So, 3irty1, here's your assessment of A-rod: "A-Rod has officially caught fire and is spreading the burning to the genitalia of defenses around the league."
Are you saying Rodgers is basically an STD?
If so, is he Syphillis Man? Gonorrhea Man? Do defensive players, after the game, not only feel sore but find sores?
"The Devine era is actually worse than you remember if you go back and look at it."
KYPack
This game is a barometer of where the Packers in relation to an elite NFC. Expect a hard fought evenly matched contest.
This is one of those games where if the team plays pretty well but loses, I won't be as tortured as I usually am by a Packer loss. As long as there are no injuries...
"The Devine era is actually worse than you remember if you go back and look at it."
KYPack
this game will show ESPN and the rest of the NFL that the Packers are the best team in the NFL
Swede: My expertise in this area is extensive. The essential difference between a "battleship" and an "aircraft carrier" is that an aircraft carrier requires five direct hits to sink, but it takes only four direct hits to sink a battleship.
SI's Game of the Week - Packers-Falcons
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/201...ons/index.html
Green Bay is tied with the Bears for the best defense in football this year (14.6 PPG). And its pass defense in particular provides a formidable challenge.
We measure pass defenses not by yards allowed -- really a useless indicator -- but by Defensive Passer Rating. We take the formula used to rate a quarterback's passing efficiency and apply it to a team's defensive stats. It has an incredibly high correlation to team success.
The Packers right now are No. 2 in Defensive Passer Rating (66.46). Only the Bears are better, and just barely (66.42). Green Bay has allowed just nine TD tosses all year, with 15 picks. Opponents complete a mere 55.9 percent of their passes; only the Jets are better in this department (51.0 percent). Green Bay is also No. 2 in yards per pass attempt against them (6.46). It's a great pass defense, in other words.
With all that said, the Packers have not exactly faced a murderers' row of quarterbacks: Michael Vick in Week 1, Mark Sanchez and Week 8 and that's about it for good quarterbacks leading good teams on Green Bay's schedule so far.
Bottom line: Green Bay's pass defense vs. Ryan at home represents what might be the toughest battle for both sides all year.
3. The Packers are the most efficient, well-run team in football this year. The Cold, Hard Football Facts put a lot of stock in efficiency over volume. Efficient teams win games, regardless of how prolific they might be.
You should put a lot of stock in efficiency, too. After all, teams that win the efficiency battle by our measure win about 85 percent of the time. Few indicators outside of final score have such an incredibly high correlation to success on Sunday.
We measure defensive efficiency through what we call the Bendability Index, our very successful effort to quantify the mysterious "bend but don't break" phenomenon. We measure offensive efficiency by what we call the Scoreability Index.
Right now, no team in football is more efficient on both sides of the ball than Green Bay. The Packers are No. 1 in Bendability: they force opponents to march an incredible 155 yards to score the equivalent of one touchdown and extra point. That's a lot of work and a lot of wasted effort by opponents with little result.
(For comparison's sake, the Chargers are dead last this year in Bendability: opponents need just 89 yards to put seven points on the board. Now you know why San Diego is just 5-5 despite its incredible rankings in most traditional indicators: they're an inefficient team.)
The Packers, meanwhile, are No. 3 in Scoreability, too. They're highly effective at turning just a few yards into a lot of points. Green Bay needs just 97 yards of offense to put the equivalent of seven points on the board.
A lot of factors go into a highly efficient team, at least the way we track it: teams that win the turnover battle, that are good on special teams, that force big plays on defense and that play well in the red zone rank very highly in our efficiency indicators. The Packers, in other words, are an efficient, well-coached team that plays smart situational football and takes advantage of opportunities presented to it on both sides of the ball.
The Cold, Hard Football Facts
Atlanta is well equipped to handle Green Bay's playmaking defense. The Falcons right now field the best offensive line in football, according to our Offensive Hog Index. And that unit will play a key role on Sunday.
The Packers are among the best in football at getting after the quarterback, as evidenced by their NFC-leading 29 sacks. Linebacker Clay Matthews leads the charge with 11.5 sacks, the most by any player this year.
Atlanta counters with one of the best pass-blocking units in football: Ryan is pressured into a sack or interception on just 5.1 percent of dropbacks. Only Peyton Manning suffers fewer mistakes (4.2 percent).
Provided Atlanta's offensive line plays up to its potential on Sunday, it neutralizes one of Green Bay's typical advantages: its playmaking defense.
The Falcons also have a better record overall, they're a solid club, and they're virtually unbeatable at home. It's hard to go against that kind of trend.
But they do have one critical weakness: the Falcons are merely mediocre on pass defense. They rank a mere No. 21 in Defensive Passer Rating, and have allowed 18 TD passes this year. That weakness does not bode well against the statistically prolific Rodgers, who will exploit that weakness and enter the "official" NFL record books in style.
