“C’mon, everybody’s got the same opportunity, right?”
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“I do play”, Rodgers said.
The Green Bay Packers played their best football game on Sunday since their 6-0 start.
Green Bay (11-6) will play at the No. 2 seed Arizona Cardinals on Saturday night.
Green Bay, unable to move the ball in the first quarter, went to a hurry-up offense and responded with an 80-yard drive.Rodgers, given time in the pocket, found wide receiver James Jones for 34-yard gain to get the Packers across midfield.
“We just needed a game like this to get our mojo back, to get our confidence going”, said Rodgers. “Don’t know a whole lot about it. So we’ll see how it goes”.
“We don’t care about expectations. We’re going out there to win, and we expect to win”.
Rodgers was back in rhythm, enjoying every minute. Of course, that wasn’t the case in Week 17 when they got beat 36-6 by Seattle in a game which Carson Palmer left early to avoid injury. They rank among the NFL’s top eight teams in rushing offense, passing offense, rushing defense and passing defense.
Tretter got help at times on the edge, but Rodgers liked the protection overall even when Tretter was going one on one.
Washington Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins (8) celebrates his touchdown on a keeper with teammate offensive guard Brandon Scherff (75) during the second half of an NFL wild card playoff football game against the Green Bay Pac…
Exacting sweet revenge in the process is the desired endgame back in the Arizona desert, no matter how long their odds might be.
“A lot of you probably thought that was lip service”, he said in Washington. “But, that’s not the attitude of this team”. They had all of 11 yards – yes, just 11 – after one quarter. The teams split their previous two playoff encounters.
But is Saturday’s showdown at University of Phoenix Stadium really a sure thing for the home team?
Las Vegas sports books are opening up with the Cardinals as 7.5 to 8.5 point favorites over the Packers, this is, by far, the biggest differential between Divisional Playoff opponents.
Instead, head coach/play caller Mike McCarthy obliged previously frustrated quarterback Aaron Rodgers’ wishes to run a fast-break offense.
Despite Sunday’s disappointing playoff loss to the Packers, News4’s Mark Segraves tells us Redskins fans are pretty optimistic about the future.
“Take it to the bank, folks: Cardinals beat the Packers”, he said.
More help might be on the way for Green Bay with Bakhtiari practicing on Wednesday on a limited basis.
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But trailing 11-0 early in the second quarter, two-time NFL MVP Rodgers and the Packers suddenly began to show the sort of ability to gain yards in chunks and put points on the board they had been missing while losing six of their final 10 games and letting the NFC North title slip away. He performed splendidly, but was out-performed by Kurt Warner in a game decided by a fumble return in overtime, Arizona prevailing 51-45.
