Taking a look at which teams will play in primetime on Sunday Night Football in Week 2 of the 2017 NFL season
The Atlanta Falcons survived a scare in their season opener by keeping the Chicago Bears out of the end zone on the final play for the victory. The Green Bay Packers also won in their season opener, but the first half wasn’t easy at all for the Packers as they trailed at halftime, only to see them take the lead and hold on in the second half for the win.
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Either the Packers or the Falcons — with the Packers leading the all-time series 17-15 — will be handed their first loss in Week 2. Let it be known these two franchises are not just favorites to win their respective divisions and make the NFC Playoffs, but many believe one of these two franchises will also represent the NFC in the Super Bowl when February 2018 arrives.
That brings these two teams to their second game of the season with Green Bay coming off a 17-9 win against the Seattle Seahawks, a game where the Packers outscored Seattle, 17-6 in the second half. Aaron Rodgers was 28-of-42 for 311 yards and one touchdown. Defensively the Packers had three sacks and forced a fumble, plus kept the Seahawks from scoring a touchdown in their two trips to the red zone.
In Week 1 against the Bears, Ryan was 21-of-30 for 321 yards and one touchdown with no interceptions.
When the Packers face the Falcons, this will also be a rematch of the NFC Championship from last season, a game where the Falcons won, 44-21 in Atlanta to earn a Super Bowl birth. In that game the Falcons led 24-0 at halftime and Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan was 27-of-38 for 392 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions. In that same game, Rodgers was 27-of-45 for 287 yards with three touchdowns and one interception.
Both the Packers and Falcons have an excellent chance to have a well-played game, and if neither team lets the other break away from the other, like the Packers did in the aforementioned NFC Championship of last season, then this game could be a classic with two of the best offenses in the NFL, a lot of that due to both quarterbacks in Ryan and Rodgers.
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As the Falcons are opening their new stadium, this game features the tradition rich Packers with their “old school” ways of having a franchise, and the much flashier Falcons and their billion dollar stadium. That is what makes the NFL such a great game with these differing styles of way the franchises are ran, but still having the same goal when Sunday Night Football kicks off at 8:25 p.m. on NBC.