Hello and welcome back to a special snack-size edition of Weekend Predictions. This week we resume our ancient, tired old tradition of forecasting what the Falcons are going to do as they again are within one game of the Super Bowl, which come to think of it isn’t really an ancient, tired old tradition at all. Because, well, duh.
Before getting to this week’s big game, it’s important to understand just who the Falcons are going against. The opponent is not the Green Bay Packers. The opponent is Aaron Rodgers and 45 lesser beings.
Rodgers is Green Bay’s starting quarterback. He has evolved from community college quarterback to Cal starter to first-round NFL draft pick to poor unfortunate soul asked to replace Brett Favre ---“Noooooo, Brett!!! Don’t goooo!!!” -- to 6-10 schlub to Super Bowl quarterback to likely Hall of Famer to Jedi to Yoda to Odysseus to Zeus.
Rodgers will arrive in Atlanta a day before Sunday NFC championship game. Then, with a hammer, Swiss Army knife, Elmer’s glue, Legos and three banana peels, he will perfectly finish off construction on the Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
How is this possible? Because he’s Aaron Rodgers. He can do anything, with the possible exception of making Green Bay a place anybody would actually want to live.
Then on Sunday, with a dazed and confused Falcons’ defense looking on, Rodgers will take a shotgun snap from … himself, and throw to … himself, and, after each of the Packers’ 13 touchdowns will hold for extra points should he decide to keep the ball, roll out and launch himself between the goal posts. Because, well, show off.
Meanwhile, back on Earth . . .
No. This won’t be an easy game of the Falcons. But they will win. They will win because as great as Rodgers has been in his career in general and this season in particular – 21 touchdowns and one interception during eight-game win streak – he is not so significantly better than Matt Ryan at this moment that it will compensate for the fact the Falcons are better, deeper and healthier on both sides of the ball. And the game is in Atlanta, not the frozen underworld.
The over/under for total points in this game is a Madden-like 60, according to Pregame.com. Sounds about right.
The Falcons are favored by five. Also about right. The better team beats the better player.
Falcons cover the 5. Let’s call it: Falcons 34, Packers 27.
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