Atlanta Falcons vs. Green Bay Packers: Breaking Down Green Bay's Game Plan

After winning eight of their last nine games, all eyes are on the Green Bay Packers. With an NFL-lead-tying record of 9-3, they deserve the attention. After starting off to a slow 1-2 kick to their season, they've gained the lead in the NFC North and are poised to make a run at a first-round bye.

The Falcons, too, are leading their division but don't have the pundits playing up their Super Bowl prospects like the Packers do currently. Thirteen weeks into the year, Atlanta is at 5-7, a crossroad between a top-10 selection in next year's draft and a divisional title, which it holds only due to a tiebreaker.

Still, the matchup between these two teams is a prime-time, standalone game for the entire country to watch. For both teams, this will be a chance to show the world just exactly what they're capable of.

For Green Bay to continue its win streak, there are a couple objectives it needs to hit on during the game.

Offensive Key: Keep Aaron Rodgers Up

Clearly, the Packers offense is jelling at this point in the season. On the ground, running back Eddie Lacy had a career day two weeks ago. Aaron Rodgers, the star of the team, is looking to win his second MVP award in his still young career. 

"

Aaron Rodgers has 360 consecutive pass attempts at home without an interception, the longest such streak in NFL history. (@EliasSports)

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) December 4, 2014"

Even his top receiving targets, Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb, are players in position to make a run for Pro Bowl bids.

When the New England Patriots tried to overcompensate on defense for Nelson and Cobb last week, a new pass-catcher broke out: Davante Adams. The rookie receiver from Fresno State had a career game as the third option in the Green Bay pass attack.

His emergence came down to two elements. The first is Rodgers. The all-world quarterback will find anyone downfield when he has time to throw. The second is what allows him to find that time: his offensive line.

According to Pro Football Focus, the Packers were ranked as having the seventh-best offensive line in the league back in October. That probably trends up, as Derek Sherrod, who is now out of the NFL, was starting at right tackle for Green Bay at the time. With Bryan Bulaga back in the starting lineup, the offensive line has looked more efficient as of late.

Unfortunately for the Falcons, they haven't been particularly great at stopping the pass in 2014. While they have a decent opposing passer rating, they don't have much of a pass rush. Their passing game is built largely around their young cornerbacks, Desmond Trufant and Robert Alford.

For reference, Atlanta ranks second to last in sacks this season, only behind a one-win Oakland squad.

Coming off a similar situation against New England, the Packers halted the Chandler Jones-less pass rush of the Patriots. When there was no pressure on Rodgers, he was able to pick apart the secondary, even against three former Pro Bowlers.

Monday Morning Quarterback's Greg A. Bedard even had an unofficial time of nearly 12 seconds for Rodgers to throw on one pass on Sunday. 

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11.88 seconds to throw for Rodgers on that play

— Greg A. Bedard (@GregABedard) December 1, 2014"

If the Packers offensive line can give him half of that time to throw against the Falcons, it could get ugly. 

On the Falcons' side, it'll be important to use stunts, since they don't truly have the personnel to beat Green Bay one-on-one in pass protection. The Packers are fielding a rookie center who has shown some ups and downs, so targeting him to slide by penetration would seem to make the most sense.

If Green Bay can stall the stunts, though, and beat the man-on-man protections it's projected to win, this team could easily go back to ripping off 40 points a game.

Defensive Key: Stay Stout Against the Run

Only a few years ago, Packers fans were chanting for running back Steven Jackson. After signing with the Atlanta Falcons, he's run for 1,145 yards over 24 games. While that's not a great number, and his 3.8 yards per carry isn't much more impressive, he's still a physical threat Green Bay needs to account for.

Entering the season, the Packers believed they had their defensive line locked up. Mike Daniels, an emerging star, B.J. Raji, a former Pro Bowl selection on a "prove it" deal, and Datone Jones, the squad's 2013 first-round pick, were their base defensive line in a 3-4 look.

When Raji went down with a torn bicep in the preseason, the interior triangle of the Dom Capers-coached defense looked weak. In recent weeks, Green Bay has seemingly tried to sure up the inside of the defense by rotating in new off-the-ball linebackers into the starting lineup. Gone were the days of A.J. Hawk and Brad Jones. When fans tuned into last week's match, they saw Clay Matthews, a former All-Pro pass-rusher, and Sam Barrington, a second-year product of South Florida, playing inside linebacker.

Now with both of the linebackers vibing, it's time for Green Bay to take the next step at stopping the ground game. Despite the Packers' recent improvement on the relative scale, which was the early 2014 run defense, they still rank fifth worst in the league in total rushing yards against and yards per carry.

In the end, they're better but still not good enough.

Their pass defense is near dominant, forcing a low quarterback rating week to week due to a strong pass rush, which forces both sacks and interceptions. 

Strangely enough, the Packers match up well against the Falcons' tall targets. Against the Bears, a team similarly built at receiver, the team did well, especially cornerback Sam Shields. 

Shields, though, sustained a concussion against the Patriots and is unlikely to play against Atlanta. Luckily for the Packers, though, Davon House, another boundary cornerback, is playing some of his best football this season. 

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Full faith in House. RT @ZlatkoTee: @cheeseheadtv Will the defense struggle more MON without Sam shields?

— Cheesehead TV (@cheeseheadtv) December 3, 2014"

There are some concerns regarding the passing game now that Matthews is playing inside and Shields is looking unhealthy to go on Monday, but the Packers' struggling run defense should be the Falcons' target on game day.

Final Thoughts

Quite possibly, the best football player in the world might be suiting up for quarterback in green and gold on Monday night. As long as the Packers offensive line can give Rodgers time to work his magic against the Falcons' subpar penetration, Green Bay should dominate offensively against Atlanta.

Defensively, the Packers need to grind out against the Falcons' ground game. Steven Jackson, whom many Packers fans wanted prior to drafting Eddie Lacy in 2013, is the physical bell cow of the Atlanta offense. There isn't a much better measuring stick for physicality than Jackson currently, so for Green Bay to come out with a moral victory on the ground would be impressive heading into its projected playoff run.

If the Packers can accomplish those two goals, there's a good chance they win their upcoming prime-time game.