Big Spring Herald

Rodgers leads Pack to top of NFC after draft disappoint­ment

- By ARNIE STAPLETON AP Pro Football Writer

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 wildcard 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 firstround 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 (78-1) 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.

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