LIVE BLOG: If Falcons win, it could be Super Bowl dance
John Abraham and the Falcons celebrated after a 20-17 win over the Packers Nov. 28 at the Georgia Dome. (Curtis Compton/AJC)
Win tonight. Go to the Super Bowl. So sayeth I. (Sorry. I saw, “The King’s Speech” last night and got carried away with the whole English thing.)
Most believe the Falcons and Green Bay are the two best teams in the NFC. They just happened to be meeting in the conference semifinals. I fully expect the winner of this game to beat the winner of Sunday’s Chicago-Seattle semi. So winning today could mean a trip to Dallas.
It has been nearly two weeks since the Falcons last played — a lopsided home win over Carolina. It has been only six days since Green Bay played — last Sunday’s win in Philadelphia in the wild card game. Logic says the Falcons will be rested and the Packers will be beat up. (Remember, this is a team that also had to scramble down the stretch and win its last two regular season games just to make the playoffs.) What we can’t predict is whether the week off will affect the Falcons’ timing, but I doubt it.
Is Green Bay a better team? When healthy and at full strength, probably. But neither of those two are the case right now. The Packers lost running back Ryan Grant in the season opener and generally haven’t been able to run the ball this season, last week’s win over the Eagles notwithstanding (seldom-used rookie James Starks rushed for 123 yards).
The Falcons’ keys are fairly obvious and I touched on a couple of them during the week. But here they are:
– Get running back Michael Turner going. Turner has been good this year but not consistent. Green Bay’s defense this season ranked fifth against the pass but only 18th against the run, and Turner rushed for a 110 yards and a touchdown when the teams met in Nov. If he can duplicate that feat, it helps quarterback Matt Ryan. Which leads to . . .
– As a I wrote earlier in the week, Ryan has shown he can win games in the fourth quarter. But the Falcons are not at their best if they’re a pass-dominated offense. They need balance. Ryan has excelled this season in clutch situations and threw a career-low nine interceptions with a career-high 28 touchdowns. That stems from making good choices. Assuming that continues tonight, the Falcons will be fine.
– Defensive end John Abraham has had one of the best seasons of his career with 13 sacks, two forced fumbles and an interception, despite the backdrop of his mother battling lymphoma. The defense needs to get pressure on Rodgers and move him off the spot (to use a football phrase). Abraham is the key to that. He’ll be opposed by Packers left tackle Chad Clifton.
That’s it for now, I’ll be here blogging all game. Before I go, for what it’s worth, here are some odds from the online sports book Bodog (for entertainment purposes only, of course). The Falcons are anywhere from a 1½-to-3-point favorite.
Odds to win the 2011 Super Bowl XLV New England Patriots 8/5 Atlanta Falcons 11/2 Green Bay Packers 11/2 Pittsburgh Steelers 6/1 Chicago Bears 8/1 Baltimore Ravens 9/1 New York Jets 12/1 Seattle Seahawks 40/1 Odds to win the 2011 AFC New England Patriots 5/7 Pittsburgh Steelers 3/1 Baltimore Ravens 5/1 New York Jets 15/2 Odds to win the 2011 NFC Atlanta Falcons 8/5 Chicago Bears 2/1 Green Bay Packers 11/5 Seattle Seahawks 14/1 ♦What will be the Exact Super Bowl XLV Matchup? New England Patriots vs. Atlanta Falcons 13/4 New England Patriots vs. Chicago Bears 4/1 Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Green Bay Packers 8/1 Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Atlanta Falcons 9/1 Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Chicago Bears 11/1 Baltimore Ravens vs. Atlanta Falcons 14/1 Baltimore Ravens vs. Chicago Bears 16/1 New England Patriots vs. Green Bay Packers 17/4 Baltimore Ravens vs. Green Bay Packers 18/1 New York Jets vs. Atlanta Falcons 20/1 New York Jets vs. Chicago Bears 22/1 New England Patriots vs. Seattle Seahawks 22/1 New York Jets vs. Green Bay Packers 25/1 Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Seattle Seahawks 55/1 Baltimore Ravens vs. Seattle Seahawks 80/1 New York Jets vs. Seattle Seahawks 100/1 ♦
Total Passing Yards – Aaron Rodgers Over/Under 290.5 Total Rushing Yards – James Starks Over/Under 50.5 Total Receiving Yards – Greg Jennings Over/Under 85.5 Total Passing Yards – Matt Ryan Over /Under 240.5 Total Rushing Yards – Michael Turner Over/Under 85.5 Total Receiving Yards – Roddy White Over/Under 80.5 ♦
♦
Falcons blogs from the week:
– Matt Ryan’s notes, intangibles driving his success
– Falcons’ Abraham excelling, even with thoughts on ill mother
– Digi-Blog goes to Falcons’ camp (and there’s no Flowery Branches)
– Poll time: Who’s most important Falcons player against Packers?
