SEAHAWKS’ RALLY FALLS SHORT
Packers hold off late Seattle comeback
GREEN BAY 28, SEATTLE 23
How does the new-look
GREEN BAY Green Bay Packers offence suit quarterback Aaron Rodgers?
After an at-times heart-stopping, but ultimately impressive 28-23 win over the Seattle Seahawks in Sunday’s NFC Divisional round playoff at Lambeau Field, let us count the ways.
For starters, the 36-year-old veteran is off and running on a legacy-enhancing shot at a second career Super Bowl appearance and doing so while playing some of the more diversified football he’s shown. All this with the play clock ticking down on his career makes it even more impressive.
For another, with a potent running game led by breakout back Aaron Jones, Rodgers is able and willing to run a more efficient offence than he ever has in his lengthy career.
And that attacking defence that the Packers showed at the most critical points of Sunday’s win? That only adds to the potency of this Packers squad that heads to San Francisco for next Sunday’s NFC Championship Game.
Make no mistake, though, Rodgers is money when he needs to be.
The veteran made a number of massive plays, none more clutch than a completion on thirdand-eight with the two-minute warning approaching and his team clinging to a five-point lead against a surging Seahawks team led by another terrific quarterback, Russell Wilson.
Rodgers took the snap, danced in the pocket, then rifled a pass to receiver Davante Adams along the right sideline for a 32-yard gain that went a long way toward icing the game.
The win improved the Packers’ record at home this season to 8-1 and they are riding a six-game winning streak. It makes them the hottest team of the NFL’s final four.
With 14 wins already this season, the Packers may head to California as underdogs, but with some of the wild action so far this NFL season, who could rule out another run to the big game for Rodgers?
We know this: the veteran both aches for it and recognizes more than he has at any point in his career that the more diverse his Packers team can be, the better chance he has to get to Miami on the first Sunday in February.
“I’m 36 and I know what this is all about,” Rodgers said before the game. “This is an important opportunity for us. I feel like
I’ve got a lot of really good years left, but you never know. A lot of things happen year to year. We’ve had some great teams that have been an injury away, or a play away, from being special, so I want to make the most of this opportunity.”
One down, two to go in that department.
Recognizing there’s a tendency to over-scrutinize quarterback play (see the Ravens’ Lamar Jackson in Baltimore on Saturday), it has long been a larger-than-life position with the Packers.
Rodgers may be the beneficiary of the balance throughout this version of the storied franchise, but he did his part and more, with some help from some of his friends in a game that became wildly entertaining in the second half.
There was Jones running the ball and Adams catching it. And then there was the invigorating defence who weren’t always able to catch Wilson, yet managed five big sacks.
None of those were bigger than the Preston Smith tackle for a loss to end a would-be go-ahead drive inside the final three minutes of the second half.
Clearly buying into the mindset of first-year coach Matt LaFleur, the Packers are peaking at the right time.
Comparing the two offences on Sunday was instructive to what Rodgers has at his disposal this January, a departure from some of his playoff teams in the past.
Seahawks quarterback Wilson worked fiercely to establish a running game in the first half but it wasn’t working. Marshawn Lynch was held to just 14 yards on six carries. Yes, he powered in for a pair of touchdowns, but both were from the one-yard line.
Rodgers, meanwhile, had Jones working for him with 46 yards on 13 carries and a pair of touchdowns in the first half.
Wilson was outstanding himself, of course, gamely willing his Seahawks back into the game to easily make this fourth quarter the tightest of any played on the weekend.
Credit the Seahawks for coming out with some aggression in the second half with a pair of impressive, lengthy third-quarter drives for touchdowns.
It turned a cautious affair into an electric one.