Packers' defense falters at the end

All in all, it was a frustrating day for the Packers' defense, which had some solid individual performances, yet allowed Atlanta to score on six out of eight drives. Up front, Mike Daniels once again showed that he might be pound-for-pound the strongest player in the league, gaining five total pressures (six if you include a two-point attempt by Atlanta at the end of the first half) on 24 pass-rush snaps, with all but one being him just bull-rushing either Chris Chester or Andy Levitre into the middle of Matt Ryan’s pocket. Jake Ryan led the linebackers, finishing the game with an 88.3 grade in run defense and leading the defense with eight stops. In the back end, Ladarius Gunter held his own, allowing just three catches on six targets for 30 yards to go with a pass defense; opposite of him, though, Demetri Goodson was picked on for four catches on five targets for 73 yards and a touchdown; Matt Ryan had a perfect 158.3 QB rating when targeting the receiver being covered by Goodson.

Quarterback grade: Matt Ryan, 87.6

Yet another strong performance from Falcons QB

Matt Ryan had another outstanding performance this Sunday, and as of now (through the Sunday afternoon games), he ranks second among all QBs, behind just Tom Brady, with an 88.4 overall grade on the season. Ryan was especially effective against Green Bay when given time to throw; on the 30 drop-backs in which the Falcons QB saw no pressure, he completed 23 of 29 throws for 231 yards, three touchdowns, and a 134.3 QB rating. Ryan didn’t attempt a single pass on the afternoon that went at least 10 yards in the air and was outside of the numbers; all of his damage at least 10 yards downfield came over the middle, where he completed six of eight throws for 109 yards and two of his touchdowns.

Top offensive grades:

T Jake Matthews, 78.7

WR Mohamed Sanu, 77.0

WR Taylor Gabriel, 76.4

TE Austin Hooper, 74.3

T Ryan Schraeder, 73.9