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Week 5 Game Recap: Atlanta Falcons 27, Green Bay Packers 24
What you need to know
| Atlanta Falcons |
Matt Ryan helped the Falcons to their third win of the year as the Atlanta offense scored 27 points and amassed 370 total yards against a banged up Green Bay defense. Though he completed passes to only four different receivers, the Falcons' signal caller finished the game 16 of 26 for 194 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. Ryan's touchdown passes to TE Justin Peelle and WR Roddy White were his third and fourth scoring tosses of the year.
Facing a Packers team that came into the contest ranked 26th in the league against the rush, Atlanta was able to rack up 176 yards on the ground on 36 attempts. RB Michael Turner led the team with 121 yards rushing and his fourth quarter touchdown was his sixth score of the year.
Roddy White was the favorite target of QB Matt Ryan as he led all Falcons' pass catchers with 12 targets. The receiver torched the Packers' secondary over the first two quarters as he hauled in eight catches for 132 yards and a touchdown prior to the intermission. Though he got off to the hot start, White was held without a catch in the second half and was only targeted once.
| Green Bay Packers |
Listed as a game time decision because of a shoulder sprain, QB Aaron Rodgers made the start and fought through his injury to help keep the Packers in this game. Despite the injury to his throwing arm, the quarterback threw 37 passes in the game that went for 313 yards and three touchdowns. Rodgers' fourth quarter interception was his fourth in the last two games and it allowed the Falcons to score a touchdown that put Atlanta up by 10 late in the fourth quarter.
The Green Bay running attack averaged 4.5 yards per play, but finished the game with only 104 rushing yards. Ryan Grant had his second best game of the year as he accounted for 82 of those yards, but he failed again to find the end zone. No other Packer had more than 11 yards rushing.
Despite playing with a quarterback who had an injured throwing shoulder, wide receivers Greg Jennings and Donald Driver turned in productive games in the passing offense. Jennings was the most targeted Packers' pass catcher as he turned his nine targets into a team leading 87 yards and his third touchdown of the year. Driver was second in receiving yards with 68 and his 44 yard scoring catch was his second of the season.
What you ought to know
| QB Matt Ryan, Pass: 16 - 26 - 194 - 2 TD / 1 INT, Rush: 4 - 16 - 0 |
Ryan was sharp in the first half as he finished the first two quarters completing 13 of 18 passes for 154 yards and two touchdowns. He capped the team's initial drive of the game by hitting TE Justin Peelle for a one yard touchdown pass. His second scoring strike came on a play in which he threw a beautiful ball down the sidelines that went for a 22 yard touchdown to WR Roddy White. Despite the good first half, the quarterback had a quiet second half as he completed only three passes for 40 yards with one pick. On the interception, he had a wide open receiver in the end zone with the team operating from the Packers' 12 yard line, but the ball was late coming out and the Packers defender made a one handed catch for the turnover.
| RB Michael Turner, Rush: 26 - 121 - 1 |
Turner got a heavy workload early on as he rushed 12 times for 52 yards in the first quarter. He received only six carries over the second and third quarters, but he averaged over 4.8 yards per rush on those six attempts. The fourth quarter saw Turner get seven more rushing attempts which went for 40 yards and the team's only touchdown of the second half. His day could have been even better, but he was stuffed for no gain on a goal line carry on Atlanta's first series of the game.
| RB Jerious Norwood, Rush: 4 - 12 - 0, Rec: 3 - 9 - 0 (6 targets) |
Norwood got seven touches on offense but was only able to total 21 yards. He got close to getting into the end zone on the Falcons' opening drive, but he was stopped at the Green Bay one yard line. In addition to his duties on offense, Norwood averaged 28 yards on three kickoff returns and had a long return of 54 yards.
| RB Ovie Mughelli, Rush: 1 - 9 - 0 |
Mughelli took his only rush of the game for a first down on a second and one play.
| WR Roddy White, Rec: 8 - 132 - 1 (12 targets) |
White was almost unstoppable over the first two quarters of this contest and he got going quickly when on the team's first play from scrimmage he caught a 37 yard pass down the sideline. The remainder of the half would find the wide out catching seven more passes that included longer receptions of 19, 22, and 26 yards. The 22 yard reception was the one that went for a touchdown grab and was his second scoring catch of the year. White only saw one target in the second half and that pass fell incomplete.
| WR Michael Jenkins, Rec: 3 - 38 - 0 (5 targets) |
Jenkins first catch of the game came with under a minute left in the first half and went for a pickup of five yards. He was targeted on a couple of deeper throws in the third quarter, but both passes fell incomplete. Jenkins long reception of the game came near the start of the fourth quarter when he hauled in a pass that went for a gain of 31 yards.
| WR Harry Douglas, Rush: 1 - 18 - 0 |
Douglas' only touch of the game came in the first quarter when he took an end around for a gain of 18 yards.
| TE Justin Peelle, Rec: 2 - 15 - 1 (3 targets) |
Peelle's first target of the game came on Atlanta's opening drive and went for a one yard touchdown reception. His only other catch came in the second quarter and went for a gain of 14.
| TE Ben Hartsock (2 targets) |
Hartsock did not have a catch, though he was the intended receiver in the end zone on QB Matt Ryan's only interception of the game.
| PK Jason Elam 2 - 2 FG, 3 - 3 XP, 9 points |
Elam snuck his first field goal of the game inside the right upright from 42 yards out and then made good later on a 41 yard attempt. He also connected on all three of his point after attempts.
