| |  Falcons toss tradition and Packers aside
By John Clayton
ESPN.com
GREEN BAY, Wis. -- How dare the Falcons enter the hallowed, frozen ground of Lambeau Field and whip the Packers 27-7 Saturday night.
Blame it on youth. Michael Vick is only 22, so forgive him for having ice running through his veins when he was supposed to be shivering from fear playing in cold Lambeau.
|  | | His teammates were impressed with the way Michael Vick calmly conducted himself during the game, and all week in practice. |
''Every day in practice, Michael was so calm through the week,'' Falcons halfback T.J. Duckett said. ''He just went out there and calmly executed the plays.''
By halftime, the Falcons led 24-0 and fans were thinking about taking a Lambeau Leap off the top of the stadium. Or better yet, they were thinking about inviting these Packers to the top of the stands and giving them a Lambeau push. The greatest home field in all of sports -- formerly 13-0 in playoff home games -- vanished as quickly as brats in the parking lot during the pregame.
''When you are in an atmosphere like this, you can't allow the Packers to get into it,'' Falcons linebacker Keith Brookings said. ''We've got to set the tone of the game. When you get on top of them, then you go for the jugular. That's what we did, set the tone.''
What the game Saturday showed is the Falcons are more resilient and better prepared than the Packers. By last Tuesday, Falcons coach Dan Reeves had his players shake off a disappointing 24-16 season-ending defeat to the Browns. Sure, they had lost three of their past four games, but they were in the playoffs. They had no pressure.
Conversely, the Packers looked like a lost team from the opening kickoff. Vick drove the Falcons 76 yards in 10 plays and hit Shawn Jefferson with a 10-yard touchdown pass to open a 7-0 lead. The Packers came out flat. Brett Favre misfired on his first pass to Robert Ferguson in a three-receiver set. Halfback Ahman Green was stopped after a 3-yard gain. Favre sailed his third-down pass into the hands of Falcons safety Keion Carpenter for an interception.
''A loss is a loss, and any loss is tough,'' Packers center Frank Winters said. ''You have to come to play every Sunday and today we didn't. When you're not ready to play, you see what happens. People hand it to you.''
Perhaps the Packers were still lamenting their playoff plight following their 42-10 loss to the Jets at the end of the regular season. Gone were the hopes of home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. Gone were the dreams of having an edge. Their best-case scenario was beating the Falcons and getting another chance in Tampa Bay.
Favre said it the best following the game Saturday. Down 20 points, the league's toughest competitor among quarterbacks took a knee with 20 seconds left, said a few nice words to Vick and exited Lambeau without giving his usual postgame interview. Mamma Favre taught him not to say anything if you are going to say something bad, and bad thoughts were flying about the Lambeau Dive by the Packers this season.
Local columnists and fans have been blasting the play-calling of offensive coordinator Tom Rossley. Green Bay Press Gazette columist Chris Havel, for example, wrote that the offense has no identity ''because it is a formation hodge-podge.''
Havel particularly criticizes the use of the shotgun, which he wrote he believes dilutes the offset I and split back formations.
Clearly what was noticeable was that Favre has been uncomfortable down the stretch with the passing offense.
''We watched the films, and Brett is going to throw three or four passes a game to a defense,'' Brooking said. ''Being the competitor he is, he was getting very frustrated. You could tell it was getting to him toward the end of the game because he was throwing it right to us.''
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A
loss is a loss, and any loss is tough. You have to
come to play every Sunday and today we didn't. When you're not ready to play, you see
what happens. People hand it to you. ” |
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— Packers center Frank Winters |
The Packers allowed Lambeau to lose its luster Saturday night. No, it's not the construction that made this old palace so plush. Even the weather didn't cooperate. The game-time temperature was 31 degrees, balmy for Green Bay, but it has been a balmy winter with little snow.
Snow flurries did arrive before the half, but the Packers were down 24-0. Suddenly, the coldest thing in Lambeau Field was the reception by Packers fans, who periodically booed the stunning developments on the field.
The Packers were completely asleep at the wheel. Linebacker Mark Simoneau came unblocked on a Josh Bidwell punt that was recovered for a first-quarter touchdown by Artie Ulmer. That gave the Falcons a 14-0 lead.
''I wasn't the guy who was supposed to come in and block the punt,'' Simoneau said. ''Their personal protector went after one of my teammates, and I thought, 'Man, I'm free to do this.' Obviously, they messed up on their blocking scheme.''
Early in the second quarter, Packers coach Mike Sherman blew it by not calling for a replay challenge on another weird punt play. Falcons safety Kevin McCadam pushed Packers cornerback Todd McBride into punt-returner Eric Metcalf. The ball hit off of McCadam's helmet and the replay officials had a clear angle of that in the replay booth.
Sherman didn't challenge. Had he challenge, the fumble, which was recovered by Falcons fullback George Layne, would have overturned the fumble ruling. Instead, the Falcons had the ball on the Packers' 21 and drove for a 6-yard touchdown run by Duckett that opened a 21-0 lead less than three minutes into the second quarter.
Sherman said he talked to an official on the field and that the official told him that the play wasn't reviewable. It was. Afterward, referee Bernie Kukar said that the touching of a kick is reviewable.
Even the Packers' comeback efforts were lame. On the next series, the Packers drove to the Falcons' 1, but failed to score a touchdown on four plays. ABC analyst John Madden suggested Sherman should have gone for a field goal after the first three plays lost a yards. Sherman would not have any of that. He tried an ill-advised Green run in which defensive tackle Ellis Johnson was waiting for Green on a 3-yard loss.
Then, the Packers' defense let the Falcons drive 90 yards in 16 plays to kill the final 6:34 of the first half to get a 22-yard field goal and a 24-0 lead.
''We went for the jugular,'' Brooking said.
The second half wasn't much better for the Packers. Defensive tackle Gilbert Brown injured his right hip on the second play of the game and left a big hole in the middle of the run defense. Wide receiver Terry Glenn couldn't play in the second half because of a concussion. Wide receiver Donald Driver aggravated a right shoulder injury hitting the end zone following a 14-yard touchdown pass. Green reinjured a knee and couldn't do much in the second half.
Suddenly, Favre was left with only a rookie halfback, Tony Fisher, and two receivers with limited experience -- Robert Ferguson and rookie Javon Walker. Without Brown, the Packers couldn't stop the run and gave up 192 rushing yards on 44 carries. On one play, Vick retreated left on a scramble and toss aside defensive end Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila.
''I've been working on that move for a long time,'' Vick said with a laugh.
Packers fans weren't amused. As they departed Lambeau during the fourth quarter, there seemed to be a thought there could be changes coming for this 12-4 squad. Would there be a new offensive coordinator? Will the defensive line be revamped? And what about Favre, who has hinted about retirement if the Packers won a Super Bowl?
''I told the team that we won 12 games, but in the postseason we need to look at ourselves and figure out why we didn't get it done today,'' Sherman said. ''I told them that we would never be in that position again.''
The Falcons moved on to play Philadelphia next week. Packers fans had to dust their driveways and remove the snow. There has never been a January night like this in Lambeau.
John Clayton is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.
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