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| Sunday, September 8, 2002 - 12 noon at Lambeau Field |
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1st |
2nd |
3rd |
4th |
OT | Final |
| Falcons |
0 |
21 |
3 |
10 |
0 | 34 |
| Packers |
3 |
10 |
14 |
7 |
3 | 37 |
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Packers Player Of The Game
Atoning for his early fumble, Ahman Green carried the load for the Packers offensively throughout the game, racking up 155 yards on 27 carries (5.7 yards per carry average). As a whole, the Packers accumulated 211 yards on the ground.
Falcons Player Of The Game
Making his first start in a season opener, second-year quarterback Michael Vick was deadly with the pass, completing 15-of-23 passes for 209 yards and a touchdown, and on the run, leading Atlanta with 72 yards on 9 carries.
Stat Of The Game
En route to a 25-for-36 performance, Brett Favre connected with eight different receivers against the Falcons, but none more often than fourth-year receiver Donald Driver, who came away with 7 grabs for 78 yards. Driver, who had 13 catches all of last season, had caught no more than 3 passes in any single game prior. Also of note was rookie Javon Walker, who made 4 receptions for 56 yards in his NFL debut.
Play Of The Game
With 1:16 remaining in the fourth quarter and the Packers trailing 31-27, William Henderson's second-effort from inside the 1-yard-line put the Packers into the end zone for the go-ahead score. Atlanta would go on to tie the game on a 52-yard field goal and send it into overtime, before Ryan Longwell won it with a 34-yard kick.
THEY SAID IT:
GM/Head Coach Mike Sherman --
On his feelings after the game: "First off I want to say that the Atlanta Falcons played an excellent game, they were very well coached. Michael Vick has lived up to his expectations. He gets a Pro Bowl vote from me. He did everything he had to do when he had to do it; with his feet, with his arm, with his capability. I thought he played a whale of a ball game. I certainly think our quarterback did as well."
On the team's performance: "A game like this where you can battle back in the situation we were in, it was hot out there and guys were getting fatigued, tired, cramped and hurt. They were able to hang in there and battle back. I'm proud of the football team."
On the defense: "There's things we need to work on, there's no doubt about that. Our defense gave up way too many rushing yards and it wasn't just Michael Vick's feet. Warrick Dunn was making guys miss, (T.J.) Duckett, and the rest of their offense. They did a great job against our defense."
On the receivers: "They stepped up where the questions were, and they did a lot. I was probably most proud of them."
On Javon Walker's performance: "He's an unusual rookie. He's well beyond his years, and that's why we moved up to get him at 20. It's what I said a long time ago. I thought he was a top 10 pick and to get him at 20, I thought it was worth it because of his maturity level that he showed me in a one-on-one meeting we had. He's a young man that loves being a Green Bay Packer and loves playing here in Green Bay.
Na'il Diggs --
On if he was frustrated by performance of defense: "I was definitely frustrated. I was frustrated, but also keeping my head at the same time. I'm sure the other 10 guys were upset also, the good thing was that we didn't care whose fault it was or whatever had happened. It happened. We didn't point anybody out, we didn't try to blame anything, we just got to the next play and just played the next play out."
On Falcons quarterback Michael Vick: "I think he has great speed and great agility. I really don't know how he's advertised, but he's a hell of an athlete. I think he's going to surprise a lot of teams this year, definitely."
On Falcons offense in first half: "They were executing well. They were executing better than we were, that's pretty much the bottom line. It really looked like we didn't watch any film or study. We've got to do a better job as a defense of doing that. They were running plays that we knew that they had, but we weren't defending them to our best ability. That's something that we've got to work on."
On if Packers were 'lucky' to get a win: "I wouldn't say lucky. I hate to use the word lucky. I felt like it was a rough win, a hard win. We'll take it."
Donald Driver --
On game: "It got to a point down the line where we realized that every time we stepped on the field we had to make some plays. The receivers got together and said, hey, this is going to be our show and we have to put it on."
