If Aaron Rodgers is going to have the "injury-prone" label then it also has to be said that he is one tough player.  Rodgers gutted his way through a 313 yard, three touchdown performance against the Atlanta Falcons but that wasn't enough to stop the Falcons from nabbing a 27-24 win at Lambeau Field.  Rodgers certainly did his part and it was nice to see signs of life from the ground game but penalties and other miscues did in the Packers today.

The most frustrating thing to take away from the loss was the inability to get the defense off the field.  On Atlanta 's first drive the Falcons converted a third-and-six and also scored on a fourth-and-goal from the one.  Then in the second quarter it looked like the Packers made a stop but Patrick Lee was flagged for a very weak pass interference penalty.  Despite that, the Packers had Atlanta in a third-and-ten later in the drive and let the Falcons convert on a 26 yard pass play.  And of course, with less than two minutes left the Packers had one last chance to stop Atlanta and instead gave up a two yard gain to Michael Turner.

Penalties were also frustrating.  Aside from Lee's penalty, the Packers were flagged eight other times for 97 yards.  That's a lot to give up to a team like Atlanta .  Despite the 3-2 record, the Falcons are not among the NFC's better teams, at least not yet anyway.  While you can't give up penalty yardage like that, you certainly cannot give up big plays.  Turner racked up 121 yards on the ground and Roddy White notched eight catches for 132 yards in the first half alone (though it should be noted White was held without a catch in the second half.)

All those miscues covered up what was a very good day for Rodgers and Ryan Grant showed flashes of his old self with 83 yards on the ground.  The Packers ran only six plays in the first quarter and did not register a first down but the offense settled in and showed some rhythm on a number of drives.  However, when plays were needed to be made in the fourth quarter, Atlanta made them and the Packers didn't.  With a 17-all score the Falcons executed on special teams with a big kickoff return and a Jason Elam field goal.  Then Atlanta forced a critical turnover and from there Turner took over.  The lethal combination of penalties, miscues and a lack of execution when it was needed most took away from the gritty performance of Rodgers.