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| Saturday, January 4, 2003 - 7 pm at Lambeau Field |
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1st |
2nd |
3rd |
4th |
Final |
| Falcons |
14 |
10 |
3 |
0 |
27 |
| Packers |
0 |
0 |
7 |
0 |
7 |
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Packers Player Of The Game
The loss will be hard to swallow, but the Packers can enter the offseason encouraged by the performance of rookie wide receiver Javon Walker. With Donald Driver (shoulder) and Terry Glenn (concussion) sidelined, the first-round draft choice stepped up with 5 catches for 104 yards. More than the numbers, Walker showed elusiveness and tackle-breaking ability.
Falcons Player Of The Game
His supporting cast was impressive, but Michael Vick was clearly the playmaker on the night. Sidestepping would-be tacklers, Vick completed 13 of 25 passes for 117 yards and one touchdown. He also had 10 'carries' for 64 yards.
Stat Of The Game
The Packers were held scoreless for the first 34 minutes of the game.
Play Of The Game
The Packers' first possession of the game ended with an interception. The second was even more harmful, as Mark Simoneau slipped through the line untouched and blocked Josh Bidwell's punt. Artie Ulmer recovered for a Falcons touchdown. Atlanta went up 14-0 and never looked back.
THEY SAID IT
GM/Head Coach Mike Sherman --
On loss: "I am very disappointed about the outcome of this football game and how little we did in any phase of the game. I expected us to play than we did today and we didn't. To say it is disappointing is as big an understatement as I could ever make."
On muffed punt reception: "I never saw a replay. I talked to an official on the field and he led me to believe that it wouldn't be reviewable ... I asked the official what happened he told me that we got overpowered, he got run into the kicker and it was what it was."
On if injuries were to blame for loss: "I don't want to do that. Injuries are as much a part of the game as blocking and tackling. We just need to overcome injuries when they happen and we didn't do that. You have to be held accountable for winning and losing. We just didn't get it done."
On team/loss: "I am not going to jump ship on a team that won 12 games for me and that won a division and every home game. We did a few things right this year in the regular season but we didn't do things right in the post-season. In Green Bay, you are measured by championships, not wins."
Marques Anderson --
On effort: "I don't think there was any point in time where we gave up. It's just that things weren't going our way and they continued to not go our way. That is kind of demoralizing."
On injuries: "You can make all the excuses in the world. Of course injuries do play a part in a football game. If you have guys injured it's hard to win ... But that's part of football. We need to win. There's no excuses for not winning."
Josh Bidwell --
On blocked punt: "They didn't bring anything unusual, I just think that our count system got a little messed up ... We don't have the luxury of seeing video where we're at, we just had a couple of still and they didn't reveal much."
Mike Flanagan --
On loss: "The last two years in a row now we go out with a beating. It's tough. It sits on you all offseason. I've got six months to beat myself up about it. Then I've got to come back ready for next year. That's a tough thing to do."
On impact of loss: "I know guys are going to remember this. This isn't the way you ever want to end a year. We had such high hopes for what we wanted to do. We just didn't do it."
Ryan Longwell --
On playoff win streak at Lambeau being broken: "It's very disappointing. Obviously all streaks have to come to an end sometime, but you never want to be on that squad. Atlanta played a great game and they looked a lot more inspired than we did."
On loss: "Pretty much everything that could go wrong went wrong in the first quarter. It just kind of snowballed after that."
On second-half kicking conditions in snow: "It was real tough. Obviously the field becomes a lot slicker ... Anytime you try something outside 40 yards in these conditions, it's a tough kick."
Marco Rivera --
On first half: "That's probably the worst half of football that we've played ever."
On being stopped in goal-line stand: "They plays we ran were sound plays. They defensed two of them really good ... There was a 4-yard hole there, Ahman was headed right to it, the guy just slipped off and made a play. They made the plays and we didn't."
On effort: "We practiced all week ready to win the game. It just didn't work today. I don't know the reason. I think guys played hard today. I was looking at the defense. Cletidus was playing all-out. Kabeer was playing all-out. Vonnie was playing all-out. The guys we had step in there for the injured players were playing all-out. It just wasn't our day."
Mike Wahle --
On loss: "This is just so frustrating. You work all year and all the offseason, you get what you want in the playoffs and then you play like this. This is one of them you just have to go back and see what happened."
On being stopped in goal-line stand: "First and goal at the 1-yard-line, how do you not score from there? That's not a Super Bowl caliber team, that's not what they do. We need to be able to get the ball in there."
Javon Walker --
On team's emotions at halftime: "The emotions were high. We thought we could have came back out here and won."
On loss: "We had a goal we all wanted to get to and that was the Super Bowl. We didn't want it to end this way. Every loss is a tough loss, but we didn't want it to end this way right now in January."
GAME NOTES:
Tonight's attendance at Lambeau Field was 65,358. That's a Lambeau Field record, passing the previous standard of 64,196 from Dec. 1, vs. Chicago.
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End of 4th quarter. Game over.
