Prior to Sunday’s game in Atlanta, Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers said he thinks the Falcons are disrespectful. After Sunday’s game, some of Rodgers’ teammates said their 25-14 victory had done nothing to change their feelings toward the Falcons.
Packers defensive end Ryan Pickett said the Falcons were keyed up because they view beating the Packers as akin to winning the Super Bowl, and that the Falcons were playing dirty.
“This was their Super Bowl,” Pickett told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “They really hate us. They were hitting us late after the play. There was some dirty play out there. We just kept our poise.”
Pickett’s fellow defensive lineman B.J. Raji said he came away unimpressed with the Falcons, who beat the Packers last year during the regular season, but lost to the Packers in the playoffs.
“They have a long way to go,” Raji said when asked whether the Packers view the Falcons as rivals. “For it to be a rivalry, you have to win meaningful games. They’re just another opponent. They have a long way to go. I wouldn’t talk like this, but when people don’t respect you, I don’t take it lying down. Those people don’t respect us, so in turn I’m not going to give them any respect.”
Raji noted that the Packers have now played in Atlanta three times in the last 11 months, but that if the teams meet in the playoffs this season, it would most likely be in Green Bay.
“Now that we abused them, for the second time in a row, at their home, there’s nothing really to do,” Raji said. “If they want to play us again, tell them to come up to Lambeau. That’s it. That’s how we’re doing it.”
If the Falcons don’t turn things around soon, they won’t be doing anything in the playoffs, at Lambeau or anywhere else.