"It was a draining game. We had to fight through the heat. It felt like training camp out there to be honest with you. We fought through it and came up with a victory."
On waiting before game-winning field goal: "Everybody got to a point where everybody got on their knees. I went to the other end and started praying, saying, 'Ryan, please make this,' because I didn't want to go back out there again."
Brett Favre --
On the game: "That was a rough one, fortunately we won. I thought that it was extremely hot and when we went into overtime, we just found a way to win it."
On the receivers: "Those guys made some great plays, every one of them contributed in some way. That's what we hoped they would do. I had no idea we'd be going into overtime. Javon made a great catch in overtime and a great touchdown catch. Terry had some great catches. Donald had some great catches. The stuff you don't see, the blocking downfield, was unbelievable."
On the Atlanta defense: "They played tight, but they mixed it up real well. They gave us a good mix of coverages, not only in different situations, but different distances. On first down, sometimes they'd go cover two, come back with three. They mixed it up real well...our guys adjusted well and made plays."
On the difference between last year's game and this year's: "I felt like last year we'd win the football game. I felt today like we'd win the football game. I didn't think it would be an overtime game, but they played well. They played great. But the difference this year was that we made plays in crucial situations."
On the team's performance: "We found out a lot about our team today. Our offense was able to step it up and put points on the board. We sputtered around a few times, but like I said, the bottom line is we won."
On Michael Vick: "He played great. He can run around a lot better than I can. They'd have carted me off if I would have had to run that far. He threw the ball well; he played great. He deserved a win just as much as we did. I know they're upset that they didn't win, especially a game like this one, but he has nothing to hang his head about. He played great, the whole team did."
Ahman Green --
On the offensive depth: "This is a team sport, and in any team sport you need guys in the backup position like what Rondell (Mealey) did when I came off the field with cramps. That's what makes a team good, when you have depth at certain positions, or at all positions."
On the team's running game: "That's what Coach Sherman wanted to do out there. We wanted to show that we could run the ball. It's going to be a tough, hard season because now teams are going to see what we can do and they're going to put eight or nine guys up in the box. We have to be prepared for that."
On the difficulty of the game: "I'm glad to have a tough game early, because that prepares us for anything later down the line in November and December."
On downfield blocking by the wide receivers: "That was a big focus for the receivers through the mini-camps and training camp. You can make a 10-yard run into a 35-yard run. And that's what coach Ray Sherman has been talking to them about."
Ryan Longwell --
On game-winning field goal: "It's the tough end of the stadium but Doug (Pederson) made a great snag, got the hold and I was just swinging away. It went down the middle and was a great win for us."
On kicking in south end: "We were struggling in pregame at that end, not with hitting the ball well, really guessing the wind. The wind was so bad going that direction and we couldn't really figure out, we had ones that went left and right and that's not a good feeling. That first one I just guessed wrong. As I said a couple years ago, usually when you miss a kick like that it comes back and you need to make one to win the game."
On the effect of 'icing' timeouts called by Atlanta: "Icing the kicker when it's 90 degrees outside is not really effective. I think it's a good strategy as a rush team because you can rest your guys and they can get off the ball a lot harder. I think it's more for that than psyching-out the kicker."
On importance of win: "This one's huge to start of the season because we want to do some special things this season. Especially in Lambeau, you want to get wins when you can. It's a huge win for us."
On confidence kicking at south end as he lined up for game-winner: "After the 42-yarder went through at half I was fine after that because I just figured I was going to aim it right-center and just take my chances."
On thoughts before kick: "I wasn't really thinking about any pressure or any nerves or anything. I was just kind of wondering what Doug was going to do after I made the kick. That's all that I was thinking."
Rondell Mealey --
On performance of offensive line: "It was great. It was pumping me up and letting me know when I made a bad read, so they did a great job out there making some holes for us."
On running game: "Our thing is, we're going to run the ball. You're going to have to stop our run, we're going to throw the ball later. We did a great job establishing that run, that's what we need to do."
