NFL’s two top-rated QBs both seeking shot at glory

IRVING, TEXAS— Aaron Rodgers has a Super Bowl ring, the prize that keeps Tony Romo going through the heartbreaking endings and accumulating back injuries in Dallas.

Still, the hunger is growing for Rodgers heading into Sunday’s divisional playoff because Green Bay hasn’t reached the NFC championship game since winning it all four years ago on Romo’s home field. And Romo has never even been that far.

“You realize very quickly, it’s so difficult to do that,” Rodgers said. “A lot of things have to come together. We’ve come up short the last couple of years and it just kind of fuels the fire a little bit more.” Romo knows about coming up short.

There was his infamous flub of the hold on a field goal that could have beaten Seattle in a wild-card game eight years ago, then a loss to New York as the No. 1 seed in the NFC a year later when the Giants went on to beat undefeated New England in the Super Bowl.

The past three seasons ended with losses that left the Cowboys at 8-8 and out of the playoffs. Now here’s Romo returning to the state where he grew up a fan of Brett Favre, trying to get past this round of the playoffs in his third try in Dallas’ first postseason trip to storied Lambeau Field since the Ice Bowl loss 47 years ago.

“I’d love to give you a headline, but it’s really just another week in the preparation side of it,” said Romo, who signed with the Cowboys in 2003 as an undrafted free agent out of Eastern Illinois.

These were the two highest-rated quarterbacks in the NFL this season. Rodgers hasn’t thrown an interception at home in more than two years, while Romo had 20 touchdown passes and two interceptions in leading Dallas (13-4) to an 8-0 road record.

Whether it plays out as a battle of elite quarterbacks remains to be seen. First, the temperature at kickoff likely will be well below freezing. Second, Rodgers is playing through a calf strain that limited him in practice all week even though the Packers (12-4) had a bye after beating the Lions.

Rodgers was listed as probable Friday, after declaring earlier in the week he would start despite an injury sustained three weeks ago against Tampa Bay and aggravated in the regular-season finale against Detroit.