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Patrick Kerney sacked Brett Favre and forced a fumble. John Thierry recovered for the Falcons at the Green Bay 30-yard-line (2:06, 4th quarter).
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Brett Favre's fourth-down pass for Javon Walker was deflected by Ray Buchanan and intercepted by Keion Carpenter (3:33, 4th quarter). The Falcons took over at the Atlanta 40-yard-line.
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Jay Feely's 43-yard field goal attempt was short (4:33, 4th quarter). The Packers took over at the Green Bay 33-yard-line.
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Frank Winters' snap never reached Brett Favre. The fumble was recovered by Atlanta at the Green Bay 25-yard-line (4:53, 4th quarter).
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Jay Feely's 45-yard field goal missed wide left (9:42, 4th quarter). The Packers took over at the Green Bay 35-yard-line.
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End of 3rd quarter.
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Ryan Longwell's 45-yard field goal attempt missed wide left (0:55, 3rd quarter). Javon Walker made 12- and 37-yard receptions on the drive.
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Jay Feely's 23-yard field goal increased the Falcons' lead (3:43, 3rd quarter). Michael Vick provided the play of the drive with a 22-yard scramble on third-and-3. The Falcons scoring drive was 12 plays, 73 yards. Time of the drive was 6:43.
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On third-and-11 Brett Favre hit Donald Driver with a 14-yard touchdown pass to get on the scoreboard (10:26, 3rd quarter). Driver made a 25-yard reception earlier on the drive. The Packers scoring drive was 10 plays, 73 yards. Time of the drive 4:34.
Brett Favre has now thrown a touchdown pass in 13 straight playoff games, tying Dan Marino's NFL record. His toss to Driver was his 30th post-season touchdown pass, tying Terry Bradshaw for third all-time. Joe Montana had 45, Dan Marino had 32.
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End of 2nd quarter. Halftime.
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As snow fell at Lambeau Field, Jay Feely made a 23-yard field goal to close out the first half (0:00, 2nd quarter). The Falcons got a handful of big runs on their 16-play, 90-minute drive. Warrick Dunn provided a 21-yard run. T.J. Duckett had 13- and 15-yard runs. Michael Vick had a 12-yard run. Time of the drive 6:24.
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On fourth-and-goal at the 2-yard-line, Ahman Green was stopped in the backfield by Ellis Johnson (6:34, 2nd quarter). The Packers had twice converted on third down earlier in the drive. Donald Driver made a 25-yard reception on third-and-2. Terry Glenn had an 11-yard grab on third-and-3. Also, Javon Walker had an 18-yard catch-and-run that brought the ball to the 1-yard-line.
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T.J. Duckett plowed his way into the end zone from 6 yards out for the third Falcons touchdown of the night (12:06, 2nd quarter). The Falcons started the drive after a questionable turnover on special teams. The Falcons scoring drive was 4 plays, 21 yards. Time of the drive was 2:30.
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Eric Metcalf attempted to field a Chris Mohr punt, but Kevin McCadam forced Tyrone Williams into Metcalf. The ball deflected off of McCadam and was ruled touched by the Packers and recovered by the Falcons at the Green Bay 21-yard-line (14:36, 2nd quarter).
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End of 1st quarter.
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The Packers got at close as the Atlanta 20-yard-line, but a Brady Smith sack of Favre helped force a field goal attempt. Ryan Longwell's 47-yard attempt missed wide right (0:58, 1st quarter). The Falcons took over at the 37-yard-line.
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After holding the Packers without a first down, Mark Simoneau slipped through the line of scrimmage untouched and blocked Josh Bidwell's punt, which Artie Ulmer recovered in the end zone for a touchdown (6:38, 1st quarter).
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After a Brett Favre interception gave the Falcons field position at the Green Bay 38-yard-line, the Packers defense forced a three-and-out, allowing zero yards. Chris Mohr's 33-yard punt was downed at the Green Bay 5-yard-line (7:27, 1st quarter).
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Facing third-and-7 at the Green Bay 23-yard-line, Brett Favre's pass for Terry Glenn was intercepted by Keion Carpenter (8:24, 1st quarter). After a 2-yard return, the Falcons took over at the Green Bay 38-yard-line.
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On third-and-4, Michael Vick hit Shawn Jefferson for a 10-yard touchdown pass to take the lead after the opening drive (9:17, 1st quarter). Earlier on the drive, Vick used his scrambling ability to avoid a near-sack by Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila and run for a first down on third-and-2. Quentin McCord had an 18-yard reception. The Falcons scoring drive was 10 plays, 76 yards. Time of the drive was 5:43.
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Gilbert Brown suffered an injured hip. His return is questionable (12:00, 1st quarter).
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Game-time temperature is 31 degrees, with a wind chill of 30 degrees. Snow flurries possible.
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The following Packers players are inactive for tonight's contest: Tony Carter, Billy Lyon, Tod McBride, Craig Nall (third quarterback), Darren Sharper, Jacoby Shepherd, Marcus Wilkins, Jerry Wisne.
Matt Bowen will start in place of Darren Sharper. |
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