NFC Championship Game: Tampa Bay Buccaneers v Green Bay Packers | Sport

Buccaneers 7-0 Packers, 10:59, 1^st quarter

The Buccaneers’ Bradley Pinion kicks it off and the ball lands in the end zone. That will be a touchback.

Yes, I’m not going to say I did an anti-jinx here, but my prediction certainly doesn’t look great at the moment.

Buccaneers 7-0 Packers, 10:59, 1^st quarter

Fournette takes another three yards and Brady throws incomplete. It’s 3^rd& 7 on the Green Bay 15 meaning this is exactly where Brady seems to like it today. Brady finds Evans for an easy touchdown and that’s how Tampa Bay is on the board!

The extra point is good and the Pack is already in a 7-0 hole.

Buccaneers 0-0 Packers, 12:13, 1^st quarter

Buccaneers are on Green Bay 32. Fournette only picks up a single yard at 1^st down and Brady’s next pass is incomplete. 3^rd & 9. In third place, Brady hits his receiver again, that’s 14 yards ahead of Chris Godwin.

Buccaneers 0-0 Packers, 13:38, 1^st quarter

Leonard Fournette picks up 3 meters. On 2^nd & 7: Brady finds Mike Evans for 27-yard gain! Well that’s a first battle!

Buccaneers 0-0 Packers, 2:51 PM, 1^st quarter

Mason Crosby kicks it, Jaydon Mickens takes it 29 yards to Tampa Bay 30.

National anthem

One aspect of the Covid-19 protections is still a bit weird: the National Anthem singer appears on the video screen. It’s very “Star Trek.”

Interestingly, if the Buccaneers win, Brady would play in the Super Bowl … in Tampa, which would mean a very rare situation where a team would have a home advantage.

Predictions

A firefight would be the best result. Although I may regret having to keep the score here one day. It’s been a while since my typing fingers had live training.

This is understandable for a variety of reasons.

There was a very real argument that this NFL season shouldn’t have happened at all given that they were trying to play it out amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

That makes sense no matter what Brady will be remembered as a New England representative.

“Patriot fans: pro or anti-Brady?” continuation

Since I happened to be in Boston, I thought it would make sense to see whether or not New England Patriots fans are rooting for Tom Brady with his new team. The answers are, unsurprisingly, mixed.

For the record, my second team somehow became the Cleveland Browns. No, I don’t know how that happened either, but at least they made it to the playoffs this time.

Speaking of the temperature, it’s currently 29 degrees Fahrenheit / -2 degrees Celsius at Lambeau. So it’s not a big factor yet, although it will likely get colder as the game progresses.

This is very nice to hear, although I don’t take responsibility if this game turns into a dud.

Predictions

It feels weird betting against Tom Brady in a division game, but this season Brady has shown signs that he’s not quite the quarterback he once was. If the Packers can reach him in the pocket, it feels like they could have a relatively easy passage to the Super Bowl. I feel like a home field won’t hurt them either, although Brady clearly has a lot of experience with cold weather.

If I have to make a prediction, and I think I’m doing it about here, I say it’s Packers 28-17 Buccaneers, with a late Brady touchdown that makes the end result look better than it was. Your thoughts? Send them here via email (to [email protected]) or Twitter (@RTLnews).

Greg Olsen, who has long played with the Seattle Seahawks, is on the FOX broadcast today and will apparently be part of their team in the future as he takes the opportunity to officially celebrate his retirement from the NFL. Well, that’s an easy way to tell your first big story.

Preamble

Okay, let’s start with this disclaimer before diving into the NFC Championship Game: NFL games are not duels between quarterbacks. They are not on the field at the same time, their real competition is the defense of the other team. But when two great quarterbacks play the same game, we can’t help but compare how they do, even though they don’t directly affect each other’s performance. So, the NFC Championship Game, in theory, pits the Tampa Bay Buccaneers against the Green Bay Packers, but what we’re really witnessing is Tom Brady against Aaron Rodgers.

A lot is at stake for both quarterbacks. While Brady has played in nine Super Bowls, this is his first year with a team other than the New England Patriots. It would be a big deal for him to bring an entirely different team to the Big Game without the help of his mentor Bill Belichick (who couldn’t even get his team into the playoffs without Brady). Meanwhile, Rodgers, the presumptive NFL MVP this year, has only been to the Super Bowl once before, he only has one ring for Brady’s six.

How did these teams get here? Well, the Packers ended up with the best seed in the NFC, giving them a much-needed day week. In their Divisional match, they defeated the Los Angeles Rams 32-18. The Buccaneers, meanwhile, entered the playoffs as a Wild Card team and had to beat the Washington Football Team and the New Orleans Saints to get here. The last time these two teams met, Tampa Bay of course had its way with Green Bay, beating them 38-10 (although the Packers will have their home advantage this time). It would be shocking to see both teams have a huge lead over the other this time as everything is really shocking these days.

But then again, that’s a dangerous statement to make for a winner-takes-all-playoff game. Let’s see what happens together. If you would like to contribute to our live blog, please feel free to send us your opinion via email (to [email protected]) or Twitter (to @RTLnews) and we will share them with the rest of the world. It’s the Tampa Bay Buccaneers versus the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field. Theoretically, the game should start around 2:05 p.m. EST, but we’ll be back with additional commentary before then.

Hunter is coming soon, in the meantime here’s a guide to today’s game:

What the Buccaneers must do to win: Surprisingly for two quarterbacks who have ruled the NFL for most of the century, there isn’t much history between Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers – this will only be their fourth meeting as starters. Brady won their previous game, a 38-10 defeat in week 6 of this season, when the defense harassed Rodgers all day, firing him five times. Rodgers, who has been largely flawless since then, is unlikely to be bullied again. So Tampa Bay may have to beat the Packers in a firefight, hoping their formidable assault weapons will all click at once. That will put pressure on back-up Bucs guard Aaron Stinnie, who made his first-ever NFL start against the Saints last week (and did quite well).

What the Packers Must Do to Win: Like the Buccaneers, the Packers have a weakened line of attack. It held up against the best defense in the league, the Rams, last week, but Los Angeles’ biggest threat, Aaron Donald, was hampered by a rib injury. Rodgers has been so good this year that it’s hard to see him outperformed by the Buccaneers if given enough protection. Some have argued that the frigid Lambeau Field will give the Packers a big advantage over a warm weather team like Tampa Bay. But Tom Brady played a lot of games in the New England winter and that seemed to work fine for him.

Key person: Rob Gronkowski, tight end, Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Gronk’s best days are behind him and he is no longer the unstoppable force he was a few years ago. So his importance in this game is not so much in his abilities as who he is playing against. If the Packers have any obvious weakness, it’s their linebackers. Find Brady to return to a trusted security blanket and find Gronk in the center of the field as this game progresses.

Prediction: Packers. The Buccaneers struggled to shake off Washington 7-9 in the wildcard round and were helped by a string of Drew Brees turnovers against the Saints last week. Brady and his new teammates believe much more than they did at the start of the season, but still aren’t the threat they should be given their talent. I don’t think they are at the level where they can beat Rodgers and Davante Adams this time.