Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre. Lambeau Field. The frozen tundra. Invincible in the cold, unbeatable at home in the playoffs. Hordes of fans digging the snow out of the hallowed stadium themselves, donning cheeseheads to cheer him on and going home happy.
During 16 seasons—and 11 postseasons—in Green Bay, NFL fans everywhere got used to hearing Favre's cold-weather record intoned by broadcasters before every snowy battle.
But on Jan. 20, 2008, with the air temperature a bitter minus-1 degree and the wind chill a stunning minus-23, the New York Giants came into Lambeau and pulled off a 23-20 upset.
Favre's last pass in green and gold, a season-ending interception in overtime, shattered his cold-weather mystique once and for all. Nobody could have guessed it'd be the end of the Packers' cold-weather advantage, too.You can't fault Aaron Rodgers for much. In his seven seasons as the starter, he's achieved everything a quarterback can achieve. He's won everything a quarterback can win. He's the best quarterback on the planet, a fact just affirmed by 44 of The Associated Press' 50 All-Pro voters. With him under center, the Packers have won their division each of the last four seasons.
Rodgers' lone postseason triumph is a phenomenal one: In 2010, he led the No. 6-seed Packers to three straight road wins and a Super Bowl victory.
Outside of that, though, his track record is shaky. Excepting 2010, the Packers are 1-4 in five postseason appearances with Rodgers at the helm. They're 1-2 at home, with both losses coming as bitter surprises.
In 2011, the 15-1 Packers were breathtakingly dominant. A clear favorite to repeat as Super Bowl champions, their run seemed to retroactively justify their underdog run to the 2010 title. Then, Rodgers and the Packers took a pratfall. The New York Giants—who else?—came in to Lambeau in the divisional round and hung a 37-20 loss on the champs.
The Packers won 11 games in 2012 but were a more balanced team than the 2011 squad. Their scoring offense fell from No. 1 to No. 5, but their scoring defense improved from 19th-best to 11th. Surely, many thought, they were more prepared for the playoffs. The answer seemed to come in the affirmative when the Packers treated their fans to the only home playoff win of the Aaron Rodgers era: a 24-10 stroll past the upstart Minnesota Vikings.
Just as it seemed the Packers were going to make good on their 2011 slip-up, Colin Kaepernick and the San Francisco 49ers undid everything. Their read-option attack shredded the Packers defense to the tune of 45 points; Rodgers and the Packers mustered just two offensive touchdowns before the final hopeless minute.Dallas' defense doesn't have many star-power players and has gone soft for stretches. But the Cowboys' stats are solid (they ranked 15th in scoring defense), and they're capable of making plays when they need to. Just ask the Detroit Lions, who Dallas held to six points in the last three quarters of the Wild Card Round matchup.
If Rodgers and the Packers can take care of business in the bitter cold—Odds Shark lists them as six-point favorites—they'll likely travel to Seattle for the chance to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. Packers fans will get their money's worth, Lambeau's reputation as a cold-weather fortress will be restored and Rodgers will put another feather in his relatively bare postseason cap.
For all the reasons Favre was rightly celebrated, though, perhaps his icy mystique was a little overblown. After all, he quarterbacked the Packers more than twice as long as Rodgers has, and he didn't win more than one Super Bowl either.
If Rodgers can topple the Cowboys at home, beat the Seahawks on the road and bring a second Lombardi Trophy back home to Titletown, he'll outshine the man from whose shadow he emerged—not for the first time, and maybe not for the last.
Source http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2322327-aaron-rodgers-can-restore-his-lambeau-fields-playoff-mystique-with-cowboys-win
No comments:
Post a Comment