"It was a high-stakes game of cat-and-mouse.

The Green Bay Packers' defense blitzed and then backed off into Cover 2. It played coverage for several plays and then ramped up the aggression, bringing pressure from different positions and angles.

The whole idea was to confuse and contain Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick in an NFC wild-card game at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday.

The Packers accepted the fact that Vick was going to break containment from time to time. He was going to scramble. He was going to escape the pocket and complete passes downfield.

They just wanted to minimize the damage by Vick, whose ability to ad-lib into explosive plays is unparalleled in the NFL.

"We knew coming in you can't stop him," said Packers defensive end Ryan Pickett. "He was going to make plays. We said, 'Make him earn every yard and every point they get.' That was the theme coming into the game."

The Packers played it to the hilt in a 21-16 victory. It was Green Bay's first playoff victory on the road since Jan. 11, 1998. Now it's on to Atlanta for an NFC divisional game against the No. 1-seeded Falcons.

"This is fantastic," said linebacker Clay Matthews. "We've been doing this week in and week out and to hold a team like that, which has big playmakers all across the board, to (16) points is truly a testament to the players and coaches."

The Packers set the tone on the first play from scrimmage, when linebacker Desmond Bishop blitzed the left-handed Vick from the blind side and slammed him to the turf for a 9-yard loss.

"I was happy," Bishop said. "I even said on my Twitter I was going to get him. I'm happy it came true."

But coordinator Dom Capers didn't dare blitz on every play, or even most of them. He had to mix up coverages and pressure to keep Vick off-balance.

"You talk to any quarterback in the world and I think they'll tell you the hardest thing for them to face is a defense that's unpredictable," said linebacker A.J. Hawk.

In passing situations, the Packers' main goal was to keep Vick in the pocket. Their secondary goal was to get hits on him; they finished with three sacks and three more quarterback hits.

When they did blitz, they tried to make sure Vick couldn't get wide of the pressure, where he is most dangerous.

"The (defensive) line, we said, 'Just push the pocket. Nobody get crazy, try to make moves and get upfield,' " Picket said. "We felt like if we just pressured him, got in his way and messed his vision up that it would help us. And it did. A couple times in the pocket he got happy feet.""