3. Packers’ Defense Had An Impressive Outing
The main threat the Falcons pose in head-to-head matchups is their ability to put up points in a hurry. Managing to slow their offense down rapidly increases an opponent’s odds of pulling off a win.
The Packers’ offense was clicking early aside from coming up short on 4th & Goal on one possession. The defense backed them up quite well— forcing the Falcons to punt on three-possession and allowing just a field goal. Overall, this established a 20-3 lead at halftime.
The Falcons needed to be nearly perfect in the second half of pull off a win. They started off strong by executing back-to-back scoring drives to begin the second half, but after that, the Packers’ defense stepped up and forced two turnovers on downs.
Atlanta was held to 3-of-12 (25.0%) execution on 3rd down and was contained to 2-of-4 (50.0%) on 4th down. The Packers’ defense also recorded four sacks and contained the Falcons to just 3.1 yards per rush.
On top of all this, Calvin Ridley was completely shut down— failing to record a single catch. In speaking of that…