Aaron Rodgers isn’t afraid of 🌱a little noise — especially if he thinks it might be fake.
The Packers quarterback taunted the Falcons two days before the NFC Championship at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta with a sly dig at being punished by the NFL two years ago for pumping artificial noise into the building on gameday🔥.
“It’s really loud in there,” Rodgers told reporters Friday. “Whether that’s all natural or not is yet to b🌳e seen🦋.”
That was an apparent referenc🍸e to the NFL fining the Falc🦂ons $350,000 and docking them a fifth-round pick in 2016 for tampering with the noise level during games.
The league also found Falcons executive Roddy White (not the former wide receiver) directly responsible, leading to his firing, and banned team president Rich McKay from his spot on the NFL’s prestigiou💟s competition committee for three months last offseason.
Atlanta owner Arthur Blank saidℱ at the time he was “embarrassed” by the situation and immediately accepted the league’s punishment.
“What took place was wrong and nowhere near the standards by which we run our business,” Blank said when the penalties were announced. “Any time there are actions that compromise the int🍸egrity of the NFL or threaten the൲ culture of our franchise, as this issue did, they will be dealt with swiftly and strongly.”
But the N💖FL’s decision apparently did little to sway Rodgers and others that the deafening noise level in the Georgia Dome is entirely on the level.
Sunday’s game will♉ be the last one played at the Georgia Dome, which is being replaced after this season by the nearly $2 billion, futuristic Mercedes-Benz Stadium, going up across the street.
The decibel level at the Georgia Dome certainly seeme🎐d to be a factor in the Falcons’ favor last week in a 36-20 divisiona♊l playoff victory over the Seahawks.
Seattle was called for a false start and an offside penalty that appeared at least partially attributable to the deafening crowd👍 noise, as was a safety on Russell Wilson — a key t𓂃urning point in the game — when the quarterback’s foot was stepped on by fill-in guard Rees Odhiambo.
Rodgers ܫtold reporters ♔this week the Packers have been extremely mindful of the potential noise level and are preparing for it.
“Everything we do on the field cadꦬence-wise, in a loud environment, we work on in practice,” Rodgers said. “We have crowd noise and music in practice. You like to switch it up and make it difficult on t🌜hem in practice to see how they would respond in a game situation.”
Of course, the noise hasn’t been much of a hindrance at all for Rodgers in his past four trips to Atlanta. He has completed 75 percent of his passes for 1,322 yards, 10 touchdowns and no interceptions (for a spectacular 124.3 passer rating) while rushing for two 💫scores and a two-point conversion.
Rodgers also was responsible for one of the Falcons’ all-time low moments at the Georgia Dome, when he passed for 366 yards and three TDs without an interception in a 48-21 Packe𝓰rs playoff victory in 2009. Atlanta went into that game 13-3 and the top-seeded team in the NFC.