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Falcons RT Tyson Clabo was at a Pro Bowl level most of the season but has looked a shell of himself down the stretch and may be hampered by an ankle injury.

Wade-A-Holic wrote:I've had a good feeling about this game all week long.

LUKE23 wrote:

Wade-A-Holic wrote:I've had a good feeling about this game all week long.

Same. I feel almost too confident.

There are different game captains throughout the year. But for playoffs, the team votes for postseason captains for offense, defense and special teams. This year the Packers chose WR Greg Jennings, QB Aaron Rodgers, LB A.J. Hawk and CB Charles Woodson, and CB/S Jarrett Bush and K Mason Crosby.

It might seem that Clay Matthews or Nick Collins, Pro Bowl players, would be chosen. Or Ryan Pickett, Tramon Williams. Why Hawk?

“He’s one of the leaders on our defense,” said linebacker Desmond Bishop. “He’s not really your typical, vocal, emotional leader but he runs the defense in his own way. And that’s the A.J. way. He’s a quiet guy when he’s out on the field. He directs, he gets the call, he lines everybody up, and I think there’s a quality that he has that everybody looks up to: he never panics. He’s never flustered. He’s always calm, cool and collected. And when you’re out there and the game gets so hectic you need somebody like that to get the play called and get everybody lined up.”

• Green Bay FB John Kuhn and Atlanta CB Brent Grimes both played at Shippensburg and were the second and third players, respectively, following retired Green Bay LS Rob Davis, to come to the NFL from that school. Kuhn said it was a big deal for Ship guys to make it in the NFL.

"Yeah. We take a lot of pride in that. It’s pretty big, pretty important to us," he said.

"We spent like three years together. He’s really good. Was one of the best players on our team, yeah. He’s a pretty athletic guy," said Kuhn. "We keep in touch a little bit, knock a text off now and then, or an email."

• Believe it or not, the Packers do make the most of their halftime meeting, as short as it is. Coordinators and assistants hustle down from the press box. The offense and the defense meet separately first and then join together for an overview with coach Mike McCarthy.

“We get a good five, six, seven minutes to go over stuff before we have to go on the field,” said backup quarterback Matt Flynn.

The team has slides on overhead projectors to review the plays while some guys might get treatment and even IVs.

“They talk about any game planning that we need to change or anything we need to tweak with the scheme,” said ulility player Jarrett Bush.

• Heard around the locker room:

The issue of James Jones’ latest drop has been a hot topic. The receivers encourage each other and push each other. Said Jordy Nelson: “We’re hard on each other with the semi difficult catches that you don’t make. The easy ones that you drop, there’s nothing you can say. The non-routine ones, you’ve still got to make a play. When you drop a pass, you know it. Obviously. You know it’s unacceptable. We’ll try to get you to forget about it as soon as possible because you have to move on. But the next one is like, OK, you owe us one. You’ve got to make the catch. But we’ve all done it.”

Talking to Williams and Collins about the speed story, wondering if they eat light before a game to stay fast:

“I can’t eat anything before a game, period,” said Collins.

“It’s a preference,” said Williams. “A lot of guys like to eat a lot before the game. They need the energy maybe. They snack all day. Some don’t eat at all. I eat before the game but I don’t eat heavy. I eat a little something to keep me going.”

Bishop, on lessons learned from the first game at Atlanta: ”If we felt like a play was a good play, we should probably challenge it. That’s about it.”