The Atlanta Falcons loss to the Green Bay Packers revealed a lot about the Falcons, but this blogger would prefer (for this post) to briefly focus on one fact: Aaron Rodgers put on "a clinic." In fact, that word was used so much by Fox Sports announcer Joe Buck, he pissed off the Twitterverse so much his name became a Twitter Trend.
(As an aside, it was far different than the regular season game.)
But Packers Quarterback Aaron Rodgers was brilliant, and so was the Packers game plan.
Let's get this out of the way: Packers Head Coach Mike McCarthy is light years ahead of the person who was the terrible offensive coordinator for The San Francisco 49ers in 2005, Alex Smith's first year in the NFL. (And in 2006, McCarthy was selected as the Packers coach in yet another obvious flaunting of The Rooney Rule) And consider that had the 49ers drafted Aaron Rodgers number one rather than Alex Smith, Mike McCarthy would have coached Rodgers and not Smith, but he's now coaching Rodgers anyway.
And what McCarthy and his staff is doing are developing plays that don't have Rodgers holding the ball very long, throwing into windows to his receivers, rather than waiting for them to break open on long routes. In many ways, the Packers are the classic Bill Walsh Offense team, an approach the San Francisco 49ers should take note of.
Rodgers was not only 31 of 36 for 366 yards and 3 touchdowns (a lot of 3s) but continued a pattern of passing brillance that this space took note of during the NFL Preseason.
Now, they wait the winner of the Chicago Bears vs. Seattle Seahawks NFC Divisional Playoff game, and as of this writing, Chicago's ahead 21 to zip, and with the snow it may stay that way.
Stay tuned.
I think Finley’s injury was the best thing to happen for this team because it forced the offense to learn how to manage a game, find a running a game, and support a really good defense. Really showed in the win at Philly.
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