Hardy Nickerson --
On trying to stop Michael Vick: "You just have to make a decision to stay with your guy or attack the quarterback. He brings an added dimension to the game that's very hard to defense against, that's running and he's got a strong arm and he's pretty accurate. Once he gets outside the pocket he can make a lot of things happen . . . I don't know that any other quarterbacks have the speed that he has, that's an added dimension right there."
On playing at Lambeau Field: "It was awesome. I finally got the monkey off my back. It's nice to be on the winning side. The fans are great. It was a great experience."
Darren Sharper --
On game: "This was one of the toughest games I've ever played in my career, physically, mentally and any other word ending in 'ly' that's out there. I tell you what, for the first game, it's good to go through this but if I had to pick and choose I wouldn't want to go through this again."
On Michael Vick: "I don't have enough adjectives. Everyone knew coming into the game what he could do and he showed it. But you know a guy doesn't get picked first overall in the draft that doesn't have ability. You saw what he did out there. When we thought we had him, he found a way to get around the corner, found away to make a play. He's going to be tough, I'm glad we got him early on in the year."
On end of game: "I was mad first, when their kicker made the 52-yarder. I was, 'Okay, we're going to overtime,' because I was ready for the game to be over with. But we kept fighting. We had to go back out and get a stop, get good field possession and then have some big plays and you know Ryan (Longwell) is going to come through when you bring him in about 40 or 50 yards. And then it was just relief because it was one of the most draining games I've been a part of."
On team character: "To have a game as tough as this shows our morale because we didn't quit or give up when a lot of people would have and a lot of teams would have. We kept fighting. We just believe in ourselves, we just believe that sooner or later someone can make a play that will allow us to win the game."
POST-GAME NOTES:
Today's win was the sixth season-opening win in the last seven years for the Packers. The Packers now lead the all-time series with the Falcons 11-10.
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Packers quarterback Brett Favre notched his 24th career game-winning comeback with today's win.
In the process, Favre established his career's longest streak of consecutive regular-season pass attempts without an interception. He now has thrown 153 passes without an interception, his last pick coming last season at Tennessee (12/16/01).
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Packers kicker Ryan Longwell became the just the fourth player in team history to scale the 600-point plateau, reaching the mark in the second quarter on an extra point following tight end David Martin's 3-yard touchdown reception from Brett Favre.
Longwell's game-winning field goal was the fourth such kick of his career. The others: vs. Philadelphia (9/17/00), vs. San Francisco (10/15/00), and vs. Tampa Bay (12/24/00).
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Today's 71 points scored by both teams marks the fourth-highest combined point total in a season-opening game in Packers history. The most, 82, came in 1971's season opening game, a 42-40 loss to the New York Giants at Lambeau Field (9/19/71). The listing of the top four follows:
* 82 points - New York Giants 42, Green Bay Packers 40 (9/19/71 at Green Bay)
* 79 points - Green Bay Packers 41, Houston Oilers 38 (9/4/83 at Houston)
* 72 points - Chicago Bears 44, Green Bay Packers 28 (9/27/42 at Green Bay)
* 71 points - Green Bay Packers 37, Atlanta Falcons 34 (9/8/02 at Green Bay)
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Today's overtime contest was the fourth such finish for a season opener in Packers history. The others: a 23-20 loss vs. Minnesota in 1992 (Sept. 6), a 41-38 win at Houston in 1983 (Sept. 4) and a 12-6 win vs. Chicago in 1980 (Sept. 7).
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Today's paid attendance at Lambeau Field was 63,127, a new record. The previous record was 62,668, from this year's preseason opener vs. Cleveland.
IN-GAME NOTES:
Game over.
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Ryan Longwell drove a 34-yard field goal through the uprights to give the Packers a win at the 5:15 mark in overtime. On the drive, Javon Walker had a key 18-yard reception, while Ahman Green provided 18 yards on the ground and rookie Najeh Davenport had a pair of carries for 8 yards. The Packers scoring drive was 7 plays, 44 yards. Time of the drive was 4:15.