– Saints gone, Vick gone and Falcons ready to defend turf
Follow me on Twitter @JeffSchultzAJC; friend me at Facebook.com/JeffSchultzAJC
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2,080 comments Add your comment
GETTOFFDABUSS
January 16th, 2011
12:21 am
since idot is gone someone go and knock on his door and tell him confuscious says” for it is better to be beaten by 7 on tha woad to the woahs team in playoffs than to be numbah won seed, talk sh*t and get beat by twenti savan by ani team at yo on house”
Dirty Birds
January 16th, 2011
12:21 am
what’s worse…..losing to a 7-9 Seattle team or getting blown out by 6th seed GB!!!!!!!
I wanted to put a paper bag on my head but I didn’t want to be mistaken for a AINTS fan
I hope NO fans didn’t throw away their AINTS sacks, your best years are behind you….back to reality
GreenBayGirl
January 16th, 2011
12:22 am
Even we heard about all the classless garbage Atlanta fans dumped on the Saints forums. Fitting demise.
Rivalries are great until you start taking cheap shots at someones hometown.
sazerac jack
January 16th, 2011
12:23 am
My fellow yats, who dats, and Saints’ fans…I think the Falcon fans have gone in for the night. Thanks for an enjoyable post-game.
@idot…one last thing…last year we had a parade where a lot of guys (yes, me included) wore dresses to celebrate the Saints going to the Super Bowl. Did ya see it on TV? It was a lot of fun!
Good night.
Potty White's Final Tweet
January 16th, 2011
12:23 am
Me be tired. Me get *ss whooped 2night. Why Saints maked fun of me? I showl is kountry.
Back 2 Reality
January 16th, 2011
12:26 am
Enter your comments here
GETTOFFDABUSS
January 16th, 2011
12:27 am
oh yeah pack fans they hit us last week. and they we ruthless, degrading, any other negative you can think of they did it. this wasnt turnabout is fair play this was a kick in the balls for all the classless stuff they were throwing junk at us that went back to our season finale. good luck to you guys you look like you’re going all the way…
sazerac jack
January 16th, 2011
12:34 am
Things to do in New Orleans tomorrow:
1. Go to mass at St. Louis Cathedral.
2. Breakfast at Brennan’s.
3. Go to the Saints training facility and watch them polish the Lombardi trophy.
Can any one of those three be accomplished in Atlanta?
MilwaukeeTom
January 16th, 2011
12:38 am
Nice game guys.
Back 2 Reality
January 16th, 2011
12:40 am
Hey Arthur Blank, you better change your slogan from “rise up” to “Raise Up”, as in ticket prices, before your nimrod fan base realize they just got beat down by the #6 seed in playoffs.
Hey Arthur, see what Eagles want for Michael Vick, then you might get a dome full of fans, instead of the other team
Back 2 Reality
January 16th, 2011
12:42 am
Wonder what Blank was thinking when all these people in the stands started cheering “Bring Back Vick”!!!!
iamawhodatfan
January 16th, 2011
12:42 am
hey dirty bird we lost by 6 after traveling 2,000 miles, on a short week,,playing without our top safety and te and also playing with our 4th and 5th different rb for the year. the falcants had 13 days off and eating home cooking and got demolished by 20 something. i think you may need a bag to wear after that loss.
iamawhodatfan
January 16th, 2011
12:44 am
back 2 reality i hope you know vick was beaten by this same team last week.
Back 2 Reality
January 16th, 2011
12:48 am
iamawhodatfan i hope you know the (unbeatable falcons in dome) beat the packers a couple of weeks ago, but they WERE the #1 seed, with full week to prepare.
Back 2 Reality
January 16th, 2011
12:51 am
Ryan once again played like a deer in headlights, but the falcon fans probably will blame roddy white, michael turner & jenkins for this one
John
January 16th, 2011
12:54 am
The defense should be blamed.
iamawhodatfan
January 16th, 2011
12:55 am
back2reality we beat the so called “unbeatable in the dome falcants” 4 weeks ago and with a full week to prepare yall still lost. that didnt happen to the saints last season. there is a fine line between a super bowl contender and a pretender, and the falcants were pretending to be contenders all season long.
