FLOWERY BRANCH — Here comes Aaron Rodgers.
The Green Bay quarterback returns to the Georgia Dome on Sunday night for a nationally televised matchup with the Falcons. The last time he was here, he left behind some bitter memories for the Falcons and their fans.
In a 48-21 playoff victory over the top-seeded Falcons, Rodgers threw for 366 yards by completing 31 of 36 passes. He threw two touchdowns and ran for another without an interception. He had more playoff passing yards in that game than the legend he replaced, Brett Favre, ever threw in one postseason game.
That performance, en route to a Super Bowl MVP award, is cause for concern for Falcons players and coaches. It’s high anxiety for the fan base. The sight of Rodgers making another of his championship-belt gestures after scoring a touchdown is sure to induce nausea.
Falcons coach Mike Smith insists the memory of last year’s playoff game will serve as no more than food for preparation for this matchup.
“Will it be a motivating factor?” Smith rephrased a reporter’s question earlier this week. “It’s something that we all have on our minds, simply because it was the last game of the season last year. I think in terms of us, in terms of our preparation, it will have a lot of bearing because they were very successful in what they did. We have to prepare ourselves for that.”
Rodgers is not a different quarterback. He is putting up impressive numbers through four games this season, adding to his top quarterback rating in NFL history of 98.4 (minimum of 1,500 passing attempts). While leading to the Packers to a 4-0 record, he is fourth in the league in passing yards, completing 103 of 141 passes for 1,325 yards. He has 12 touchdowns and only two interceptions. He threw for 408 yards in a win over Denver last week. The resume — and the Falcons’ challenge — grows.
“They have one of the best quarterbacks in the league, so we expect them to throw the ball and utilize the way he’s been playing and do the things that they have been doing well throughout the course of the season,” defensive back Thomas DeCoud said.
Stopping Rodgers will start with getting pressure on the quarterback. In the playoff loss, the Falcons had nine chances to sack Rodgers. He escaped each time.
“We like the style of play that we had in that game,” Falcons defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder said. “What they do is create so much space that you really have to be able to tackle their skill [players] on the perimeter. We didn’t do a good job of that in the playoff game. And we couldn’t sack Aaron.
“We had some runs at him and couldn’t tackle him. He’s a very good athlete.”
After the bitter taste of the season-ending playoff loss, it may be easy to forget that the Falcons defeated the Packers last season. They won a 20-17 decision, also at the Georgia Dome, on Nov. 28. Rodgers still threw for 344 yards on 26-of-35 passing with a touchdown.
At Falcons headquarters, Sunday’s intriguing matchup isn’t about Rodgers or the Packers or the notion of revenge. It’s about the Falcons.
“It’s another football game against a really, really great team,” VanGorder said. “It’s a tremendous challenge for us. That’s how I look at it. Are we going to play a lot better than we did a year ago? Are we going to play a lot better than we did last week? ... I’m always of the mindset to continue to get better.
“This is a great [opponent] to see how our guys react.”
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