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The Falcons managed only 3 yards on their first overtime possession. Chris Mohr booted a 46-yard punt that was received by Darrien Gordon at the Packers 40-yard-line (9:30, OT).
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The Packers failed to add another first down and Josh Bidwell was forced to punt again. His 27-yarder pinned the Falcons back at their own 12-yard-line (10:29, OT).
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Josh Bidwell's punt traveled 54 yards, but Atlanta's Travis Jervey was charged with roughing the kicker, giving the Packers a first down at the Falcons 46-yard-line.
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After Javon Walker's kickoff return brought the ball to the 34-yard line, the Packers moved near midfield after an Ahman Green run and a 12-yard reception by Donald Driver. But and incomplete pass and an 8-yard sack of Brett Favre by Johndale Carty pushed the Packers back. Favre looked for Terry Glenn on third down, but the pass fell incomplete forcing a Packers punt (12:47, OT).
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The Green Bay Packers won the coin toss. The Falcons will defend the south end zone.
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End of 4th quarter. Overtime.
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Jay Feely knocked a 52-yard field goal though the uprights with 5 seconds remaining to tie the game. The Falcons' scoring drive was 6 plays, 35 yards. Time of the drive was 1:05.
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Facing fourth-and-goal inside the 1-yard-line, fullback William Henderson fought his way across the goal line for the go-ahead score (1:10, 4th quarter). Ahman Green carried the load on the drive and in doing so pushed himself over the century mark for the 12th time in his career -- 21 carries for 132 yards on the day at the end of the drive. The Packers scoring drive was 14 plays, 80 yards. Time of the drive was 6:57.
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The Falcons regained their lead on 2-yard sweep left by Warrick Dunn (8:07, 4th quarter). Atlanta began the drive from the Packers 45-yard-line thanks to Allen Rossum's 35-yard punt return. The Falcons scoring drive was 6 plays, 45 yards. Time of the drive was 3:36.
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End of 3rd quarter.
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Javon Walker moved the Packers ahead with his 13-yard touchdown reception (0:30, 3rd quarter). Walker's first NFL touchdown reception, he became the 32nd player to catch a touchdown pass from Brett Favre. Favre completed the drive 20-of-27 passing for 233 yards on the day. The Packers scoring drive was 7 plays, 67 yards. Time of the drive was 4:54.
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Gilbert Brown was removed with an injured right knee. His return is uncertain (5:25, 3rd quarter).
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The Packers defense made a much-needed hold. A Michael Vick run had given the Falcons first down at the Packers 3-yard-line, but Atlanta was forced to settle for a 21-yard field goal by Jay Feely (5:25, 3rd quarter). After Vick's run, the Packers stopped Warrick Dunn for no gain, then benefited when tight end Reggie Kelly dropped a would-be touchdown. On third down, Cletidus Hunt pressured Vick into an incompletion to rob the Falcons of their touchdown hopes. The Falcons scoring drive was 15 plays, 76 yards. Time of the drive was 7:24.
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Michael Vick's first incomplete pass came at 9:18 in the 3rd quarter.
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The Packers didn't take long to get back on the scoreboard. After Terry Glenn's 42-yard reception brought them into the red zone, Rondell Mealey did most of the rest, first making an 11-yard reception before his 2-yard touchdown rush (12:48, 3rd quarter). Mealey's touchdown was his first from scrimmage in his NFL career (previously he'd had a fumble recovery for a touchdown). The Packers scoring drive was 4 plays, 59 yards. Time of the drive was 2:12.
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End of 2nd quarter. Halftime.
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Ryan Longwell's 42-yard field goal brought the Packers within 8 going into the half (0:00, 2nd quarter). Donald Driver paced the Packers' two-minute offense with four receptions. Rookie Javon Walker made his first NFL reception count -- his 16-yard grab set up the Longwell field goal. The Packers scoring drive was 9 plays, 56 yards. Time of the drive was 1:15.