The Pick
This is one of the toughest games to gauge we've seen this year: Green Bay is statistically proficient, while the Falcons never lose at home.
Here's the difference: Green Bay has surrendered just 10 points in its last three games, the best stretch of defense by any team in football this year. The Falcons, meanwhile, are soft on pass defense and face a red-hot quarterback. It adds up to a rare loss in Atlanta for the Falcons.
Green Bay 24, Atlanta 23
Extra points for verbal eloquence!Originally Posted by 3irty1
"Everyone's born anarchist and atheist until people start lying to them" ~ wise philosopher
Yeah almost. I'm saying that he cums fire ants.
70% of the Earth is covered by water. The rest is covered by Al Harris.
We could do wonders with this thread if we could only get it to the GC! DAYUM!
C.H.U.D.
Capers gave more detail about it than McCarthy did. He said he pointed out that in something like 7 out of 9 games, the D had forced a 3 and out in their first possession.
Bud Adams told me the franchise he admired the most was the Kansas City Chiefs. Then he asked for more hookers and blow.
No chance. The Arizona and Carolina are in a league of their own in a race for the worst team of the league. I'd like to put Jacksonville there too. Nobody who is -50 in point differential should be 6-4 and leading their division. And you can't call either the Vikings or Cowboys as among the worst teams.
Those two teams have talent and can still beat a good team. But they are/were dysfunctional. The Packers did what needs to be done in such cases, get on top early and wait for them to implode.
Bud Adams told me the franchise he admired the most was the Kansas City Chiefs. Then he asked for more hookers and blow.
I know you are sad that the Vikings are out of the playoff picture.
The difference between GB and the other teams is we have 11 guys on IR. Every win against those "horrible" teams was with 4th stringers except the PHI game. If you told me Grant, Finley, Barnett, Burnett, Jones and Poopinga were all out for the season I would be happy to be a .500 team for the year.
If someone said that we would be a dominant D will Green, Raji, Jenkins (with a broken hand), Pickett (with a gimpy ankle), Zombo, Bishop, Hawk, CM III, Woodson, T Will, Shields, Peprah and Collins starting I would have laughed my ass off at the beginning of the season.
This season, this team deserves our praises. This team has outperformed any reasonable expectations for what has happen on the injury front. Kudos to TT for finding the depth and kudos to MM for coaching the kids up to play winning ball!
But Rodgers leads the league in frumpy expressions and negative body language on the sideline, which makes him, like Josh Allen, a unique double threat.
-Tim Harmston
Falcons | John Abraham a game-time decision
Comment (0)
Fri, 26 Nov 2010 13:19:48 -0800
Atlanta Falcons DE John Abraham (groin) was limited during practice Friday, Nov. 26, according to D. Orlando Ledbetter, of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He is listed as questionable for Week 12 and will be a game-time decision.
Read more: http://www.kffl.com/team/7/nfl#ixzz16UAz0iZr
Thanks Ted!
One thing that bothers me now is the way coaches and announcers describe injuries...like they'd say this: "John Abraham has a groin."
Don't we all?
"The Devine era is actually worse than you remember if you go back and look at it."
KYPack
Where we begin to roll over teams? We are 2-1 against teams with winning records... and if you look at the 2 wins, we hardly rolled over any team.
Have you looked at the second half the season? After an 8-2 atlanta team we play ont he road where Matt Ryan has only lost one time in his career, we have two very winnable games before a very hard final stretch. We got TO New England, Then play the Giants, and end it off with the bears. Counting this week, that is 4 games we could very well lose out of the next 6, knocking us to 9-7. Not saying that is what will happen, I am saying it can happen.
And for the rest of the comments, just because the vikings suck doesn't magically mean I am butthurt. We could have 30 guys on IR, does that change the fact that we still only have one impressive win on the season? Say what you want about what other teams did against the eagles, bottom line is with vick full time we don't win that game.
We did get the win, and it was stilla quality victory because Kolb isn't a bad QB, but it was less impressive considering we almost blew a double digit lead to vick.
You guys do realize I don't actually like the vikings, right? I like Favre, I like AP - I never want them to win. You can play well and still lose. I take off my rose colored GB glasses and look at things. Sure, with 11 guys on IR we look good, but we haven't really been all world. We beat the bad teams we were supposed to beat, lost so far the only division game that has mattered, and won a tough game at the Jets. We are a good team, but we can be a bit overrated. People are calling us super bowl favorites again, and bottom line is we only really beat one serious contendor. If we played the eagles now? We most likely lose.
