Tom Brady has won the battle of the Hall of Fame-bound quarterbacks in the NFC Championship game as the Buccaneers beat Green Bay 31-26 to progress to a home-field Super Bowl in Tampa Bay on February 7.
Key points:
- Tampa Bay will be the first team to play a Super Bowl in their home stadium
- Brady, 43, threw 280 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions
- The Buccaneers will play either the Chiefs or the Bills in the Super Bowl
The veteran quarterback, who is in his first season with Tampa Bay since moving from New England in the off-season, was exceptional at Lambeau Field, throwing 20/36 for 280 yards and three touchdowns, with three interceptions.
It was a vintage performance from the player who was synonymous with New England’s era of dominance with former mentor Bill Belichick.
If there had been any questions as to whether Brady could adapt to a new team and coach so late in his career, he has emphatically answered them in the affirmative this season: Same old Brady, same old result — a Super Bowl berth.
“It’s been a long process for the whole team,” Brady said after the game.
“Today was just a great team effort. We played sporadically a little bit but the defence came up huge and we’re gonna need it again in a couple of weeks.”
The Buccaneers have won all three playoff matches away from home, but will be the first team to play a Super Bowl in their home stadium.
“[It’s] just great to get another road win and now we got a home game, who would ever [have] thought a home Super Bowl for us, but we did it,” Brady said.
The 43-year-old will now play in a record-extending tenth Super Bowl and will now have the chance to go for a seventh Super Bowl crown.
Brady’s record in Championship games now moves to 10-4.
Tampa Bay coach Bruce Arians said Brady gave his team the belief they needed to win.
“This trophy,” Arians said when asked what Brady bought to the team.
“The belief he gave everyone in this organisation that this could be done; it only took one man.”
Meanwhile, Aaron Rodgers’ poor record in Championship games continued as he fell to a fourth defeat in five appearances.
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Rodgers had a good game off the back of another MVP-worthy season, throwing 38-48 for 346 yards, three touchdowns and an interception.
However, he once again missed out on heading to the big dance after his side coughed up too many big third-down plays in the first half, leaving too much of a deficit to overcome in the second half.
Brady got the scoring underway with a 66-yard opening drive that culminated in a 15-yard touchdown to Mike Evans.
Both teams punted their next possessions before Rodgers connected with Marquez Valdes-Scantling for a 50-yard touchdown to level things at the end of the quarter.
Brady and the Buccs hit back with a four-play, 73-yard drive that ended with Leonard Fournette barging through some weak Packers’ tackling for a 20-yard touchdown reception, and held the Packers to a 24-yard field goal off their next drive.
From then, two quick strikes off the back of Green Bay turnovers either side of half-time looked to end the game as a contest.
After a rare Rodgers interception, Brady found Scott Miller for a 39-yard touchdown with seconds remaining in the half.
Then, at the beginning of the third quarter, the Buccs recovered a forced fumble off Aaron Jones before extending their lead with an eight-yard touchdown pass to Cameron Brate.
However, from that point the Packers defence started to rumble, intercepting Brady on his next three drives, while Rodgers twice moved down the field twice for touchdowns to Rob Tonyan and Davante Adams.
However a terrible drop from Equanimeous St. Brown on the two-point conversion kept the Packers five points behind and stopped the recovery in its tracks.
Rodgers was sacked twice in the next two drives before 46-yard Ryan Succop field goal pushed the lead out to eight with under five minutes remaining.
Green Bay drove 58 yards on its next drive, but settled for a Mason Crosby field goal with little over two minutes remaining instead of going for it on fourth and goal, handing the ball, and the game, back to the Buccaneers.
Having accounted for fellow veterans Drew Brees (New Orleans) and Rodgers in successive weeks, Brady will now have to test himself against one of the rising stars of the game, Patrick Mahomes’s reigning champion Kansas City Chiefs or Josh Allen’s Buffalo Bills.
