The NFC playoff field features the usual cast of quarterbacks in Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees and Russell Wilson. Now there’s also Tom Brady, who tormented the AFC field for two decades in New England.
The six-time Super Bowl champion left the Patriots for the Buccaneers last spring and led Tampa Bay to its first playoff berth since 2007.
The Bucs visit Washington in the wild-card round Saturday.
“It’s about one football game, who plays well, who executes when the pressure is on,” said Brady, who has an NFL-record 30 playoff wins but is just 4-4 with nine TDs and 10 interceptions in eight career playoff road games.
Rodgers led the league with 48 touchdown throws, including 18 to Davante Adams, and guided Green Bay (13-3) to the NFC’s top seed and its only first-round bye in the expanded playoff format that added a third wild-card team.
That puts Rodgers one win from finally playing a conference championship at Lambeau Field. He’s played four on the road, winning at Chicago on his way to bringing home the Lombardi Trophy following the 2010 season.
In addition to Tampa Bay-Washington, the Rams visit the Seahawks on Saturday after splitting in the regular season, and the Saints visit Chicago on Sunday.
The NFC field features two teams with non-winning records: the Bears (8-8) and Washington (7-9), the third team to make the playoffs with a losing record under the current divisional setup. The other two — Seattle (7-9) in 2010 and Carolina (7-8-1) in 2014 — both beat 11-5 teams in the wild-card round.
1. GREEN BAY PACKERS (13-3). AP Pro32 Ranking: No. 2. Last Lombardi: Super Bowl 45, 31-25 over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Feb. 6, 2011, at Arlington, Texas. Last year: No. 2 seed, beat Seattle 28-23 in divisional round, lost 37-20 at San Francisco 37-20 in NFC championship. Tenth trip to playoffs in Rodgers’ 13 seasons as starting QB. Second consecutive NFC North title.
HOPE: Packers are NFL’s top-scoring team at 31.8 points per game behind Rodgers, who threw just five interceptions to go with his 48 TDs, and Adams, whose 18 TD catches led the league even though he missed two games (hamstring). The defense boasts one of the game’s premier cornerbacks in Jaire Alexander, pass rusher in Za’Darius Smith, who has 26 sacks since 2019, and a solid safety duo of Adrian Amos and Darnell Savage.
NOPE: Green Bay’s major issue is a special teams unit prone to breakdowns. The Packers gave up 285 yards rushing in last year’s NFC championship game loss and allowed Minnesota’s Dalvin Cook to score four touchdowns in one of their three losses this season. Green Bay also lost Pro Bowl LT David Bakhtiari to a season-ending knee injury on New Year’s Eve.
DOPE: “It’s been a long time. There’s been a lot of ball between now and February 6, 2011, which was a beautiful day. It’s important to all of us. There are so many guys who haven’t been in that mix before. Only a few of us actually were there for that moment, so it would be nice for all of us to get back.”–Rodgers.
