by Ray GlierFiled under: Atlanta Falcons, Packers, NFC North, NFC South
The Falcons understand the Packers will show up with a new piece to their offense on Saturday night, the rookie running back James Starks. But that does not lessen the burden of having to deal with a familiar piece of the Green Bay offense, the running of quarterback Aaron Rodgers.Each one of the Falcons who were asked about Rodgers' running knew exactly what he accomplished against Atlanta in the first meeting between the two teams.
"He was their leading rusher," said cornerback Brent Grimes. "51 yards."
"51 yards," said tackle Jonathan Babineaux. "Leading rusher."
Rodgers slides in the pocket to preserve multiple options, which includes running with the football. He was Green Bay's second leading rusher this season with 356 yards. He also ran for four touchdowns.
Twice he scrambled for first downs against the Falcons in the Nov. 28 game, which Atlanta won, 20-17. Rodgers also scored one of the two Green Bay touchdowns.
"This is what's important against him, being lane conscious," Babineaux said. "We all have a job to do and as long as we do our job and be conscious of him running around we'll be fine.
"I'm pretty sure they are going to have a lot of stuff drawn up to where he can get outside the pocket and make plays down the field or tuck the ball and run. I think he learned a whole lot of things from Brett (Favre)."
The Falcons' defensive line has studied Rodgers and have looked at his slides in the pocket. His head is up looking downfield, just like Favre, but he is also making sure there is an escape route if a receiver cannot scramble back to him.
"Whenever his receivers are not open, he does stuff in the pocket to create more time to get them open downfield," Babineaux said. "You have to stay in your lane. It's the key to the game."
The Falcons were just 20th in the NFL in sacks in the regular season with 31. Abraham had 13 sacks of them and they are going to need defensive Kroy Biermann to have some impact Saturday night.
Sure, the Packers have Starks and they have gone to their inverted wishbone with three backs behind Rodgers, or have used a two-back set. The Packers ran the ball 32 times against the Eagles in the wild-card win last week and passed it 27 times. That does not happen very often.
Nonetheless, Rodgers' running is still a focus this week for Atlanta.
"We had trouble containing him, we have to be very disciplined in our rush lanes," coach Mike Smith said. "I haven't seen many people stop him when he's wanted to take off and run."
There are times when the Falcons will not be as disciplined with the four-man rush and that usually has to do with defensive end John Abraham's burst upfield. Teams have tried to counter Abraham's aggressiveness with delayed handoffs and quick screens.
The problem for opponents is they don't always know when Abraham, nicknamed the Predator, will burst inside on the rush, come upfield and create a sidewall to the defense, or perhaps hang back in coverage for the running back that leaks out.
Here is the big issue for Atlanta. Rodgers gets rid of the ball quickly against the rush, a hallmark of the West Coast offense. It's a read into the vacated seam of the defense. The Falcons sent an extra rusher in the first meeting between the teams and Rodgers immediately saw it and threw to that open spot.
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