| ATL Rush Defense |
The Falcons rush defense allowed the Packers to pick up 104 yards on 23 rushing attempts for an average of 4.5 yards per run. Twelve of those attempts gained three yards or less, but RB Ryan Grant did have longer runs of 12, 13, and 14 yards.
| ATL Pass Defense |
The Atlanta pass defense allowed QB Aaron Rodgers to complete 25 passes for 317 yards with three touchdowns and one interception. The pick was made by LB Michael Boley and gave the Falcons the ball at the Packers' 19 yard line with under five minutes remaining in the game. DT Grady Jackson and DE John Abraham each recorded solo sacks.
| QB Aaron Rodgers, Pass: 25 - 37 - 313 - 3 TD / 1 INT, Rush: 2 - 4 - 0 |
Rodgers got off to a slow start as his first completion of the game did not come until near the beginning of the second quarter when he hit TE Donald Lee for a pick up of seven. He heated up quickly though, as later on in that drive he threw a perfect deep ball to WR Donald Driver that went for a 44 yard score. Driver was double covered on the play, but the Green Bay quarterback dropped the pass into his receiver's hands perfectly. Following a couple of throws in the third quarter, Rodgers was shown grimacing as his injured throwing arm hung at his side. He stayed in the game and threw two touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Rodgers' lone interception of the game was a killer though as it came in the fourth quarter and gave Falcons the ball at the Packers' 19 yard line. It was a bad decision that was easily intercepted. Atlanta turned that interception into a touchdown that put the Packers down by ten late in the game.
| RB Ryan Grant, Rush: 18 - 83 - 0 |
Though Grant still has yet to break 100 yards on the ground this season, he did show flashes of a running back who could put up big numbers in the running game. Ten of his 18 carries went for three yards or less, but Grant showed some good effort on his longer runs of 12, 13, and 14 yards as he made cuts and attacked the hole. The second half is were the running back accumulated most of his yards as he averaged 5.8 yards on his 10 carries.
| RB Brandon Jackson, Rush: 2 - 11 - 0, Rec: 5 - 12 - 0 (5 targets) |
Jackson got seven touches in this game with his long play going for a nine yard rush that resulted in a first down. The running back caught all five of his targets, but he finished with only 12 yards receiving.
| WR Donald Driver, Rush: 1 - 6 - 0, Rec: 3 - 68 - 1 (5 targets) |
Driver's first target of the game went for a 44 yard touchdown catch in the second quarter that brought Green Bay within three points. Despite being double covered on the play, he was able to bring down the pass for his second touchdown catch of the season. Driver hurt his hand on the play when it was stepped on, but the wide receiver was able to return. He would go on to catch two more passes that went for a total of 24 yards. Driver did have a 16 yard reception negated because of an illegal contact penalty on the Falcons that was accepted by the Packers.
| WR Greg Jennings, Rec: 4 - 87 - 1 (9 targets) |
Jennings only had one catch over the first two quarters, but his three grabs in the second half went for pickups of 20, 25, and 36 yards respectively and also included his third touchdown of the year. The receiver was wide open on a play that would have went for a big gain in the second half, but the ball was under thrown by QB Aaron Rodgers. Jennings showed good effort on his final catch of the game when he made the reception, broke a tackle, and sprinted for a gain of 36 yards.
| WR Ruvell Martin, Rec: 3 - 31 - 0 (5 targets) |
Martin didn't get a pass his way until the third quarter, but his first two catches went for Packers' first downs on pick ups of eight and 14 yards respectively. His only other catch came on Green Bay's final drive and went for a gain of nine. Martin was the intended receiver on QB Aaron Rodgers' only interception of the game.
| WR James Jones, Rec: 1 - 9 - 0 (1 targets) |
Jones' only catch of the game came with 1:23 left in the third quarter.
| WR Jordy Nelson, Rec: 1 - 14 - 0 (1 targets) |
Nelson caught his only target of the game for a 14 yard gain.
| TE Donald Lee, Rec: 4 - 25 - 1 (5 targets) |
Lee averaged less than seven yards per reception, but he was the receiver on Green Bay's third touchdown on the game. On the play, the tight end lined up in the backfield and took an underhand pass from QB Aaron Rodgers up the middle for a four yard score.
| TE Tory Humphrey, Rec: 4 - 67 - 0 (4 targets) |
Humphrey came into this contest with one catch on the year, but finished the game catching all four of his targets for 67 yards. His first target came near the start of the fourth quarter and went for a gain of 37. Humphrey's next two catches went for a total of 14 yards and his final grab went for a pickup of 16 that he took down to the Atlanta seven yard line.
| TE Jermichael Finley (1 targets) |
Finley's only target of the game fell to the ground incomplete.
| PK Mason Crosby 1 - 2 FG, 3 - 3 XP, 6 points |
Crosby missed his first field goal attempt when his 53 yard field goal sailed wide right. On the previous play he was good from 43 yards out, but a holding penalty pushed Green Bay back 10 yards. Crosby did hit from 50 yards out near the end of the third quarter and also was good on all three of his extra point attempts.
| GB Rush Defense |
The Green Bay rush defense surrendered 176 yards on 36 rushes for an average of 4.9 yards per run. In addition to giving up the big yardage numbers on the ground, the run defense also allowed RB Michael Turner to score from two yards out.
| GB Pass Defense |
The Packers' pass rush allowed 16 completions that went for 194 yards and two touchdowns. Green Bay failed to record a sack as pressure rarely reached Falcons' QB Matt Ryan, but CB Tramon Williams had a nice one handed interception in the end zone that ended a fourth quarter Atlanta drive.