My feelings can turn on a dime should we beat Atlanta.They are indeed a good team, at least comparable to us, except for the fact they just don't lose at home. I am sick of people using injuries and saying "see how good we are with 11 guys on ir?" Truth is we have absorbed injuries most can't, and if anything, those injuries are even more reason we are overrated. Were not as good of a team as we were heading into the season. That doesn't mean we are bad, but we kept a lot of key players in place. Lost Finely, who we lost fo r stretech last year, but still had Rodgers. OL stayed healthy. Matthews, Woodson... still here. So is collins. Jenkins didn't miss a game. Raji turned into a stud.
We are a good team, were just not as good as people think we are yet. We beat up on the baddies, lose to mediocre teams, and compete welll against good teams. To be the best, we have to beat the best. Atlanta is the best the NFC has to offer. Beat them on the road, along with that jets win, and I'll start buying into us.
Lastly, we still have more healthy playmakers on this team than the bad teams do. For all the injuries sustained, it made you really realize just how many great players we had. Forget the depth, we had A LOT of really damn good players. Clifton is playing probowl level tackle. Raji, Matthews, Williams, Collins, Woodson, Jennings - You can say what you want about the inuries, but 5 of our 11 starters on defense are studs. That is without AL Harris, Barnett, or anyhone of note at SS. When you have 5 studs stills tarting on defense, that defense is going to compete and still be pretty damn good. Take off the "man I can't believe we're this good" glasses and you'll see why we blow out the bad teams. Bad teams are that for a reason. Good teams are good for a reason, We had a lot of good players heading into this season, and we still have a lot of good players despite injuries.
When I say roll over teams I'm talking about our tendencies to finish strong in past years under MM. Last year we had big questions about the team until CW and the defense pooped in the Cowboys cereal in what was almost a shutout. That win was followed by another big win over the Ravens where we clearly looked like the better team. Despite the injuries, bad luck, etc. Everyone who was a Packer fan last year knows that this team and namely A-Rod may have had the worst half season of his career to start this season... that cold streak wasn't going to last and we've seen those throws from him in the last few weeks that got him all the offseason hype.
Everything taken into account, we are a better team than when the season began. Individual improvement and fantastic play from backup players has overshadowed those injuries. When you've got a defense that is as good as any in the NFL, you have a chance to win any game. When you have a QB the caliber of Aaron Rodgers you can win any game. When you have both? You expect to win every single game. Personally I think the biggest difference between the Falcons and Cowboys is a whole lot of luck, and Mike Smith. It shouldn't surprise anyone if the Packers wreck them at least as hard as the Eagles did.
70% of the Earth is covered by water. The rest is covered by Al Harris.
I just looked at all of the NFL records and this is what I came up with.
AFC:
NY JETS- 9-2 have played 3 winning teams and are 1-2
NE - 9-2 have played 4 winning teams and are 3-1
PITT - 7-3 have played 5 winning teams and are 2-3
BALT - 7-3 have played 4 winning teams and are 2-2
JACK - 6-4 have played 3 winning teams and are 1-2
IND - 6-4 have played 5 winning teams and are 2-3
KC - 6-4 have played 2 winning teams and are 1-1
So the only team with a winning record against other winning teams is NE.
But Rodgers leads the league in frumpy expressions and negative body language on the sideline, which makes him, like Josh Allen, a unique double threat.
-Tim Harmston
NFC:
PHI- 7-3 have played 5 winning teams and are 4-1
NYG - 6-4 have played 3 winning teams and are 1-2
CHI- 7-3 have played 2 winning teams and are 1-1
GBP - 7-3 have played 3 winning teams and are 2-1
ATL - 7-3 have played 5 winning teams and are 3-2
NO - 8-3 have played 3 winning teams and are 2-1
TB - 7-3 have played 3 winning teams and are 0-3
So only PHI stands out but 3 other teams have winning records against winning teams.
But Rodgers leads the league in frumpy expressions and negative body language on the sideline, which makes him, like Josh Allen, a unique double threat.
-Tim Harmston
2 NFC heavy hitters. The winner leaves this game with NFC elite status (shared with Philly). The loser leaves as a playoff contender but not a NFC favorite.
HUGE GAME! Reminds me of the Dallas game in 2007.
If the Pack wins tomorrow we will have head-to-head tie-breakers against both PHI and ATL. That would be a nice spot to be in.
But Rodgers leads the league in frumpy expressions and negative body language on the sideline, which makes him, like Josh Allen, a unique double threat.
-Tim Harmston
This statement is illogical and inoperative. For Vick to play the Packers in a full game, it will require the teams to meet again in the playoffs. That means that there will be an entire season of film on Vick. It also means the Packers will have 1-2 weeks to prepare for Vick. Neither condition existed in the first game of the season. There is no lesson to learn about the Packers 2010 team that can be gained by imagining a scenario of Vick making a surprise full game appearance versus the Packers.
Bud Adams told me the franchise he admired the most was the Kansas City Chiefs. Then he asked for more hookers and blow.
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