Four months after the Seattle Seahawks routed the Green Bay Packers in the NFL’s season opener, the NFC powerhouses will go at it again, this time with a Super Bowl berth at stake.
The Packers will leave the comforts of their home stadium, where they went undefeated this season, for a visit to hostile CenturyLink Field where the famous “12th Man” will be in full roar for tomorrow’s conference final.
Seattle romped to a 36-16 home win over Green Bay last September and now find the Packers standing in the way of their quest to become the first team to claim back-to-back Super Bowl titles since the New England Patriots did it a decade ago.
"It's exciting but the job's not done," said Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, who is 2-0 in his career against the Packers. "We're on one mission. You just have to take it one game at a time."
If the Packers are to return to the Super Bowl for the second time in four years they will have to find a way to win in Seattle where the favoured Seahawks are 8-1 this season and won eight consecutive home playoff games.
Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, hobbled by a calf injury that has limited his mobility, will face a ferocious Seattle defence that led the NFL in fewest points allowed per game.
Even with one of the NFL’s most explosive attacks and a lineup loaded with game breakers and a Pro Bowl quarterback, Green Bay will not want to fall behind.
Winning streak
Seattle are riding a seven-game winning streak that dates back to the regular season and in doing so have displayed a lethal knockout punch by outscoring opponents 102-20 in the second half of the game and 62-7 in the fourth quarter.
“We’re going to have to be efficient against them,” said Rodgers about facing Seattle’s defence. “They’re a great defence, they’ve got Pro Bowlers all over the place and they’re well-coached.”
Statistically Rodgers looked like his normal dominating self in last week’s divisional playoff versus Dallas as he passed for 316 yards and three touchdowns in a come-from-behind 26-21 win.
But Rodgers limped his way through much of that game and all eyes will once again be on his injured calf.
“We understand the job’s not done,” said Green Bay guard TJ Lang. “Our expectation is to win a championship.”
Later on New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and head coach Bill Belichick can add to their prodigious NFL partnership, while Indianapolis Colts Andrew Luck aims to take a giant step forward in the AFC title game.
Brady and Belichick can reach their sixth Super Bowl together with a New England win over the visiting Colts, while quarterback Luck, who has made the playoffs in his first three seasons, tries to secure his first trip to the title game.
The Patriots are seven-point favourites having won all three meetings with the Colts since Luck entered the league, including a 42-20 thumping in Week 11. Yet Luck and the Colts could be hitting their stride, improving in attack and defence in recent weeks.
Luck, 25, will be duelling with a second quarterbacking grand master in as many weeks after outplaying Denver Broncos five-time NFL most valuable player Peyton Manning in the divisional playoffs.
In Brady, Luck will match throws against the postseason record holder for starts by a quarterback (27), most wins (19) and touchdown passes (46).
One win
Belichick needs one win to break a tie with
Tom Landry
for most postseason victories (20) by a head coach.
For all their success, Brady and his bunch are still hungry having gone 10 years since their 2005 triumph, when New England won a third title in a four-year span.
Since then, they have been unable to add to their Super Bowl resume losing close encounters to the New York Giants in 2008 and 2012.
Fans at Gillette Stadium could be treated to an air show given the quality of quarterbacks and receivers like New England's Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman and Colts TY Hilton and Hakeem Nicks.
