Good afternoon, everyone. On Monday night, the Green Bay Packers took on the Atlanta Falcons at Lambeau Field. They were looking to stay unbeaten heading into the bye week. Even without Davante Adams and Allen Lazard, the Packers put up 30 points on the Falcons defense in a 14-point win. I am here to give you my thoughts on what exactly happened in this game. Without further delay, let’s get started.
The Packers defense got off to a great start, forcing the Falcons to go three-and-out on their first 2 possessions. After the first three-and-out, the Packers scored a touchdown on a 7-play, 73-yard drive. The drive ended with a 6-yard touchdown pass from Aaron Rodgers to a wide-open Aaron Jones, who set up the touchdown with a 23-yard run down to the 6 yard line of Atlanta. After the second three-and-out, the Packers had a chance to put another touchdown on the scoreboard. That did not happen for Green Bay, as Jamaal Williams was stuffed on fourth and goal from the one. I liked the decision to go for it, but the play call (a shotgun draw play) was not good. The Falcons started their next drive from their own 1 after the fourth down stop. The defense allowed Atlanta to get all the way to the Green Bay 5 yard line, giving up 2 fourth down conversions during the 20-play drive. After an incomplete pass on third down, the Falcons decided to settle for a 23-yard field goal by Elliott Fry. The Packers started their next drive with 7:38 left in the second quarter. They went down the field on an 11-play, 75-yard drive that culminated in a 19-yard touchdown pass from Rodgers to tight end Robert Tonyan. The touchdown gave Green Bay a 13-3 lead with 2:28 left in the first half. The reason why it was not 14-3 was because Mason Crosby missed the extra point kick to the left. The Packers defense responded with another three-and-out, getting a sack of Matt Ryan on third and 4 (it was by Raven Greene). The offense went down the field for another touchdown before halftime, with the help of a punt return by Tyler Ervin to midfield). During the drive, they faced a fourth and 2 from the Atlanta 28-yard line. The play design had Malik Taylor fake a crossing route, which made him wide open for a 20-yard catch and run that converted the fourth down. On the next play, Rodgers found Tonyan for an 8-yard touchdown pass that gave Green Bay a 20-3 lead. A Za’Darius Smith sack of Matt Ryan ended the first half with the Packers up by 17.
The Packers did not score on their first drive of the second half, punting back to Atlanta after 6 plays. The Falcons offense then went down the field for their first touchdown of the game. During the drive, Krys Barnes tried to dive for an interception of Matt Ryan. What he should have done was let Darnell Savage get the pick. Instead, the ball went up in the air and was caught by Olamide Zaccheaus. The drive ended with a 5-yard touchdown run by Todd Gurley, who broke a couple of tackles on his way to the end zone. The touchdown decreased the Packers lead to 20-9 (missed extra point by Fry). The Packers started their next drive at their own 49 yard line thanks to a 34-yard kickoff return by Tyler Ervin and a facemask penalty against Atlanta during the return. From there, the Packers scored a touchdown in only 4 plays. Robert Tonyan got his third touchdown catch of the night after being tripped by a defender and doing a somersault flip. The 21-yard touchdown catch, plus the extra point by Mason Crosby, gave the Packers a 27-9 advantage. During the next drive by Atlanta, the Packers defense had a chance to get off the field on fourth and 6 from the Green Bay 49. The pass was incomplete, but there were 2 penalties on Green Bay. First was pass interference on Josh Jackson, which was declined. Second was roughing the passer on Za’Darius Smith, which was accepted. The roughing the passer penalty was not warranted, in my opinion. Regardless, it gave the Falcons a fresh set of downs. The drive ended with a 3-yard touchdown run by Todd Gurley, which decreased the Packers lead to 11. The Packers went down the field for another score. There was a play during the drive in which Rodgers stumbled and fell for a sack. I was worried at first because that might have been an injury scare. After the drive ended with a 48-yard field goal by Crosby, Rodgers was feeling fine on the bench with no need for the injury tent. With the Packers now up by 14, it was up to the defense to seal the win with less than 6 minutes to play. The defense got the critical stop with a third down sack of Matt Ryan by Za’Darius Smith in Packers territory. Matt Ryan was then pressured to throw across his body to Calvin Ridley, who could not come up with the catch in the end zone (great defensive play by Adrian Amos). After the Packers got the ball back, they went down the field to burn the game clock and forcing Atlanta to use their timeouts in the process. The drive did result in a punt, but the defense managed to get one more stop to keep the Falcons from scoring again. A third sack by Za’Darius Smith derailed the Falcons’ attempt to come back. 3 plays after the sack, Atlanta was forced to a turnover on downs again after an incomplete pass by Matt Ryan. A kneel-down by Tim Boyle ended the game, with the final score being 30-16 in Green Bay’s favor.
