The blog will get started at 1:15 pm. See you then.
Good afternoon everybody, welcome to the JSOnline live blog of the Packers-Falcons game.
Actually picked them. There was a mistake when they were first posted with my NFL picks and then it got changed. I had picked them in the video and in the paper.
Because studies have shown teams generally have around 5 or so injured players and it's not fair if one team is completely healthy and has 53 players available and the other team only has 48. It's to even up the number of healthy players available to both teams.
I'm going to say it's finding ways to hit Matt Ryan and getting Ty Montgomery involved a lot both running and receiving. Those are my two keys.
I don't know that he had the flu. I think it was a 24-hour bug that was going around. I'm here to attest to it lasting 24 to 48 hours.
The real warm-ups are about to start. Nobody has done anything full speed yet. The Packers are linedup and doing stretching drills. They'll break up into groups shortly.
He should be destroying his cousin, Jake. But I haven't seen any indication he's ready to do that. He, as much as anybody, has to have a big game. Doesn't need sacks, but he's got to get some hits on Ryan. They all do.
Effective on special teams. That's where he'll contribute exclusively.
You just can't keep seven guys up and not feel it somewhere else. They have to have a full complement of corners and safeties up because of how Atlanta spreads the ball out.
In case someone had a setback on Sunday and they needed a fill-in.
Thomas will do a lot of that. Hyde will have to help out on slot receivers. I also expect to see Burnett up at the line of scrimmage a lot today. He could wind up covering some of those backs or the tight end.
Again, nobody has said it's the flu. He's got a bug of some sort. These guys get the best care in the world. He'll be fine.
I wouldn't. The hardest place to play bump and run on him is when he's in the slot. Now he may have to run through some traffic, but when you're in the slot you can move around and avoid getting jacked at the line of scrimmage.
Yes, they are very banged up. I don't know how long any of these guys are going to last. It doesn't take much to re-pull a hamstring or re-twis t an ankle or get hit in the ribs. That's the key.
I think it will be more than we expect, but it will depend on how Atlanta plays the Packers. I could see McCarthy speading them out and running a lot of draws with Montgomery.
He is. His issue isn't muscle related. It's concussion-related.
Betting on a hot quarterback. That's really the key.
