, but he was right, as both teams showed some holes.  As a Packer fan, it was encouraging to see them make multiple in-game adjustments on both offense and defense.  Luckily, the Packers rarely play catch up (they were never down by more than 7 all last year), so to see them come back from a 14-0 early hole was especially impressive.  The call of the game was the 57-yard field goal where a miss would have put the team down 8 with the Falcons having the ball at mid-field.  Aaron Rodgers took over from there, continuing to be the early season MVP and making the Pack favorites to return to the Super Bowl, if not necessarily to repeat.

 

Kyle Sparks says it was a tale of two games:  The Packers and Falcons had a tale of two games on Sunday night, but the Packers were ultimately able to get the job done and advance to 5-0.  Despite putting up less than 200 yards passing (which with the 2 interceptions represented a marked improvement from previous efforts), the Falcons definitely laid out a blueprint in the first quarter to stifle the Packers defense.  A steady diet of screens and draws coupled with a moving pocket made it difficult for the Pack to find their groove defensively.  Offensively for the Packers Aaron Rodgers saved the day once again, throwing for near 400 yards and 2 TDs.  The drops by Jermichael Finley represented an odd departure in his game, but Atlanta was likely the biggest obstacle to Green Bay cruising into the bye undefeated.  The Packers can’t look too far forward obviously, but may not be truly challenged again until traveling to San Diego on November 6th.

 

My Take: The Packers did everything they could to lose this game, but still came away with a W.  From dropped passes, that’s Jermichael “Get me the Ball” Finley, by the way, to shaky early run defense, the Packers seemed primed for a letdown, but, clearly, things changed.  BJ Raji doesn’t get enough credit, but he and Clay Matthews took over on defense, stopping the run and, as the game went on, getting more and more pressure on Matt Ryan, forcing mistakes.  Meanwhile, on offense, Aaron Rodgers took over.  The Offensive line, beset by injuries, took awhile to get going, but Rodgers just starting hitting every offensive option he had, varying his timing and using both his legs and quick release to avoid sacks.  The game felt closer than its score thanks to the Falcons’ early lead, but they were shut out the rest of the way.  While this isn’t likely the biggest win so far for the Packers, it may be my favorite.

Glazer is a former senior editor at Pulse Wrestling and editor and reviewer at The Comics Nexus.