Shanahan free to talk to 49ers on Saturday

Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan will get his first chance to talk to the 49ers when the team is off Saturday, coach Dan Quinn said Monday.

Shanahan has emerged as the top candidate for San Francisco’s vacant head coaching job. He interviewed with the 49ers during the Falcons’ playoffs bye week and said last week that he looked forward to talking to the 49ers again after the NFC Championship Game.

The Falcons’ league-best offense has continued to excel in the playoffs as news about Shanahan’s job prospects intensified.

“I’m really proud of him because it’s not easy to do when there is a lot of speculation and things going outside of your world, to stay dialed in,” Quinn said. “It’s one that should be commended. Being on point and going for it, he totally nailed that.”

‘Fantastic’ Dome crowd bothered Packers

For weeks, Quinn implored the team’s fans to help create an intimating atmosphere at the Georgia Dome. He said the Falcons had to do their part, too, by winning games there.

In the building’s final game, with the Falcons playing for the NFC championship, the performance of the team and its fans came together like maybe never before.

The Falcons ambushed the Packers and never let up and the wire-to-wire demolition sent their supporters into a frenzy. Packers coach Mike McCarthy said the noise affected his team’s performance.

“We needed to keep pace with those guys and felt confident coming in here we could score points,” McCarthy said. “We fell behind and then we got into a game you just don’t want to play, especially in this stadium. The crowd was fantastic it was a great environment to compete in and the noise factored in a little bit for us. We had to take a timeout early and a handful of times we couldn’t get the play in early and it was a problem.

“It was a credit to the crowd. You don’t want to play that type of game. I have spent some time coaching in New Orleans and over here at the Dome, when you get in those types of games it is difficult to overcome those deficits.”

The Falcons scored a touchdown on their opening possession for a 7-0 lead that they never gave back. Their next possession stalled near the goal line and ended with a field goal, which somewhat subdued the crowd.

But the Falcons scored touchdowns on their next four possessions. They led 24-0 at halftime and on their first possession of the second half, Julio Jones sent the fans into ear-shattering roar with a sensational 73-yard TD catch.

That score put the Falcons ahead 31-0, making the Falcons fans louder than ever.

Each Falcons score forced the Packers to pass, with quarterback Aaron Rodgers taking deep drops and his receivers running longer routes.

As the Packers struggled, Falcons fans roared.

The Falcons were at home because they earned the NFC’s No. 2 seed and the Packers upset top-seeded Dallas.

“I thought it was an advantage today,” Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan said. “I thought the crowd was great. A really cool way to send out the Georgia Dome and happy for the fans here in Atlanta.”

Rodgers complimented the atmosphere at the Georgia Dome but played down its effect on the game.

“It was loud, it’s a great environment,” he said. “To put this stadium to rest, I’m sure that’s a fun one for them. It’s a great place to play, fans are very loud. But we’ve dealt with the noise in the past and it wasn’t a major factor.”

Quinn: No worries about off-field issues at Super Bowl

The last time the Falcons went to the Super Bowl, they suffered a disappointing loss following an embarrassing and distracting incident the night before: safety Eugene Robinson’s arrest on a charge of solicitation.

The Falcons are returning to the Super Bowl for the first time since that 1999 game. Quinn said he’s not concerned about any of his players getting into trouble next week in Houston.

“I recognize the question,” Quinn said at his Monday news conference. “Honestly, on some other teams I’ve been a part of, you might have worried, but not this team. This team is so tight and the accountability they have for one another is so strong and so, to me, that’s why (there is no worry).

“They totally rely on one another. This brotherhood is so strong, they care about one another and they are playing for something bigger than themselves. For this team and this group, I totally trust them.”

The Falcons lost 34-19 to the Broncos in the 1999 Super Bowl. Robinson was arrested the night before after Miami police said he offered an undercover officer $40 for sex.

The arrest came hours after Robinson had been presented with the Bart Starr Man of the Year Award for high moral character.

Falcons close in on and then ‘corral’ Packers’ Rodgers

Boiled down to its simplest, the Falcons’ game plan for keeping Aaron Rodgers in check came down to this: I’ve got my eyes on you.

“It was always having a guy on him, having somebody spy him because his passer rating goes up when he’s out of the pocket so we wanted to try to have a guy on him at all times, spying him,” said rookie linebacker De’Vondre Campbell.

Green Bay’s quarterback made some plays Sunday, but didn’t slice through the Falcons the way he had other teams as the Packers entered Sunday’s NFC Championship Game on an eight-game winning streak.

Sure, he completed 27 of 45 passes for 287 yards and three touchdowns, good numbers that when combined with one interception left him with a respectable 91.6 passer rating.

Only rarely, though, did the two-time NFL MVP do significant damage from outside the pocket.

“We didn’t get to him all the time, but we corralled him,” said linebacker Philip Wheeler.

Rodgers rushed four times for a team-high 46 yards, his longest of 28 coming on a scramble up the middle when several Atlanta defensive backs had their backs turned while in man-to-man coverage.

The Falcons mixed zone and man defenses, and Rodgers struggled at times to read Atlanta’s defense.

“It’s a good defense,” he said. “They play a simple scheme and they run it really well. They rely on the pass rush and they drop lanes.”

Ricardo Allen’s secondquarter interception, when Rodgers heaved the ball more than 55 yards on third-andlong from the Packers’ 13, was just the second pick he threw in Green Bay’s final nine games.