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Falcons Seek Revenge as Rodgers and Packers Return

(Reuters) – The Atlanta Falcons have revenge and Aaron Rodgers on their mind when they face the champion Green Bay Packers Sunday in a rematch of last season’s NFC divisional playoff game.

Packers quarterback Rodgers had the game of his life in last January’s playoff meeting against the NFC’s top-seeded Falcons and, ominously for Atlanta, he returns in top form.

The Packers are one of two teams still undefeated in the 2011 campaign and Rodgers, named most valuable player of last season’s Super Bowl, has already amassed 1,325 passing yards.

In the 48-21 playoff win over Atlanta in the Georgia Dome last season, Rodgers went 31-of-36 for 366 yards, threw three touchdowns and ran in for another score as the Packers ended the Falcons’ Super Bowl dreams.

Atlanta head coach Mike Smith knows that his team cannot afford to give Rodgers time and space to exploit in the way he did, with his superb footwork, last season.

“It’s going to be important for us this week to try to be disruptive and not let (Rodgers) get comfortable in terms of his pocket presence … something that we learned is that he can really make some plays with his feet,” said Smith.

“He was able to have a presence to get away from pressure and get the ball down the field. You watch this guy operate, and I don’t know if there’s a quarterback in the NFL right now that’s playing more efficiently.”

Atlanta strengthened well in the offseason after a 13-3 record in the 2010 campaign but will be somewhat disappointed to only be 2-2 at this stage.

Nonetheless, last week’s 30-28 win at Seattle will have given Smith’s team a timely boost in confidence ahead of the visit from the champion Packers.

“We came out last week and executed really well,” said quarterback Matt Ryan, “We were good on third downs and we put ourselves in good third down situations. We were able to extend those drives. I think that was what was the difference in our start last week.”

Ryan knows that Atlanta cannot afford to turn the ball over like that did in such a costly fashion during their playoff loss to Green Bay when they had four turnovers.

“One of things that we didn’t do well last year was ball security. We turned the football over a couple of times, me specifically, especially in the first half and we put ourselves in a tough spot,” said Ryan.

“It comes down to us protecting the football a little bit better than we did last year and that’ll help us run the football.”

Other Week Five matchups include an AFC East divisional encounter where the New York Jets visit Tom Brady and the New England Patriots – always a game with a little extra spice and another repeat from last year’s playoffs.

The Jets won that game 28-21 but New England have the top overall offense in the league and Brady leads the league with 1,553 passing yards.

The undefeated Detroit Lions host the Chicago Bears (2-2) Monday.

(Reporting by Simon Evans in Miami; Editing by Frank Pingue)

Eagles Have History on Their Side vs. Falcons

Sounds like a decent matchup, huh?

The Eagles have defeated the Falcons in each of the last three seasons, and each time, with a different cast of players and even a couple different defensive coordinators, they slammed the door on the vaunted Atlanta rushing attack.

The Falcons have averaged 129 rushing yards per game the last three years, but in losses to the Eagles the last three years, they’ve gained just 77, 61 and 65 yards.

But the Falcons (0-1) will likely try again to establish their running attack Sunday when they play host to the Eagles (1-0) at the Georgia Dome. The Falcons will try to avoid their first 0-2 start since 2007, and the Eagles are after their first 2-0 start since 2004.

Atlanta’s two-time Pro Bowl running back, Michael Turner, gained 100 yards in a 30-12 loss to the Bears Sunday despite getting just 10 carries, since the Falcons fell behind quickly.

So, even in a loss, the run game was there.

“Michael Turner is one of the best running backs in the league,” Eagles safety Kurt Coleman said. “You look at him on film, and there’s not many flaws to his game. He can block, he can catch, he can run. He can do almost anything. When he’s out there, we have to honor the run. When he’s on the field, he always poses a threat.”

The Eagles allowed 154 rushing yards in their 31-13 win over the Rams, even though St. Louis starting running back Steven Jackson left the game after two carries. So, there has to be a little concern headed into Atlanta.

Turner has rushed for 5,298 yards in his career with a 4.7 average. But he has just 103 yards and a 3.2 average in two games vs. the Eagles, his fourth-lowest average against any opponent.

Either way, the Eagles expect a healthy dose of Turner Sunday.

“He’s a very physical back, a very hard runner,” Eagles linebacker Jamar Chaney said. “He led the NFL in yards-after-contact the last couple years. They have a real good offensive line, too. Physical bunch. Nasty bunch.”

The Eagles defense was put together to rush the passer, but defensive end Jason Babin, who had two of the line’s five sacks against the Rams, said the linemen enjoy stopping the run, because that puts teams in position where they have to pass.

And that’s when the sacks come.

“That’s the No. 1 goal: Stop the run, so we can rush the passer,” Babin said. “First and foremost, we know we have to stop the run. It’s like when you’re dating, there’s certain things you’ve got to do. That’s what stopping the run is: Buying ’em dinner.”

The Eagles were encouraged that, after allowing 98 rushing yards in the first quarter against the Rams, they gave up only 56 the rest of the game.