With the win, the Packers are now 4-0 heading into the Week 5 bye. With the absence of both Davante Adams and Allen Lazard, the Packers still put up 30 points on offense. Matt Lafleur proved once again that he is a great play designer, finding creative ways to get the receivers open. A perfect example was the fourth and 2 pass to Malik Taylor that set up Robert Tonyan’s second touchdown catch of the night. Speaking of Tonyan, he joined Keith Jackson and Jermichael Finley as the only tight ends in Packers history to have 3 touchdown receptions in a single game. Aaron Rodgers had another great game on Monday night, throwing for 327 yards and 4 touchdowns with a 147.5 passer rating. When he was targeting tight ends and running backs, he was 20 for 20 for 241 yards and all 4 touchdowns. What I also liked about Rodgers was that he was having a lot of fun out there, smiling and encouraging his teammates (plus having a great relationship with Matt Lafleur). Aaron Jones had a good game as well, going for 111 total yards (71 rushing, 40 receiving) and a 6-yard touchdown catch (which he was wide open for). Jamaal Williams had 8 catches for 95 receiving yards on the night to help Green Bay move the ball down the field and score points. Other than a couple of sacks, the offensive line did a great job of protecting Aaron Rodgers and giving him time to throw. The offensive line did good in terms of creating the running lanes as well, other than a few tackles for loss by Atlanta’s defense. I have a feeling that this offense will keep being consistent all season long. Hopefully Davante Adams comes back after the bye week (and Allen Lazard a bit after) for the long haul.
On defense, the Packers played well against the Falcons offense, limiting them to only 16 points on the night. They allowed only 78 rushing yards on the night, even though they did allow 2 rushing touchdowns to Todd Gurley. In the passing game, Calvin Ridley was shut down by Jaire Alexander, having no catches on the night. Julio Jones only had 32 receiving yards before leaving with a hamstring injury. Even with more injuries on the defensive side, including Kevin King and Will Redmond, the Packers defense got the key stops when they were needed the most. They forced Atlanta to settle for a field goal during the 20-play, 94-yard drive in the first half. In the fourth quarter, the defense got back to back fourth down stops, including a pass breakup by Adrian Amos in the end zone (which was set up by pressure on Matt Ryan). Za’Darius Smith sacked Matt Ryan 3 times, while Raven Greene had his own sack earlier in the game. Hopefully the injured players that did not play, including Kenny Clark and Rashan Gary, come back after the bye week to help the Packers win more games. I also hope that they will fix the issues that the defense is still dealing with, including missed tackles and playing too much soft zone. On Special Teams, the Packers did not have a turnover or a penalty against them. Tyler Ervin had a couple of good returns that gave Green Bay excellent field position, including a punt return that gave the offense the ball at midfield right before halftime. Mason Crosby did miss an extra point, but that was the only kick that he missed the whole night. JK Scott only punted twice, with one resulting in a touchback. It was during that punt that Josiah Deguara was rolled on and left the game with what is now a torn ACL. Hopefully he fully recovers from that injury. All the Packers need to do right now is stay consistent in terms of no turnovers or penalties on Special Teams. As long they do that, they will be fine.
Overall, it was a good win for the Packers at Lambeau Field. I still have hope that there will be fans in the stadium later this season. Normally, I don’t like it when the Packers have an early bye week. With all of the injuries that they have, the bye week gives the players some time to heal up and rest before the long stretch of games. I also hope that the players and staff stay smart away from the field during this bye week to avoid COVID-19. The next game for the Packers will be on October 18th against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium. For now, it’s a Victory Tuesday for the Packers. Have a great day, everyone. Go Pack Go!
(Here are the highlights of the game, provided by the NFL's YouTube page.)
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