Green Bay Packers @ Atlanta Falcons

3:05 PM EST, FOX – Line: Falcons -6,  Over/Under: 62

Rodgers continues to carry the Packers during their 8-game winning streak, throwing 21 TD to just 1 INT during that span.

Conference Championship Weekend kicks off today with what is expected to be a shootout, as a pair of MVP-caliber Quarterbacks lead explosive offenses as the Atlanta Falcons host the Green Bay Packers for the right to advance to Super Bowl LI, in what is coincidentally to be the final game to be played at the Georgia Dome.  For the Packers (10-6, 1st in NFC North), the last time they played on this stage must immediately incite feeling of nausea and regret; Green Bay blew a sixteen-point Halftime lead at Seattle, only to fall in Overtime of the 2014 NFC Championship Game, highlighted by the host’s miraculous recovery of a late On-Side Kick.  Simply put, these opportunities don’t come around very often, and must be taken advantage of when they reveal themselves.  For the reigning NFC North Champions, their fortunes are tied to the play of their phenomenal Quarterback, Aaron Rodgers (65.7% 4,428 YDS, 6.48 NY/A, 40 TD, 7 INT, 77.0 QBR), who during his team’s eight-game wining streak (which he predicted, by the way) has been performing at a level seldom seen in NFL History.  Indeed, stellar showings are nothing new to the two-time MVP, but it’s hard to fathom anyone outplaying him at the moment; over the past eight contests, the 33-year old has completed a healthy 68.9% of his attempts for an average of 298.0 yards per game, tossing twenty-one touchdowns to just one interception, all the while posting a 117.9 Passer Rating in the process.  However, those are just numbers, folks, for to describe just how otherworldly his play has been, look no further than his miraculous Third Down throw against the Cowboys in the waning moments of last weekend’s 34-31 victory in the Divisional Round.  After both teams traded fifty-yard Field Goals leveling the score at thirty-one points apiece, the visiting Packers faced Third & 20 from their own 32-yard line with a precious twelve seconds remaining.  With the game seemingly destined for Overtime, Rodgers deftly evaded the pass-rush, rolled out to the left boundary, and effortlessly launched a strike thirty-six yards down the sideline to Tight End Jared Cook, who miraculously kept his feet in the field of play as he lumbered out of bounds.  Initially, the referees called the pass Incomplete, but upon Review granted Green Bay the catch, which set up Mason Crosby’s game-winning 51-yard Field Goal, his second of such distance in just forty-five seconds of play.  The question now, is can he continue to perform at this level despite a decimated Receiving Corps, an inconsistent rushing attack, and a Defense that has hardly been able to stop even the most average of Offenses?  Jordy Nelson (97 REC, 1,257 YDS, 14 TD) missed last weekend’s game with fractured rubs, while Davante Adams (75 REC, 997 YDS, 12 TD) suffered a sprained ankle against Dallas, with injuries to ancillary Receivers such as Geronimo Allison (Hamstring) and Jeff Janis (Quadriceps) leaving Rodgers’ cache of weapons dangerously thin.  Given their defensive struggles, Mike McCarthy’s charges are going to need all the firepower they can get in order to trade blows with Atlanta’s high-flying attack.  When these teams met back on October 30th, the Packers fell short in a 33-32 thriller at the Georgia Dome, which featured seven lead changes, while Rodgers caught fire connecting on 28-of-38 passes for 246 yards, and four touchdowns.  Of course, No. 12 will have fond memories of his last Postseason meeting with the Falcons, for back in 2010 he and his teammates embarrassed the Dirty Birds 48-21 en route to eventually hoisting the franchise’s fourth Lombardi Trophy.  On that day, the visiting side shredded the host’s inept defense to the tune of 442 Total Yards, with Rodgers playing a near perfect game, completing 31-of-36 passes for 366 yards, and three touchdowns, while rushing for a fourth score as well.  Based on hi play over the past two months, that’s all in a day’s work for this guy…

Ryan may be the favorite for MVP, leading the league in a slew of passing categories, while posting the fifth-highest Passer Rating in NFL History, 117.1.