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Two plays after a 55-yard catch-and-run by Bob Christian brought Atlanta to the Packers 4-yard-line, Michael Vick found tight end Alge Crumpler all alone in the back of the end zone for a 2-yard touchdown pass to increase the Falcons' lead (1:15, 2nd quarter). At the end of the drive, Falcons quarterback Michael Vick was 10-of-10 passing for 134 yards on the day. The Falcons scoring drive was 5 plays, 68 yards. Time of the drive was 3:01.
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Having been perfect on 8 field goal tries in the preseason and 1-of-1 today, Ryan Longwell's 42-yard field goal attempt sailed wide left for his first miss of 2002 (4:02, 2nd quarter). After McKenzie's fumble recovery gave the Packers possession, Ahman Green broke loose on a 38-yard rush that brought the ball to the Falcons 25-yard-line. The drive then sputtered, forcing the Longwell field goal try.
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Michael Vick completed a 12-yard pass to Willie Jackson, but as Antuan Edwards looked to tackle the receiver he forced a fumble that was recovered by Mike McKenzie (5:36, 2nd quarter).
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David Martin's 3-yard touchdown reception on third down gave the Packers their first touchdown of the 2002 season (5:54, 2nd quarter). A 52-yard pass interference penalty on a bomb intended for Donald Driver helped move the Packers across midfield. Driver later made a 15-yard third-down reception. The Packers scoring drive was 6 plays, 80 yards. Time of the drive was 2:49.
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Warrick Dunn busted through the right side of the line for a 3-yard touchdown run to extend the Falcons' lead (8:43, 2nd quarter). The Falcons benefited from an Ahman Green fumble that gave them possession at the Packers 29-yard line. Michael Vick's 29-yard pass to Willie Jackson -- following a penalty and a pass for negative yardage -- was the largest gain on the drive. The Falcons scoring drive was 4 plays, 28 yards. Time of the drive was 2:31.
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One play after dropping a Brett Favre pass, Ahman Green fumbled at the end of an 8-yard run, which was recovered by the Falcons' Keion Carpenter at the Packers 28-yard-line (11:14, 2nd quarter). Green Bay challenged the ruling on the field, but the initial ruling on the field stood.
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Quarterback Michael Vick completed a Falcons' scoring drive with a 2-yard touchdown rush, knocking over the pylon in the left corner of the end zone (11:26, 2nd quarter). Vick also had rushes of 14 and 18 yards on the drive. The Falcons scoring drive was 12 plays, 79 yards. Time of the drive was 7:42.
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End of 1st quarter.
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Ryan Longwell made a 28-yard field goal to put the Packers on the scoreboard for the first time of the 2002 season (4:08, 1st quarter). Brett Favre completed 5-of-6 passes for 64 yards on the Packers' season-opening drive. The Packers scoring drive was 15 plays, 77 yards. Time of the drive was 8:42.
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Javon Walker's first official touch as a Packer came on an end-around rush for a gain of 11 yards (7:34, 1st quarter).
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Terry Glenn made his first reception as a Packer for an 18-yard gain across the middle (10:20, 1st quarter).
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Playing in his 160th consecutive game, Brett Favre extends his NFL record for consecutive starts by a quarterback to 158 against the team that drafted him in 1991, the Atlanta Falcons.
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After allowing a 43-yard kickoff return by Allen Rossum, the Packers defense opened the 2002 season with a three-and-out stop of Atlanta (12:53, 1st quarter).
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Temperature at kickoff is 83 degrees, tying the 1976 opener vs. San Francisco as the warmest season openers in Lambeau Field history. The only other season openers at Lambeau Field to reach the 80-degree mark were 1998 vs. Detroit (81 degrees) and 1968 vs. Philadelphia (80 degrees.)
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The following Packers players are inactive for today's contest: Marques Anderson, Kevin Barry, Tony Fisher, Aaron Kampman, Craig Nall (third quarterback), Rod Walker, Marcus Wilkins.
Tight end Tyrone Davis has been waived. |
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