Rodgers leads Packers to NFC title game
Aaron Rodgers made sure he’d play an NFC Championship Game at home for the first time in his Hall of Fame-caliber career.
Rodgers threw two touchdown passes and also ran for a score as the topseeded Green Bay Packers defeated the Los Angeles Rams 32-18 in an NFC Divisional playoff game Saturday.
Green Bay’s potent offense overpowered the Rams’ vaunted defense for much of the day. The Packers didn’t allow any sacks despite playing without injured All-Pro left tackle David Bakhtiari, while Green Bay sacked Jared Goff four times.
The Packers reached the NFC Championship Game for the fourth time in the last seven seasons as they chase their first Super Bowl berth in a decade. It will be their first at Lambeau Field since hosting for the 2007 season, when they fell to the New York Giants 23-20 in overtime.
Green Bay won the Super Bowl for the 2010 season as the NFC’s No. 6 seed, and has lost at Seattle, Atlanta and San Francisco in its last three conference championship game appearances.
Saturday’s game showed what a home-field advantage can mean, even with far less than capacity on hand due to the pandemic. The Packers played in front of 8,456 fans — a crowd that included paying spectators for the first time all season — but that small crowd made plenty of noise as the Packers built an early lead with snow flurries falling for much of the first half.
“It’s special. There’s absolutely nothing like it,” Rodgers said. “We have really missed that part of this experience. To run out of the tunnel tonight with fans was unbelievable. It’s hard to explain how much the presence means on the field and just having that energy from the crowd.”
That crowd chanted “M! V! P!” during the closing minutes to salute All-Pro quarterback Rodgers.
Buoyed by that crowd, the Packers (14-3) often seemed on the verge of putting the game away. But the Rams (11-7) continued to hang around. Green Bay finally sealed the victory with a 58-yard completion from Rodgers to Allen Lazard with 6:52 left.
Rodgers went 23 of 36 for 296 yards, while Aaron
Jones ran for 99 yards and a touchdown on just 14 carries. Goff was 21 of 27 for 174 yards and a touchdown less than three weeks after undergoing thumb surgery, and Cam Akers rushed for 90 yards and a touchdown.
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Falcons: Arthur Smithsigned a contract with Atlanta to be their next coach, the team announced Saturday. Smith, a former Tennessee Titans assistant, agreed to terms Friday. Neither Smith nor any other team official will be made available to reporters until next week. Smith comes to Atlanta after two years as Tennessee’s offensive coordinator. He thanked Blank, team president Rich McKay, his family and others for the opportunity. He takes over a franchise that’s 28-36 since losing the Super Bowl four years ago under predecessor Dan Quinn. The Falcons haven’t reached the playoffs since 2017.
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