National Football League

Rodgers, Packers draw focused Falcons

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 4:29 p.m. ET

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Dan Quinn hopes he's got his Atlanta Falcons ready for just this moment.

The Falcons started October with back-to-back wins over last year's Super Bowl teams, Carolina and Denver. Then came a pair of mentally challenging defeats. First, it was a two-point loss at Seattle. Then, it was an overtime loss at home to San Diego last week caused, in part, by Quinn's failed decision to go for it on fourth down on his side of midfield in the extra period.

"That's kind of where a lot of your character is tested, when it's under duress," Quinn said. "We've really spent a lot of time developing this mental toughness that we have. We spent a good bit of our offseason demonstrating our language for it. Knowing this game, there's going to be difficult moments, difficult times, and how do you reset?"

It's not just coach-speak. Quinn brought in a group of Special Forces soldiers during training camp. He hopes their message will pay off when the Falcons (4-3) host the Green Bay Packers (4-2) in a big NFC showdown on Sunday afternoon.

"We really developed our own standard of the player accountability to one another," Quinn said. "Knowing at times, bad things happen, and you're going to be in a dark spot. How do you get through? It takes a lot of mental toughness. One of the things that I love about our team right now is how hard they want to play for one another. Knowing that the guy next to you can be counted on, and the guy next to you you're counting on, those are really important topics. Although they're difficult processes to go through, we don't like it but we are ready to take on the challenge and onto the next."

The next challenge is a Green Bay offense that found life in a Thursday night victory over Chicago. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who had struggled through most of the first five games, turned to a quick-hitting passing game to complete a team-record 39 passes, with receivers Davante Adams and Randall Cobb and receiver-turned-running back Ty Montgomery all catching at least 10.

Rodgers said the momentum from that game can't be carried over into this game, but the offense is feeling much better about things after piling up 406 yards and controlling the ball for almost 40 minutes against Chicago.

"On the road and in an environment like that, you've got to start fast and take the crowd out of it," Rodgers said. "We've been in there multiple times and know how loud it can be when it's rocking. They've lost a couple in a row, so I'm sure they're looking for a bounce-back game, and we're going down there with some confidence. We've won in that building before and we've won big games on the road before. We've just got to put it all together."

Green Bay's offense will need a repeat performance because Atlanta's offense has been nothing short of dominant. The Falcons are No. 1 in scoring (32.7 per game), No. 1 in total offense (433.6 yards per game) and No. 2 in passing offense (319.0 yards per game). Matt Ryan has thrown for at least 200 yards in a league-record 46 consecutive games and has a glitzy passer rating of 113.6, and receiver Julio Jones is on pace for 1,900 yards and topped 250 against the Packers in 2014 at Lambeau Field.

"He's been exceptional," Ryan said. "He's one of the best players in the NFL and he's played that way week in and week out for us. There's so many things both in the run game and the pass game. He's played great so far this year."

On paper, this game projects to a shootout dominated by the quarterbacks.

With injuries sidelining running backs Eddie Lacy and James Starks, the Packers' top player in the backfield is Montgomery, who the Packers list as a receiver on the depth chart. Meanwhile, Atlanta's defense ranks 27th in scoring, 26th in yards allowed and 31st in passing yards allowed.

On the flip side, Ryan is off to the best start of his career and will be attacking a Packers secondary that might be without its three top cornerbacks.

"We trust our defense to do their job, but we know we've got to be efficient and score points, especially in the red zone," Rodgers said. "We've been doing a great job on third down, ranking at the top of the league there, but the red zone's been slipping a little bit. We've been not scoring (touchdowns) as often as we need to do. In a game where you've got Matt playing so well and Julio obviously having a big season, you've got to expect them to make some plays, so we're going to have to score some points."