It’s Packers vs. Bucs, Rodgers vs. Brady, for NFC Championship
GREEN BAY, Wis. – Let the hype begin.
On Sunday, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers will be starting his fifth NFC Championship Game. For the first time, he’ll get to play it at Lambeau Field.
The opponent? Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady, who won six Super Bowls with New England and has a chance to win a seventh for his new team.
One day after the Packers mostly dominated the Los Angeles Rams in a 32-18 victory, the Buccaneers punished the New Orleans Saints 30-20 at the Superdome. The same swarming defense that made life miserable for Rodgers and Co. in October produced four takeaways and made Drew Brees look like an old man.
That set up a made-for-TV showdown between two living legends. Rodgers and Brady will meet for only the fourth time in their illustrious careers. It will be by far the most important, with Green Bay’s infamous loss at Seattle in the 2014 NFC Championship Game robbing the world of a Rodgers vs. Brady matchup in the Super Bowl. Rodgers desperately wants to win a second Super Bowl. Brady desperately wants to win a Super Bowl without Bill Belichick.
Kickoff is set for 2:05 p.m.
“We’ve got to go beat a great football team. Aaron’s playing incredible. We’re going to have to play great to beat them,” Brady told Fox’s Erin Andrews after the game.
The early forecast for Sunday is a high of 23 with a chance of snow.
While they never would have admitted it, the Packers probably would have preferred a matchup against Brees and the Saints. Never mind that Green Bay won at New Orleans 37-30 in Week 3 but lost at Tampa Bay 38-10 in Week 6. Brees, who has spent all 20 seasons playing in the warmth of San Diego or the dome in New Orleans, played in only one game with a kickoff temperature of 25 or colder. Brady, meanwhile, is a resounding 15-3.
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Almost exactly three months ago, the Packers were outclassed by the Bucs. Coming off its bye, Green Bay raced to a 10-0 lead but Rodgers threw a pick-six and an interception on back-to-back possessions. The Packers never crossed midfield over the final three quarters. They had nine first downs on their first two possessions and four in their final 10.
“Might need to add an extra finger to the scotch, but I do feel good about the team,” Rodgers said after a miserable afternoon. “I’ve played for so long, you’re going to have a couple stinkers. I think about the game at New York many years ago [2012] where I hit Jordy (Nelson) on an out-and-up to start the game, and we lost 38-10. Tonight kind of felt like that, unfortunately, where you kind of got off to a nice start and then just nothing. So, I feel really good about our squad. We’ve had four really, really good weeks, being efficient, winning, offensively being very explosive, defensively coming up with timely stops.
“This is, I believe, an anomaly, not the beginning of a trend. And we’ve got a chance to prove me right next week.”
Rodgers was proven right again and again. The Packers will enter Sunday’s championship game with seven consecutive wins.
In a heavyweight showdown on Saturday, Green Bay’s top-ranked scoring offense overwhelmed the Rams’ top-ranked scoring defense. It will be a similar challenge on Sunday.
Brees was 19-of-34 passing for just 134 yards. Premier receiver Michael Thomas was shut out on four targets.
Rodgers, of course, is a far better player than Brees at this point in his career. He’s the likely MVP after throwing 48 touchdown passes in the regular season and two more in the playoffs. He led the NFL in passer rating, touchdown passes, completion percentage, touchdown percentage and interception percentage.
Tampa Bay’s defense is legit. The Bucs finished eighth in points allowed and first against the run with 80.6 yards per game and 3.60 yards per carry. Linebacker Devin White, who had 11 tackles and one interception against the Saints, had 10 tackles, one sack and three tackles for losses against Green Bay. The Bucs had five sacks in the first meeting.
While the reality is it will be Rodgers facing that dominant defense and Green Bay’s defense contending with the legendary Brady and his deep list of weapons, the hype will be centered on Rodgers vs. Brady – arguably the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history.
“When it comes to big picture and you guys writing your stories and telling that whole story, which I know is a part of it, it’s two older guys,” Rodgers said before the Week 6 game. “He’s a little bit older than I am – he’s got me by about six-and-a-half or seven years – but we haven’t played a lot because he’s been in the AFC the majority of his career and I’ve been over here.
“He’s obviously done it at the highest of levels for so long. He’s been an icon at the position. He’s been somebody that we’ve all looked up to for so many years as the standard of excellence. I think there’s a ton of admiration and respect for the way that he’s played the game from so many of us, especially us guys who’ve been in the same era for so many years with him and gotten to compete with him every now and then being an NFC guy. I think it’s good that we just enjoy it for what it is, have respect and admiration for the way that we have played over this time, and enjoy where we’re at in our careers now.”