Meanwhile, slowing Rodgers down may seem like the single-most daunting task of these Playoffs, but if there’s a team that could outgun the Quarterback, it would most certainly be the Falcons (11-5, 1st in NFC South), who were a bonafide juggernaut on the offensive side of the ball in 2016.  Dan Quinn’s charges scored a league-high 33.8 points per game, the eighth-most in NFL History, and seventy-one more points than their closest competition, while totaling 430.5 yards (2nd Overall), including 310.0 yards through the air (3rd Overall) on 8.2 Net Yards per Attempt (1st Overall), and another 120.5 yards on the ground (5th Overall) on a healthy 4.6 Yards per Carry (5th Overall), all the while committing a league-low eleven turnovers this season.  You would be hard-pressed to find a unit loaded with more weapons than this one, which can beat you in the air or on the ground, with playmakers galore; indeed it’s been an embarrassment of riches for Offensive Coordinator Kyle Shanahan, who has helmed an attack featuring studs like All-Pro Receiver Julio Jones (83 REC, 1,409 YDS, 6 TD) and Tailbacks Devonta Freeman (227 CAR, 1,079 YDS, 11 TD) and Tevin Coleman (118 CAR, 520 YDS, 8 TD).  The latter two have emerged as an essential component of Atlanta’s attack, proving to be deadly catching the ball out of the Backfield, accounting for a combined eighty-five receptions for 883 yards and five touchdowns.  These two deftly exploited mismatches with Seattle’s stellar set of Linebackers in last weekend’s thumping of the NFC West Champions in the Divisional Round, as Freeman and Coleman posted a total of 204 All-Purpose Yards and two scores.  Of course, pulling the strings is Matt Ryan (69.9% 4,944 YDS, 8.25 NY/A, 38 TD, 7 INT, 83.3 QBR), who is enjoying what has easily been the best campaign of his professional career.  The four-time Pro Bowler led the league in a slew of categories, including Touchdown Percentage (7.1%), Yards per Attempt (9.3), Yards per Completion (13.3), Passer Rating (117.1), QBR (83.3), and Net Yards per Attempt (8.25).  Furthermore, that 117.1 Passer Rating checks in as the fifth-highest in NFL History.  Like his highly-decorated counterpart, Ryan has also been on a tear of late, guiding the Falcons to five consecutive victories, in which he has thrown fourteen touchdowns and no interceptions.  He’ll look to continue building his postseason portfolio after recording just his second Playoff Win (in six attempts) of his nine-year career, which is ultimately the knock on this guy, who otherwise has been one of the most productive Quarterbacks in the league over the last decade.  Given the field of Quarterbacks remaining in these Playoffs (Brady, Roethlisberger, and Rodgers) it’s easy to dismiss Ryan, particularly in the wake of the cavalcade of championships owned by the other three; despite owning a solid 85-57 record (.599) during the Regular Season, No. 2 has completed 67.0% of his attempts for an average of 261.3 yards per game, twelve touchdowns and seven interceptions, with a Passer Rating of 91.9 in six career Playoff Games.  Perhaps it’s poetic that he’ll have the opportunity to author his tale of postseason redemption against the Packers, who handed him arguably his most embarrassing defeat; in Green Bay’s aforementioned 48-21 drubbing of Atlanta in 2010, Ryan looked lost on 20-of-29 passing for a postseason career-low 186 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions.  Granted, six years is an awfully long time, and if his play against them earlier this season is of any indication, then he should be in for a very big day; Ryan completed all but seven of his thirty-five attempts for 288 yards and three scores back on October 30th, engineering the game-winning eleven-play, 75-yard drive inside of three minutes left to play, going 9-of-11 over that span concluding with an eleven-yard strike to Mohamed Sanu for the victory.

Predicted Outcome: Falcons 34, Packers 28