Now, that's not to say the game is a gimme. Atlanta leads the NFC South. Admittedly, that's not saying much given the woeful state of that division. The Dirty Birds are only 5-7 and stand a chance of making the playoffs as a division winner with less than a .500 record. Oy.
So what does Atlanta bring to Lambeau Field this evening? A quarterback who's hot and cold, a great receiver in Julio Jones, a defense that has big pluggers up front and an overall takeaway count of 24 (third best in the league), an offensive line that will have Clay Matthews' young cousin at left tackle, and an old tormenter in the form of Devin Hester.
Other than that...not...so...much. As long as the Packers do what they do...and need to do.
Prediction
If the Packers can get off to their usual quick start and, unlike last week's game against New England convert their red zone possessions into TDs instead of FGs, the game shouldn't be close. The Pack is favored by 13 points with an over-under total of 56 points. You can imagine how that total is skewed in the Packers' favor.
The weather for the game is at present forecast as 33 degrees and cloudy (but at 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 8 will anyone really notice clouds?). Whether there is any snowfall, we'll have to wait to see.
So what's our call? We just think the Packers are on too much of a roll both offensively and defensively right now. It's almost to the point where we hope they aren't peaking too soon.
We're calling it 38-20 Packers.
Go Pack Go!!!
By the way, according to TipIQ as of a few days ago:
- "At an average asking price of $112.67 per ticket, this Monday's game vs Atlanta is the Packers' cheapest regular game since TiqIQ.com began tracking the ticket market in late 2009.
- This is by far the cheapest game of the season, with the next being November 16th vs Philly averaging $206.51. This is also 49.92% below the Packers season average of $224.97.
- The cheapest ticket available is currently Section 212 Row 24 at $50 each. The most expensive ticket listed is Club Center Section 419 Row 11 at $614 each."
Photo File/Gannett Wisconsin Media
Favre returns to Lambeau tonight...maybe
At the time of this writing, several media sources are reporting that former Packers (and Atlanta, lest we forget) quarterback Brett Favre is on his way to Green Bay. Whether or not he will actually attend the game this evening is another matter. This will not, as far as seems to be the case, be his number retirement ceremony. But there will sure to be a lot of media coverage of Favre back in GB either way. It will definitely be a little extra incentive to watch this game. Although, if you're a real Packers fan, you'll be watching anyway.
