Hawks/Packers: The Three Most Important Things to Know

We've been reading and rereading Hawks/Packers stuff all week. Here the few things we think are important about Saturday's game:

1) The Hawks' Patrick Kerney made the Pro Bowl this year for terrorizing quarterbacks, but he may not be much of a factor in this game. The Packers gave up the fewest sacks of any NFL team--not because they have a terrific offensive line, but because they designed their offense that way. Brett Favre often throws after only a three-step drop. Kerney's quick, but he's not that quick.

2) The Packers have two terrific cornerbacks in Al Harris and Charles Woodson. After those two, it gets ugly. The Hawks, who have four very good receivers in Bobby Engram, Nate Burleson, D.J. Hackett and Deion Branch, would seem to be perfectly staffed to exploit that weakness...IF Hackett and Branch are healthy. There's some doubt about that. Branch is expected to play, Hackett is "a game time decision." If neither can, or if they aren't effective, Hasselbeck won't have open receivers. In fact, we'll go so far as to say that if neither Hackett or Branch catch a touchdown, the Hawks will lose.

3) You might see an NFL playoff record for passes thrown in this game. Neither team runs the ball much. The current record is 102, from the epic San Diego/Miami overtime playoff game of the early 80's. The record for a non-overtime game is 96, Jets vs. Oakland in 1968. Fifty passes from each team isn't out of the realm of possibility if the defenses don't show up for some reason.