Back 2 Reality
January 16th, 2011
12:59 am
iamawhodatfan, everybody with a pulse outside of atlanta knew this team was a bunch of “lucky” pretenders. Thank god we don’t have to listen to any more of those rise up commercials. The only good thing about them was Samuel Jackson
Back 2 Reality
January 16th, 2011
1:00 am
The falcons just got exposed for what alot of people knew
Laideggtonight
January 16th, 2011
1:01 am
If Falcon fans are curious as to why so many Saints fan comments:
It’s just a little payback for the barrage of comments from your fellow
Falcon followers after our loss last week. I couldn’t wait for this weekend
To rub a little salt into your wound. But that game was so unbelievably
Terrible (for you) that I cannot bring myself to add insult to injury.
However I did truly enjoy your team’s embarrassment.
That was one large egg your birds laid tonight.
iamawhodatfan
January 16th, 2011
1:10 am
back2reality ok i understand you now
Big A
January 16th, 2011
1:42 am
Almost all the falcons fans left during 3rd quarter of game leaving dome more than half empty! What a disgraceful fan base! The Saints fans were even at the airport at 2 am last week to welcome back Saints after loss! True fans love their team win or lose! Falcon fans are mostly a bunch of trash talking bandwagoners that will jump back off tonight! What an embarrassing loss that was, don’t think anyone has ever lost so bad in playoffs where the other team actually started to pull starters towards end of game!? Embarrassing!
greekfrk
January 16th, 2011
4:02 am
It was said at the start of the season that Green Bay would be a Super Bowl contender this year and Falcon fans should of respected that no matter what they were ranked. Just felt a bit insulted with all the trash talk and lack of respect. Analysists/The Nation knew what they were talking about.
SFNATL
January 16th, 2011
7:19 am
Doing da funky chicken y’all..squawk squawk..Kareem & the Atl media dissed my SF Giants flying the SF flag on a windless day & burying the SF Giants coverage. To top it all off..I’m iced in for a week cuz this lame city can’t handle a few inches of snow. Kareem made sure to clean things up for the Pigeons, I mean Falcons game. Doing the funky chicken y’all…squawk squawk!
tc
January 16th, 2011
12:11 pm
mattryansuck.com
Baltimore Ravens vs. New England Patriots
January 16th, 2011
12:41 pm
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Naren Naho
January 16th, 2011
3:24 pm
Game over. Low scoring, Wanted them to win Falcons. http://www.bootfox.com/
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January 16th, 2011
6:37 pm
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Go Pack
January 16th, 2011
7:38 pm
Read all of your idiotic comments about the Packers. Understand that you are fans but lets get real. One moron called Matthews a college kid and some flunky on your team a man, your team is no better than a good college team. When you go up against a bunch of MEN you see what happens!!! Have a nice 8-8 season next year because you do not want to play us than when we get 5 Pro Bowl starters back. Try to join the Big East than you might have a chance to win some kind of title. LLLOOOOOOSSSSEEEERRRRSSSS
SportsFan31313
January 18th, 2011
1:27 pm
This is what happens when you sell out Michael Vick. “Green Bay played us just like we thought they would play us.” The Falcons had all of the tools to be a Super Bowl Team. They just had an over-rated Matt Ryan. Arthur Blank played up to some of the Fans and sold out their Prize Quarter Back “Michael Vick”. Had they kept Michael Vick, they would definitely won that game and would win this Super Bowl. Arthur Blank, you get what you pay for.
In business, there are no permanent friends and permanent enemies. That is why you were video taped standing in Michael Vick’s Locker Room, prior to the start of the Falcons eagles game in an attempt to patch up your slick dirty deeds you did to him. Michael Vick did nothing to you or the team. He did admit to and was convicted to a crime in which he served time for. Now he is with the Eagles whom Tony Dungy, Donovan McNabb, Andy Reid, and the Eagles owner felt kind enough to give him another chance. He turned out just great. In fact, spectacular.
If the Eagles had the caliber of players that the Falcons have on the offensive Line and Defensive Secondary, The Eagles would be going to the NFC Championship game next week. But it’s water under the bridge. So just as I predicted it would happen this way, it did. “The Dirty Birds will go one and done, and they will also have the opportunity to sit at home on the couch and watch next week’s game along with everyone else”.
Try again next year, but guess what Mr. Blank. The results will be the exact same. Better try and get Michael Vick. But I doubt that he would ever want to play for you or the organization again.