Official Week 8 Packers/Falcons Discussion Thread

[vince]

Which of course means that the Falcons pass D will have a superb game.
When was the last time an opponent completely laid an egg against GB? I know that teams always try to bring their best game, but even the scrub teams seem to play well against GB.
Except the Bears. But their QB had to break an arm first. He was trying to break a leg...

Ignoring any opinion about the actual relative impact the Bear offensive QB situation, the Bear defense and the Packer offense had on the Packer offense's ability to move the ball - here are the teams that the Packers offense has exposed for pretty big production in the last year-long period of offensive challenges that started last year in Denver (Week 7).

The Packers offense gained over 400 yds. four times since the Denver debacle - twice last year against #6 D Carolina (402 yds. Loss, Week 8) and #17 Dallas (435 yds. Win, Week 13), and twice more so far this year against the #19 D Giants (406, Win, Week 4) and the #12 D Bears (406. Win, Week 6). Yes the Bears currently have the #12 ranked overall defense.

They were pretty much completely futile twice last year against the league’s best defense in Denver (140 yds., Loss, Week 7) and #5 D Arizona (178 yds., Loss, Week 15).

The worst game this year in terms of moving the ball was also the league’s #1 D Minnesota (263 yds., Loss, Week 2).

All other games in the last year they've gained 300 – 400 yards – against #9 D Jacksonville, #25 Detroit and #17 Dallas this year. Last year they gained 300-400 yards against #13 Minnesota, #24 Jacksonville, #18 Detroit and #14 Chicago.

With a couple exceptions where they moved it well against top 10 defenses (You might say those defenses laid an egg.) the Packers have pretty much moved it well against decent, average and below defenses – while shitting the bed against elite (top 5 or better) defenses - big-time last year but not so much this year.

Atlanta’s defense is currently ranked THE WORST of all of the last 16 regular season opponents over the last year post-Denver at #26 overall YTD, giving up 386 yds. and more than 28 pts a game.

The Packers have had well-documented issues scoring points in the red zone, but they've moved the ball into the red zone really well overall. I can’t see any reason why they shouldn’t be able to do so against the worst defense of all of them in Atlanta.

Now they have to figure out how to start punching it in with some consistency. It’s possible they could get outscored this week, but it figures to be the best opportunity in the last 16 games to start establishing some of that consistency moving forward.