Poll time: Who’s most important Falcon vs. Packers?
John Abraham has led the team with 13 sacks.
But his car slid off I-985 Monday.
Assuming I can get my car out of the garage, I’m off to Flowery Branch this morning for Falcons practice and a column later. If I can’t get out of the garage this morning, I’ll be live blogging off of “Curb Appeal” or some fabulous gemstones on QVC.
The subject of the intended Falcons piece likely will be John Abraham, assuming he can make it to the team’s facility safely after he slid off the road on Monday and had to be rescued by Kroy Biermann. (Nice teamwork.)
Loading ...Abraham, with 13 sacks, is having one of the best seasons of his career — even while near the end of his career. I’ll get into the whys and hows of that more later.
But here’s this morning’s question. Who’s the single most important player for the Falcons in this week’s playoff game against the Green Bay Packers?
The reflex action is to say Matt Ryan, simply because he’s the quarterback. But we’ve seen the Falcons win games this season when Ryan had only average, but mistake-free games.
The Falcons also don’t win this game if they can’t get some pressure on Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who probably is playing as well as any quarterback in the league right now, other than Tom Brady.
So I’ve put up a poll of five Falcons. Pick one and tell me why he’s the most important. And don’t tell me you don’t have time to comment because I know you’re skipping work again.
By Jeff Schultz
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116 comments Add your comment
kaminari
January 11th, 2011
7:40 pm
Abraham. The only way to beat Superman Aaron Rodgers is if he’s down on his arse, compliments of Abe.
the Boss
January 11th, 2011
7:42 pm
Good point “Spirit’, I agree on most points. Not so sure about point total.
Should be a great contest!
kaminari
January 11th, 2011
7:45 pm
Oh, it’s also funny that any Green Bay fan would actually come onto an Atlanta Falcon board and say that they’re team can WIN the Super Bowl, when they just barely survived the divisional round and the Falcons thoroughly beat them. This is the same kind of attitude that a cocky Rodgers showed the last time he was in the dome. Don’t count your chickens before they hatch. You’d think nobody would know that better than a bunch of country bumpkins from Wisk-yawn-son. LOL
David Voss
January 11th, 2011
8:26 pm
The Packers are playing so well right now, even if they just bring their B game, they will win by at least 10. The Packers played their D game last time they were in Atlanta and lost on a last second field goal. Face the facts – Packers 31, Falcons 17. No one, and I mean no one, scores more than 20 on the Pack defense if they just play AVERAGE. Right now, they are playing STRONG for 3 weeks in a row.
ATLER (ramblin wreck)
January 11th, 2011
9:25 pm
The key to a win is Micheal Turner. Establish a running game and the passing will open up. If anyone say Ryan or Roddy, their just plain dumb…………………………
Far_East
January 11th, 2011
9:47 pm
Give it up Choke; LOL. Your prized QB started this year’s playoff being Sacked and ended the game with an interception. Nice bookends if you want to lose the game, ROFL. BTW, I like Vick and I’m one of those who are happy that he was given a second chance which I think everybody deserves.
Anyway, I think the key would be the Offensive and Defensive lines. OLine must be able to open up holes for the running game and the DLine must be able to make ARodgers uncomfortable in the pocket. If they don’t win the battle on the line of scrimmage then it would be a long night for the Falcons. I think they’ll be OK though. They’re well rested and at home.
GO FALCONS!!!
Samuel
January 12th, 2011
5:57 am
Although Turner is key against the Pack, Matt Ryan simply put has to pass the ball. It’s hard to win without good quarterback play.
jalex49
January 12th, 2011
7:51 am
Polls are fun but they really don’t tell the whole story. I go with the Falcons as a complete team. The team must play “lights out” to win. I watched a few sports a.m. programs yesterday(my day off from work)ESPN, NFL Insiders, Scott Van Pelt show, The Experts, and Mike and Mike in the morning and not a single commentator gave the Falcons a thumbs up to win!
I don’t understand this except to say, I don’t think thay feel the Falcons are a for real contender and will fold in the playoffs.
I’m not sure how this attituide will change unless the Falcons accomplish exactly what they don’t expect them to do? They must see something about the Falcons play that causes concern? I don’t get it, I guess that’s because I am a die-hard Atlanta Falcon Fan!!!
Falcons- I don’t care if you win by 21, 14,7 0r 1… Just win ! And let the story tell the truth about you guys and the franchise.
Where is “Who Dat”… At home eating hot-dogs ! Please don’t let this happen to you.
Paul Hornung
January 12th, 2011
9:18 am
Doesn’t really matter what the Falcons do, because the Pack is primed and ready to clip yo’ wings in this one.
Rhonda
January 12th, 2011
12:08 pm
The play calling will win or lose the game for our Falcons. We need to have some tricks up our sleeves. No huddle needs to be used most of the game.
Bojangles
January 12th, 2011
2:43 pm
Its gonna take all of the above in the poll to win the game. But I think Roddy White is the key player. He had a poor game against the Saints and they lost. In all the Falcons wins Roddy White made the biggest plays.
Bojangles
January 12th, 2011
2:45 pm
I agree about the no huddle offense. It keeps the Packers defense from substituting but it speeds up the game and Atlanta might want to take time off the clock to keep Aaron Rodgers on the sideline.
Pack Is Back Jack !
January 12th, 2011
2:55 pm
We should have beat the Falcons last time but we had no running game. Everyone knew Aaron Rodgers was throwing the ball every play and Falcons defense couldn’t stop him. Now they will have to guess if we will run it or let Aaron pass it. And face it, Dunta,Moore,& Grimes can’t match up with our Jennings,Driver,and J.Jones one on one at all.
Matt "CHOKE" Ryan
January 13th, 2011
12:11 am
“LIKE I SAID – GAME MANAGER”
Atlanta’s playoff run depends on Turner
January, 12, 2011 Jan 1211:13AM ET
By Pat Yasinskas
When the Atlanta Falcons and Green Bay Packers meet in the Georgia Dome on Saturday night, the most important man in the building might be Falcons running back Michael Turner.
Take a look at his numbers through his history with Atlanta and they usually are a pretty good gauge of how the Falcons are going to fare. Turner has been virtually Atlanta’s entire running game since his arrival in 2008, and the Falcons are 19-2 in games where they’ve had a 100-yard rusher in that span.
Michael Turner rushed for 110 yards and a touchdown in Atlanta’s Week 12 meeting with Green Bay.If you want something more recent and even more directly relevant, just look back to the Week 12 meeting between the Falcons and Packers. Turner carried 23 times for 110 yards and a touchdown in that game and the Falcons won 20-17.
There is a lesson to be taken from that.
“That we can be successful against them,’’ Turner said. “The game’s probably going [to be] tougher next time we play against them. They’re probably going to adjust and do some things differently. We expect that. We just have to be on our toes and be ready for whatever they bring.’’
The formula is very simple: When the Falcons are able to run the ball, they have success. But there are a couple of things that could complicate that and the Packers know it. In Atlanta’s three losses this season, Turner didn’t top the 50-yard rushing mark
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