Rodgers, Packers limp to title game
Controversial call on big play ends Cowboys’ season
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Hobbled but happy, Aaron Rodgers might have felt a bit lucky, too. No matter: The All-Pro quarterback and his Green Bay Packers are one step away from the Super Bowl. More stationary than usual because of a left calf injury, Rodgers rallied the Packers from an eight-point deficit with two second-half touchdowns passes to beat Dallas, 26-21. Dallas got 123 yards rushing from league leader DeMarco Murray. Murray atoned in style for a third-quarter fumble, gaining 32 yards, including a 29-yard sprint one play after quarterback Tony Romo hurt his leg. The hobbling Romo handed to Murray for the 1-yard plunge that made it 21-13, then limped to the bench for treatment. The Packers (13-4), helped immensely by a video reversal with 4:06 remaining, went undefeated at Lambeau Field this season. They head to Seattle next weekend for the NFC title game. The Seahawks (13-4) beat Green Bay in the season opener, 36-16. “I think I got 120 minutes left in me,” Rodgers said. Green Bay might not have had any time left in its season if not for referee Gene Steratore’s decision. Dez Bryant’s leaping, bobbling 31-yard catch at the Packers 1 on a fourth-and-2 play was challenged by Green Bay coach Mike McCarthy. Instead of first-and-goal for Dallas (13-5), the ball went over to the Packers. “Some people think throwing the red flag is fun,” Packers coach Mike McCarthy said. “It was such an impactful play, you had to challenge.” One packed with controversy, as well. “Look, I’ll tell you this, I’ve never seen that a day in my life,” Bryant said. “I want to know why it wasn’t a catch.” Because Bryant didn’t maintain control all the way to the ground, as the rule states. Replays showed Bryant bobbling the ball as he rolled into the end zone, with part of it touching the field. “By rule he must hold onto it throughout entire process of contacting the ground,” said Dean Blandino, the league’s director of officiating. “He didn’t, so it is incomplete.” An impassioned Bryant didn’t buy it. “All I know is I had possession, I had possession of the ball coming down,” Bryant said. “That’s possession, right? One, two, reach. Bam, that’s possession.” All-Pro Rodgers, bothered by a left calf he injured in Game 15, lost much of his elusiveness as the game wore on. “A little bit worse, yeah,” Rodgers said of how his calf felt as the game progressed. Green Bay closed it out before a Lambeau-record 79,704 on Randall Cobb’s diving 12-yard reception of a deflected pass on third-and-11. That gave Cobb eight catches for 116 yards and set off a raucous celebration. The Cowboys’ first postseason trip to Green Bay since the 1967 Ice Bowl for the NFL championship ended in their first road defeat of the season after eight victories.