GD,
For the Bucs defense, its all about the pass rush. If they can hurry the quarterback without blitzing, they are the best, if they can't, they are just a very good defense. They sometimes get burned by quick slants over the middle, draws, and you can occasionally beat Kelly long on the corner. Nobody throws at Barber, I don't think he's been beat deep all year.
Getting Johnson back at QB for the playoffs is big, probably 7-10 points and a turnover difference for the offense compared with the back-ups. But can he take a hit with the sore back, and still play?
My local paper on playing at Lambeau:
Falcons chill out on topic of weather
The Packers, 13-0 at home in the playoffs, will have the cold work in their favor again.
Compiled from Times wires
© St. Petersburg Times
published January 4, 2003
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GREEN BAY, Wis. -- One of the great streaks in pro football history is on the line tonight when the Packers come out of the tunnel at Lambeau Field to meet the Falcons.
Since the league instituted a divisional system and began playoffs in 1933, Green Bay has played 13 postseason games at home.
The Packers have never lost.
They won twice in Milwaukee -- once at State Fair Park and once at County Stadium -- and are 11-0 at historic Lambeau Field.
The Ice Bowl in 1967, regarded by some as the most memorable game in pro football history, was decided when Bart Starr's quarterback sneak with 13 seconds left beat the Dallas Cowboys 21-17 for the NFL championship.
That game, with the thermometer at minus-13 and the wind chill index at minus-46, was as much an anomaly as it was unforgettable. The average temperature at kickoff for the Packers' 12 other home playoff games was 26 degrees.
Today's forecast calls for a high of 30 and a low of 19, with the prediction for the 8 p.m. kickoff of 27 with a 30 percent chance of snow.
In Atlanta, where the forecast for today is for a high of 49 and low of 32, the Falcons claim to be undaunted by weather.
"You put an extra pair of socks on and wear warmer gloves," tackle Bob Whitfield said. "I got like a voodoo lady back home shaking chicken bones in the closet putting a warm aura around me."
Seven years ago, Eric Metcalf was a receiver and kick returner for the Falcons when they checked out the turf at Lambeau Field on the afternoon before their wild-card playoff game against the Packers.
Today, he returns punts for Green Bay.
"We weren't intimidated," Metcalf said. "We thought we were going to win. ... The problem for us, being a run-and-shoot team, was the field was muddy."
The Packers hope a mushy track will slow Atlanta quarterback Michael Vick.
Metcalf remembered that Antonio Freeman's 76-yard punt return in the second quarter broke open a close game, which Green Bay went on to win 37-20.
The Packers seem to make plays like that in the postseason at Lambeau, including last season when Mike McKenzie's deflection of a long pass to San Francisco's Terrell Owens tipped a close wild-card game in Green Bay's favor 25-15.
"A lot of teams don't perform good when they come here but I don't attribute a lot of the victories to that," said Earl Dotson, a Packers tackle since 1993. "It's been more good teams playing hard. ... Do we have an advantage in the cold? Yes. But I think other teams worry about it a little too much and let the Lambeau jinx get in their head."
"What I really get concerned about is the wind," Packers president Bob Harlan said. "It's amazing. We've had some playoff games here in January that have been much milder than some of the games in late December."
All 66,110 tickets have been sold, but ticket brokers were doing a brisk business this week from fans either disinclined to sit in the cold on a Saturday night or deflated by Green Bay's 42-17 loss Sunday to the New York Jets.
The past two playoff games in Green Bay were in early January and conditions were mild, relatively speaking, with the temperature each time at 28 degrees. In fact, since the Falcons were at Lambeau to lose a wild-card game in December 1995, only one of the Packers' five home playoff games was in temperatures colder than 28.
Still, the Packers won each by at least 10 points and had an average victory margin of 15.8.
"What's the common denominator why we haven't been beaten at home over all those years?" said Lee Remmel, the team's executive director of public relations. "I think it's probably the weather conditions and the fan support. Our fans are pretty vocal." |
