This time Packers take advantage of luck handed to them in victory over Atlanta

For a brief moment, Packers interim coach Joe Philbin’s debut inspired enough confidence as to wish for the return of Mike McCarthy, after inexplicably challenging—and losing—two incomplete passes on the Atlanta Falcon’s opening drive of the game, which led to a touchdown. The Falcons have been sliding as badly as the Packers this season, but then again they haven’t been expected to be perennial Super Bowl challengers every year. Yet since the Packers stunned them in the 2010 playoffs to advance to the Super Bowl, the Falcons have had the Packers’ number, so this was another highly possible loss on the Packers ledger. But the Falcons have been playing poor football this season, and their defense is 25^th ranked despite having Seattle’s former defensive “genius” as their head coach.  

The final score of 34-20 (after the Packers led 34-7) was less a factor of better play than a team that for once took advantage of the chance luck that bumbled their way. The Packers’ 301 yards of total offense was far below what the Falcons’ have been allowing overall, and Aaron Rodgers 196 yards passing is a season low, and Aaron Jones had a good but not great game, 29 of his 78 yards coming on a touchdown run. Rodgers was sacked 4 times for 34 yards in losses, so again the Packers only managed less than five yards per pass play. On the other side, the Falcons missed field goal, Matt Ryan’s pick-6, and a lost fumble on second-and-goal, all led to a probable 17-point swing in favor of the Packers. 

On the “positive” side, this game showed what kind of season this could have been for the Packers if the cookies had crumbled a different way. So many of their losses this season were hair-pulling affairs that could have had different outcomes if just one brain-dead mistake could have been avoided (see Ty Montgomery’s fumbled kickoff return).  But on the negative side, the Packers’ offense again played unevenly, managing to sustain a drive or two with better third down play and Atlanta’s defense being dinged repeatedly for penalties, but other times there was more of the listlessness we have seen too often. The Packers are not going to make the playoffs again this season, but they can still make things “interesting” if Rodgers in particular can show a little life that we haven’t seen since the Seahawk game. He has his NFL record 368 consecutive passes without an interception, but it seems to have come at a price, like in the lack of the kind of HOF-type play that leads to victory.