17. Packers 48, Falcons 21 (2011)

Aaron Rodgers has had two games where he has thrown six touchdowns, as well as a big-time shootout in the 2009 Wild Card round against Kurt Warner and the Arizona Cardinals. However, this was Rodgers’ best performance ever, in my opinion. Rodgers would have one of the best performances in playoff history. After knocking off Philadelphia on the road to end the Wild Card round, Green Bay played a Saturday night game in Atlanta. The Falcons were a slight favorite, but many people were picking the Packers to pull the upset. In the earlier meeting that season, Atlanta won on a last-second field goal by Matt Bryant, despite the fact that Green Bay dominated the game statistically. The Packers had 418 yards in that meeting, compared to 294 for the Falcons. But Rodgers fumbled into the end zone on a quarterback sneak and Atlanta recovered for the only turnover of the game. In the rematch, the Packers not only dominated statistically (442-194), but also in points as well, as the Packers crushed the Falcons 48-21 to earn a berth in the NFC Championship game.

It was a back-and-forth game early on. Atlanta drove into Green Bay territory early, but had to punt. However, on Green Bay’s first third down of the day, Rodgers threw a strike over the middle to Greg Jennings and would move across the 35. But Stephen Nicholas brought down Jennings and forced a fumble, which Atlanta recovered in Packers territory. Atlanta would move down into the red zone on the strength of a Matt Ryan 22-yard pass to Michael Jenkins. On a 4th-and-1 from the Green Bay 13, Atlanta went for it and converted with a 1-yard plunge by fullback Ovie Mughelli. On the following play, Michael Turner would blast ahead into the end zone for a 12-yard touchdown run to put the Falcons on the board first.

The Green Bay offense had an answer, like it did all day. The Packers went on a 13-play drive Green Bay, converting two third downs along the way. The first was an 18-yard pass from Rodgers to Jennings over the middle to move down to the Falcons 23. The second would be an 8-yard pass to Jordy Nelson on a third down from the Atlanta 16. Two plays later, Nelson would score on a 6-yard pass from Rodgers and the game was tied at 7. But it would stay that way for only a matter of seconds, as Eric Weems returned the ensuing kickoff 102 yards to the house virtually untouched to give the Falcons the lead right back.

That would be about it for the Atlanta in the game. Green Bay would go onto score 35 unanswered points to give the Packers a commanding lead. A mistake my James Starks forced the Green Bay offense to start deep in its own territory to begin the following drive. No problem for Rodgers and Co. Three straight completions moved the ball out to midfield. On a second down from that spot, Rodgers escaped a Falcons rusher in the backfield and threw a perfect pass along the sideline to James Jones, who ran down to the 16 for 34 yards. Green Bay just had so many weapons. Atlanta thought it had a stop on third down as Rodgers was sacked by Jonathan Babineaux, but there was an illegal contact penalty on Atlanta’s Christopher Owens that kept the drive alive. John Kuhn would eventually crash in from a yard out to tie the game at 14.

Green Bay would stop all Atlanta momentum late in the first half. The Falcons were on the move on 2nd-and-9 at the Green Bay 14, but a false start penalty and a sack by Charles Woodson forced the Falcons into a 3rd-and-21 from the 26. Ryan looked into the end zone and fired a pass intended for Jenkins, but it was intercepted by Tramon Williams for the touchback. That certainly would not be the last time Williams would make a big play that night.

Rodgers would go 5-of-6 for 74 yards on a drive that would give the Packers the lead. Rodgers threw to four different receivers on the drive. On a 3rd-and-2 from the Falcons 40, Rodgers found Driver for 20 yards down to the 20. That was followed up by Rodgers’ second touchdown pass of the day. He threw a jump ball for Jones in the end zone and Jones caught it over Brent Grimes for the score with 42 seconds remaining in the half.

Everybody figured it would be a one-score game at the half, but the question would be if it would be a 21-14 or 21-17 lead for the Packers. Atlanta was one of the best in the league at the end of half two minute drill situations. The Falcons would move 35 yards on pass interference penalties on Green Bay down to the 26. Clay Matthews came through with a sack to move them back on the edge of Bryant field goal range. That sack would become even bigger because the Falcons had to try to move closer to get in more comfortable range for a Bryant field goal. That would come back to bite the Falcons, as Ryan rolled to the left and throw a short pass to Roddy White. But I told you that you would hear Williams’ name again. On the pass for White, Williams jumped the route and picked it off and raced up the right sidelines. At the Green Bay 45, he split three Atlanta players trying to tackle him and he was gone, racing 70 yards for the score as time expired at the end of the first half. So instead of a Green Bay lead by four, the Packers made a monster play to end the half and the Green and Gold took a 28-14 lead at halftime.

The second half was all Packers. It started on the opening possession of the second half. On the first play, Rodgers was sacked by John Abraham for a loss of 10. After the sack, Abraham did Rodgers’ belt celebration. But having 2nd-and-20 did not faze Rodgers one bit, as he completed his next two passes to Jennings and Jones for a combined 22 yards and a first down. The second third down conversion by Green Bay on the drive was on a Rodgers bullet over the middle to Nelson for 14 yards to the Falcons 18. Two plays later, from the Atlanta 7, Rodgers stepped up in the pocket and tucked it and ran it seven yards for the score and the Packers had a 35-14 lead in Atlanta over the NFC’s top seed.

Green Bay was far from done. After a shank of a punt from Atlanta’s Michael Koenen gave the Packers the ball at midfield to start the drive, the Packers would drive 50 yards in eight plays to put the game away. On a 3rd-and-5 from the Falcons 33, Rodgers threw a dart to Driver for 22 yards for a first down down to the 11. Two plays later, Rodgers threw a pass to the flat to Kuhn, who was wide open. Kuhn rumbled into the end zone for the 7-yard score to give the Packers a 42-14 lead and the rout was on.

Atlanta would score early in the fourth on a Ryan touchdown pass to White, but the Packers answered with two consecutive field goals to make the final 48-21. After Atlanta cut it to 42-21, Mason Crosby missed a long field goal and the Falcons had a bit of life. But that quickly went away when Atlanta fumbled on a 3rd-and-1 quarterback sneak and Green Bay recovered. The Packers went onto kick a field goal to make it 45-21 and that was all she wrote.

The Packers made a statement with the win in Georgia. It was the second consecutive playoff win away from Lambeau Field for the Packers, as they also went onto win in Chicago and then won in Texas at Jerry World in Super Bowl XLV. No matter how many great games Rodgers has, I don’t think any will measure up to this one. Considering the stage and the opponent, this has to rank as one of the greatest playoff performances of all-time. Rodgers had almost as many touchdowns (3 passing, 4 total) as incompletions (5). This game could have been higher, but I don’t really want to put all four playoff games so close together. But there is no denying that this was one of the more memorable games in the Mike McCarthy era.