USA TODAY Sports’ Tom Pelissero breaks down next weekend’s wild-card playoff games. USA TODAY Sports
DETROIT — Aaron Rodgers saw this coming.
That’s the punchline for yet another knockout blow to the Detroit Lions, who fumbled away a would-be NFC North crown because they couldn’t win a game over the final three weeks.
Rodgers, on the other hand, had the audacity to declare while in the midst of a four-game losing streak, that his Green Bay Packers could run the table. Now they are the division champs with a six-game winning streak.
“He’s psychic,” Packers receiver Davante Adams told USA TODAY Sports after the 31-24 victory on Sunday night at Ford Field. “Two years ago, he told everybody to relax and we went 11-2 from that point. I think we ought to just start listening to what Aaron’s got to say and we’ll be alright.”
You might be tempted to ask Rodgers for a pick-six play — not some ugly interception, mind you — to enter into the next Super Lotto drawing. Or take him to Las Vegas and hit the roulette wheel.
The dude is on a roll, an NFL version of Nostradamus.
Well, sort of.
“Taking nothing away from him, but really it was a low-risk prediction,” Packers linebacker Julius Peppers told USA TODAY Sports. “If you lose a game, it’s like, ‘Oh, we knew you would lose.’ If you run the table, you look like a prophet.
“I think it was a good thing that he came out and said that. It’s an even better thing that we were able to have his back and get it done.”
It was always about the team collecting itself to rally from the doldrums of 4-6, and in recent weeks the Packers have been tearing it up on both sides of the football while dealing with all sorts of adversity.
On Sunday night, fullback Aaron Ripkowski was the featured runner in the ongoing series of how to deal with the rash of backfield injuries. And with receiver Randall Cobb out again, rookie Geronimo Allison stepped up with four catches for 91 yards and a touchdown. Injuries forced Micah Hyde, a safety, to move over to cornerback. And it was Hyde’s fourth-quarter end zone interception that increased the Packers’ turnover ratio over the past four games to +13. Team ball, indeed.
Yet the night belonged to Rodgers, as it should have.
Sure, go ahead and call your shot. But in raising the stakes for the team, you’d better be damn sure that you’re holding up your end.
There was no sweat from Rodgers in that department. He had a phenomenal game. Again.
The stat line says 27-for-39 for 300 yards, with four touchdowns, no interceptions and a 126.0 passer rating.
But the numbers don’t do justice. He was better than that.
On a 10-yard scoring strike to Allison early in the fourth quarter, the clock on an NBC graphic showed that Rodgers held the ball for 8.78 seconds before releasing it. It was classic scramble-drill stuff that is a signature Rodgers trait, and that Allison has proven to be a quick study in grasping. While Allison worked to separate himself in the back of the end zone, Rodgers slipped, spun, pumped while simultaneously avoiding a sack and setting up to throw.
Reminded that he held the ball for nearly nine seconds as he headed to the buses, Rodgers beamed.
“That sounds about right,” he told USA TODAY Sports.
It was all in a night’s work. On his two touchdown throws to Adams, he called audibles, switching from a run on the first case and changing the route to a fade on the latter case. Another time, he called for a quick snap to catch the Lions with 12 men on the field for an easy penalty, turning third-and-long into third-and-manageable. Six plays later, they were in the end zone.
He had a complete game, winning with his arm, brain and legs. He ran for 42 yards, including 12- and 13-yard scrambles that marked the initial first downs on back-to-back touchdown drives in the fourth quarter.
This is what wins division titles. Whenever they needed a crucial play, somebody came through for the Packers — and on many occasions that somebody was Rodgers, a two-time NFL MVP headed to the playoffs for an eighth consecutive season.
Rodgers — who has gone seven games in a row without interception, while throwing 18 touchdowns during that span — didn’t need to remind anybody about his declaration on Sunday night. He just led by example.
Still, his words from late November — “I feel like we can run the table,” he said — are woven into the fabric of whatever this season winds up being for the Packers.
“That’s what you have to do sometimes as a leader,” Rodgers reflected. “You have to exude confidence even in a situation where it seems to the outside world that confidence shouldn’t exist and that’s kind of what I did. I believe in myself and my abilities, but I also believe in this team. This wasn’t just a shot in the dark. It was an optimistic belief in my team that we’re going to start handling adversity better.”
Done. Sort of. Now it’s a new season, with the New York Giants poised to invade Lambeau Field for an NFC wild-card round match-up on Sunday. There’s no need for predictions. But a clarification is in order.
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