“The more you play, the better you’re going to be, and I think we did that,” Chaney said. “We’re looking forward to this week and not coming out like we did in the first quarter and not have to go through that before we start playing well.”

The Eagles have dropped in run defense the last few years, from fourth in the NFL in 2008 to ninth in 2009 to 15th last year.

“We can be a really good run defense,” Chaney said. “The more we play, the better we’re going to be. Just got to continue to work at it and go out there and do it.”

For Falcons, Only Thing Flashy Is Their Record

“I can’t turn on the TV without hearing we’re going to be the underdog,” Mughelli, the Atlanta Falcons fullback, said Wednesday. “A 13-3 underdog each week.”

In fact, the Falcons are favorites for their divisional playoff game at the Georgia Dome against , though the wee point spread suggests that the Packers, bottom-seeded in the N.F.C., would be the betting public’s preference over No. 1 Atlanta on neutral ground.

Mughelli proffered one oft-repeated reason in the locker room for any slight, then proposed a solution: “We don’t have a lot of flashy names. Maybe we need to start some scandals.”

With the Falcons, it does not get more outrageous than defensive end Kroy Biermann’s pending daddy-hood with his pregnant paramour Kim Zolniak, co-star of the other closely followed drama unfolding in town, “The Real Housewives of Atlanta.”

Well, wide receiver Roddy White, an ultralite version of Ocho/T.O., did casually invoke during trash talk with the . Since a consultation with Falcons Coach Mike Smith, White has confined cyberspace bashing to his state’s spotty road-clearing efforts of ice and snow this week. (“All this money I pay Georgia in taxes.”)

White, agreeing with Mughelli, said (not via his thumbs): “It’s kind of tough, week in and week out, we’re taking care of business, and people are picking other teams to win. I’m getting tired of it.”

Most of his teammates shrug off the notion that the Falcons’ support group nationwide might be less bandwagon than Volkswagen Bug.

“We are not one of the storied franchises,” observed tight end Tony Gonzalez, citing the Packers and the Bears.

“It’s more of the history to me. We’re not, like, America’s team. We’ve never won a , right?”

Correct. They have reached only one in 45 mostly inglorious seasons. Their trophy case, with four division titles, could fit in a broom closet.

By contemporary measures of individual player popularity, the Falcons are back in the pack. Gonzalez has 40,000 Twitter followers, the most on the squad, but that pales alongside the six-digit armies that track , Darrelle Revis and the king jesters, Chad Ochocinco and .

No Falcon has cracked the top 25 for player jerseys sold on .

“We do not have a lot of guys who are, ‘Hey, look at me; look what I do,’ ” offensive tackle Tyson Clabo said. “That stuff can get annoying at times.”

The roster may be sprinkled with stars, wide receiver Michael Jenkins said, “but nobody tries to outshine the other.”

Several players concurred that Smith’s unassuming manner radiates through the organization, which may draw admirers but not hordes of fans from beyond the state border.

“Teams tend to take from the aura of their coach,” said wide receiver Brian Finneran, an 11th-year Falcon, second in seniority on the squad. “He kind of has that laid-back surfer attitude.”

The team owner Arthur Blank detects another trait in his coach that ultimately deflects attention from the team.

“Some people say they are humble and are not really humble,” Blank said Wednesday. “Smitty really is a humble person.”

Blank brought on board the low profiles of Smith and General Manager Thomas Dimitroff before the 2008 season. Their roster reconstruction, guided in part by unloading and avoiding players perceived as selfish (and, thus, more attention-getting), has dovetailed with the Falcons’ first three-year stretch of winning records.

“A lot of teams have these big-name guys,” linebacker Curtis Lofton said. “We don’ t have that. We follow our coach. We’re not going to be big and flashy because that’s not our coach.”

Mughelli said: “Very few ‘me-me’ guys here. It’s more about the team. You won’t see them in the papers, wanting more passes” thrown their way.

Cornerback Dunta Robinson, offering a newcomer’s perspective, suspects that much of Nation would label the Falcons’ 13-3 record a fluke.

“We really don’t get much attention,” said Robinson, the big-ticket free-agent acquisition. “But we don’t care.”

By many numerical evaluations, the Falcons are run-of-the-mill. They rank 16th on offense (yards gained) and defense (yards allowed), and are below average on N.F.L. wonk statistics like net yards per pass attempt.

“We’re not No. 1 in anything,” acknowledged Blank, forgiving those computers and humans who forecast a quick out for the Falcons.

Finneran pointed out this: “The other teams, I guarantee you, they respect us.”

So do their peers, having voted seven Falcons into the Pro Bowl, a league high until New England passed them with two replacement picks.

One of Smith’s in-house mantras is that respect, like other rewards in the N.F.L., must be earned. For now, these Birds, as they are referred to locally, will continue to fly low and see where it takes them.

“We kind of like it, staying under the radar,” Jenkins said. “We win the Super Bowl, and there will be nobody else to talk about then.”