Sole Focus

With the Snowpocalypse extinguishing all signs of life in downtown Atlanta there has been very little action on either court or rink but this, somewhat conveniently, has turned attention solely to the ominous structure behind Phillips Arena that, come Saturday, will host the cities first NFL play-off game since 2004. While it would have been nice to have had the Seattle Seahawks coming into the Dome this week it will instead be the Green Bay Packers making their second appearance in Arthur Blanks house this year. I thought that, without being able to effectively gauge the interest and feeling of the city given my current distance, it would be interesting to see how the Smith/Dimitroff Falcons have fared numerically against the Cheeseheads.

Since Dimitroff and Smith took charge in Atlanta the Falcons have faced Green Bay twice, once earlier this season inside the Dome and once in 2008 at Lambeau Field and have a 2-0 record against them notching two three point wins Mike McCarthy’s men, 27-24 in 2008 and 17-20 in November. In both games Matt Ryan, Michael Turner and Roddy White were all central to the Falcons victory with Turner and White being the outstanding performers once a piece.

Going chronologically I’ll go through how the team did in 2008 and then in late November. At Lambeau in ’08 Matt Ryan, in his rookie year, completed 61% of his passes for a pretty inconsequential 194 yards with 2 touchdowns and 1 pick. It wasn’t that Ryan played badly he was just efficient which, at that point of his career, was exactly what the Falcons were asking from Matty Ice. So Ryan did a good job and played his part in Coach Smiddy’s game plan, Turner was the game changer this time around thanks to gaining 121 yards on 26 carries while going in for one touchdown. This was during a period that Turner was at his dominant burning best and on the road at Lambeau it is understandable that Smith and the Falcons rode the hot run game with the Falcons as a team running for an average of 4.9. Roddy White also worked well against the Packers secondary grabbing eight passes for 132 yards and a touchdown, which was more reflective of the restrictions put on Ryan than on White.

Come 2010 the story wasn’t particularly different. Turner and his offensive line were once again dominant with Burner carrying the ball 23 times for 110 times and a touchdown for a 4.8 yard average. Ryan was again limited passing for only 197 yards this time but completing an incredibly 85% of his passes going 24 for 28 with a touchdown and no picks. Tony Gonzalez led the Dirty Birds in receptions and yards with 6 catches and 51 yards but he was actually targeted less than White. Roddy had 7 targets but only had 5 catches compared to Gonzalez’s 6 targets.

While the Falcons have seemingly tuned their game to beating the Packers they now have to plan for a run game that Green Bay is displaying for the first time. In 2008 Green Bay only managed to 104 yards on the ground before gaining even less in Atlanta this year, the Pack posting 77 yards on the ground at the Georgia Dome. In both games the Falcons have given Aaron Rodgers plenty of opportunities to beat them seeing him throw for 313 and 344 yards respectively it is pretty clear he has the birds’ number. What cannot be allowed to happen on Saturday is for the Packers ground game to beat the Falcons, if Rodgers throws for 400 yards and 5 touchdowns accept that that’s what he does, allowing James Starks to go off like he did against the Eagles would be unacceptable for the Falcons. Regardless of what happens and whether they win or not Saturday night should be an occasion for Atlantans to enjoy and maybe, just maybe, get used too.