Falcons Are Gassed, 37-20, by Jumping Pack Flash

Notice to all those fans who intend to occupy front-row seats at Super Bowl XXX in Tempe, Ariz., later this month: Watch out for flying Packers.

“We’re going to win it all,” Coach Mike Holmgren said rather nonchalantly Sunday after Green Bay’s 37-20 NFC wild-card victory over Atlanta at Lambeau Field. That would suggest the Packers expect to launch themselves past the 49ers in next week’s NFC divisional playoff game in San Francisco.

“I don’t know how close their stands are in San Francisco,” said Green Bay wide receiver Robert Brooks, who took LeRoy Butler’s impromptu 1993 dive into the stands celebrating a defensive touchdown, and patented it into his own routine this season. “But if they’re close enough, I’m jumping.”

Bold talk, of course, for a team that has been in this same position the past two years only to fall flat. Bold talk, indeed, because the last time the Packers won a divisional playoff game was in 1967 when Vince Lombardi was head coach.

“We’re going to win it all,” said Holmgren, who will be matched against San Francisco--his former team--for the first time since leaving after the 1991 season to become the Packers’ head coach.

“You know what? Why not? We know that San Francisco and Dallas, until they are beaten in the NFC, they are the best teams. But I’m sure Ray [Rhodes] is talking to his group in Philadelphia and I’m going to talk to our group and we’re both gonna go in believing we can win those football games.

“We’ll talk about that all week--the situation we have been in the last two years. But I think we’re maturing and developing a different type of attitude toward the playoffs. That all comes with growing up.”

Spanked by the Cowboys the past two years, the upstart Packers contend they cannot be stopped this year.

“When we started off the year, our goal was to make the Super Bowl,” said Edgar Bennett, who passed Jim Taylor and Paul Hornung (tied with 105 yards each) to set the Packer playoff single-game rushing record with 108 yards in 24 carries. “We’re looking forward to this game with San Francisco. I think it will put us up there with the elite.”

Atlanta knocked off the 49ers a week ago, and the Packers had their way with the Falcons, but let’s not get ridiculous. The Falcons slipped past the 49ers in the Georgia Dome, they just slipped and fell against the Packers on the mushy tundra.

“Our defense did a great job of mixing it up against Atlanta and keeping [quarterback Jeff] George off balance,” Holmgren said. “We were also able to run the ball and keep their offense on the sideline.”

More than that, the Packers were able to deliver the knockout punch, with wide receiver Antonio Freeman returning a punt 76 yards for a second-quarter touchdown to give Green Bay a 10-point lead. The Falcons came no closer.

“After seeing what had happened to Detroit against Philadelphia, it was kind of a wake-up call for all of us,” said Brett Favre, Packer quarterback. “We were hearing things from Atlanta about how they had us right where they wanted us, with us being over-confident. But we weren’t that way, we were ready for a battle.”

The Falcons put up an early fight and took a 7-0 lead on George’s 65-yard touchdown pass to Eric Metcalf, but then the Packers began climbing the walls. Bennett tied the game with an eight-yard run, and Brooks turned Atlanta cornerback Darnell Walker in circles on the way to catching a 14-yard touchdown pass from Favre.

“All I ask is that the fans send them back,” said Holmgren, about his team’s scoring celebrations. “It’s part of this group of players and their relationship with this community. And it’s a contagious thing. Now we’ve got everybody going up there.

“Heaven help the people in the first row, though, if a big lineman ever scores a touchdown. If [295-pound center John] Jurkovic starts running over there, look out.”

The Packers took a 27-10 lead by halftime, with Favre marching Green Bay 85 yards in 14 plays, including 34 yards from Bennett on the ground and passes to seven receivers--capped by a two-yard scoring toss to tight end Mark Chmura.

“That’s kind of the epitome of what we have become this season,” said Favre, who completed 24 of 35 passes for 199 yards. “That drive was something special, and the drive in the fourth quarter kind of drove a stake in their heart.”

The Falcons closed to within 10 points of the Packers in the opening minute of the fourth quarter after George threw a 27-yard touchdown pass to J.J. Birden. But the Packers responded with a 70-yard, 12-play drive, ending with Favre’s 18-yard touchdown throw to the corner of the end zone to fullback Dorsey Levens.

“We’ve practiced that play all year, but that’s the first time coach has had the [guts] to call it,” Favre said. “Now, if San Francisco was watching today, they know not to take us lightly.”