Packers One Point Short, but Very Impressive on Sunday | Ticket King Green Bay

We chose to go to our man T.J. Bryce for his thoughts on last Sunday’s Packers – Falcons game.
“Shocked, stunned, happy, sad, kicked in the stomach, content, satisfied, then nothing.”

Those were the thoughts swirling around in my head after Sunday’s 33-32 loss on the road, against the Atlanta Falcons. The Packers, missing half their team, traveled to Atlanta  to take on one of the league's best. The Packers, much like the divisional playoff game in Arizona back in January, were facing insurmountable odds.

And much like on that warm January Saturday night in the desert, they almost did the impossible.

Indeed the Packers nearly did the unthinkable. Missing Sam Shields, Damarious Randall, Quinten Rollins, Clay Matthews, Randall Cobb, Ty Montgomery, Jared Cook, Eddie Lacy, and James Starks, they went into Atlanta, supposed to lose by three touchdowns.

They came up one point short of making the front page headlines of every sports page in America Monday morning. This Packers team is strange, and I mean STRANGE. It appears as if this team is at its best when they are facing impossible odds. For a team whose criticism of them for being sloppy and not giving a full effort most of the time is both well known and publicized, they are at their best when the deck is stacked against them. When they are expected to win, they lay an egg, when they are expected to lose big, they almost pull off the unthinkable. This is, at sometimes, bi-polar team. 

It's sad to lose that game, because the man we have all been waiting for came to play that afternoon. That was Aaron Rodgers. That was the National Football League's two-time Most Valuable Player. That was, some would say, the best football player in the NFL. That game was indeed all of those things, as Aaron played his best game in two years. The swagger was back, the sideways smile was back, his “Aaronness” was in top form on Sunday. Two weekends back, Rodgers played a solid game, and it was his best game in a year. This week, Rodgers played his best game in two years, and this was an MVP performance. Those weren't quick passes either, Aaron was throwing hay-makers yesterday.

An offense that was without Eddie Lacy, James Starks, Ty Montgomery, and Randall Cobb, played their best game in over a year. Maybe this team is better off without Lacy, much like the Minnesota Vikings (up until Monday night,) are better off without Adrian Peterson at this point. In two games without Lacy, this offense has looked much better than they were with him in a long time. Without all of those players, all of these young mega-talented receivers showed us how good they can be. Trevor Davis caught a touchdown pass and had a big punt return. Jeff Janis caught a couple of passes and a touchdown. Geronimo Allison, who is big, fast, and who they really like, just called up off the practice squad this week, caught a touchdown pass. Aaron is finally starting to trust these young receivers, and that is a very good thing for the Packers going forward. And when did Davante Adams suddenly become the best receiver in the league? How did that happen? In the last two games Adams has 25 catches. Adams has now become the Packers ace receiver, and Jordy Nelson fans need to accept that.

Speaking of Nelson, yes he had a good game yesterday statistically, but he will never again be the same player he was before. On that big completion on the first drive, if this were three years ago, he would have scored a touchdown on that play. Nelson no longer has that “see you later, nice chatting with you, but I gotta’ run” burst that he had pre-torn ACL. On the play in the fourth quarter where he almost blew a first down trying to cut it to the outside, once again, three years ago, he would have pulled that off. But this is not 2013, this is 2016, and Jordy Nelson is a 31-year-old man coming off a torn ACL, whose calling card has been speed and jump ball. He will never again be that player. The question is, will he accept a Donald Driver role going forward, as these young receivers hopefully start reaching their full potential, as they have been showing us the last six quarters? Time will tell.

There was  much to say about the defense. Missing their top three corners and their best player, this defense was not expected to keep up with Atlanta. Ladarius Gunter, a second year former UDFA player, came into the season expecting to be the Packers dime corner. On Sunday, he found himself on the top of the depth chart going up against the best wide receiver in the league. Gunter did as good of a job as he could, and should get an award for courage. The Packers may have found their new Al Harris. Tough, gritty, and doesn't back down for anybody. Yes the Packers lost by one point, but there is a lot to build on going forward, which is not what could be said about this team just a few weeks ago.