NFC Conference Championship: Packers @ 49ers Sunday, Jan 19th, 5:40PM

[OldSchoolSnapper]

So I think Rodgers has had 3 OT playoff games that I remember. In two they did lose the toss, Arizona and Seattle, and lost almost immediately on touchdowns. In the Seattle game, he had to go down the field and get a FG just to force it. In the Arizona loss, he completed a Hail Mary.

 

The other was the first loss to Arizona, in which they did win the toss and he did that fumble-kick into the DL's hands.

 

I also remember reading a stat that I think is still the right #, but McCarthy's Packers lost five playoff games on the last play: 2007 Giants, 2009 Cardinals, 2013 49ers, 2014 Seahawks, 2015 Cardinals

[adambr2]

So I think Rodgers has had 3 OT playoff games that I remember. In two they did lose the toss, Arizona and Seattle, and lost almost immediately on touchdowns. In the Seattle game, he had to go down the field and get a FG just to force it. In the Arizona loss, he completed a Hail Mary.

 

The other was the first loss to Arizona, in which they did win the toss and he did that fumble-kick into the DL's hands.

 

I also remember reading a stat that I think is still the right #, but McCarthy's Packers lost five playoff games on the last play: 2007 Giants, 2009 Cardinals, 2013 49ers, 2014 Seahawks, 2015 Cardinals

 

I always believed (and even said at the time) after the Rodgers to Janis Hail Mary that they needed to go for 2 and either win or lose it now.

 

I know not everyone agrees. We'll never know.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I agree and thought so during the game. But I'm generally in favor of doing that at the end of games. It's quite likely your best chance to win and it doesn't happen enough. I'd never fault a visiting coach for missing it. You have a chance to run a scripted play you've practiced 10k times all season to gain 2 yards.

[homer]

So I think Rodgers has had 3 OT playoff games that I remember. In two they did lose the toss, Arizona and Seattle, and lost almost immediately on touchdowns. In the Seattle game, he had to go down the field and get a FG just to force it. In the Arizona loss, he completed a Hail Mary.

 

The other was the first loss to Arizona, in which they did win the toss and he did that fumble-kick into the DL's hands.

 

 

You mean the one where the guy shoved his hands inside his facemask?

 

[OldHeidelberg]

 

You mean the one where the guy shoved his hands inside his facemask?

 

 

A play or 2 before that Rogers overthrew a wide open Jennings for what would have been the game winning TD after leading a furious comeback. Pretty weird how we lost both those Zona games.

[OldHeidelberg]

I just genuinely don't see that being the perception. Most people remember Bostick Bosticking. I don't think anyone even remembers their game with Atlanta, they remember the rabbit he pulled from the hat the week before in Dallas.

 

Even in national press, I usually see comparison's between Brady's teams defensive ranking and Rodgers. The broad narrative really seems to be the Packers "wasting" Rodgers, not Rodgers coming up short.

 

If we lose I will check in on whatever show Skip Bayless is on now on Monday and see what he thinks.

[CheezWizHed]

I always Skip Bayless...

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I forgot about him missing Jennings in the '09 game. I do remember Rex Ryan whining the next day about Woodson winning DPOY. He got in front of the podium said this:

 

"A number that I think is interesting would be eight, and no, that's not the amount of touchdown passes that Green Bay gave up against Arizona. That's the number of touchdown passes we gave up all season as the Jets, and the biggest reason for that is Darrelle Revis.”

 

I always thought the Packers took that very personally when they shut them out 9-0 the next year.

[Fear The Chorizo]

Was listening to some radio show last night and they were talking about how it doesn't matter that they are 7 point underdogs or that some people don't expect them to win, if they lose the narrative will be Rodgers can't get it done. That's fair, he hasn't been back in 9 years and is getting close to Favre territory. And it probably bothers Rodgers more than it did Favre as I think he does care about his place in football history. I heard him in an interview bring up that it would nice to have one of these at home but you still have to get it done if you want people to talk about you as one of the GOAT. Time to step up.

 

Whenever I hear Rodgers talk about wanting a game like this at home, I remind myself that he had every opportunity for one back in 2011 and that 15-1 team got smoked by the Giants at home in the divisional round. They also lost a home playoff game to the 49ers in a divisional round. His best postseason play has actually happened on the road, if he really wants to look at it compared to results at home playoff games.

 

No they didn't. They lost a home Wild Card game vs. the 12-4 Niners the year Rodgers missed half the season and they were 8-7-1. They did lose a road divisional game the prior year and gave up 45 points. They were not expected to win either game and the former was incredibly close especially when most had them getting blown out.

 

My bad, for some reason 'Divisional' equaled 'Wild Card' round in my head when I wrote that post. I feel like that was the year after Kaepernick torched them in the divisional round at San Fran.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

It was indeed the year after that. Their defense actually played extremely well. Even in that blowout game, one of the most underrated Packers turning points IMO is the Jeremy Ross fumble. That game ended so poorly that nobody remembers the Packers had a 14-7 lead in the second quarter and forced a punt. Ross muffed the punt inside the 10 and everything went downhill. To that point, the Packers were doing whatever they wanted on offense. I still believe that game was headed in a completely different direction until that play.

 

If I'm not mixing games, that divisional loss opened with a pick 6 off Kaepernick, wanna say Sam Shields.

 

Love reliving all the playoff games this time of year, even the bad ones.

[homer]

 

You mean the one where the guy shoved his hands inside his facemask?

 

 

A play or 2 before that Rogers overthrew a wide open Jennings for what would have been the game winning TD after leading a furious comeback. Pretty weird how we lost both those Zona games.

 

Packers should have lost in regulation. AZ kicker missed a 34 yarder with :09 sec left.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Speaking of things that should have happened. The Super Bowl probably wouldn't have been remotely suspenseful If James Jones hadn't dropped what was likely a TD pass right off his mitts in the 3rd quarter. They would have gone up 18. Instead they punted and were up 4, nearly lost the lead before the famous fumble.

[OldHeidelberg]

Speaking of things that should have happened. The Super Bowl probably wouldn't have been remotely suspenseful If James Jones hadn't dropped what was likely a TD pass right off his mitts in the 3rd quarter. They would have gone up 18. Instead they punted and were up 4, nearly lost the lead before the famous fumble.

 

Jones had a nearly identical drop earlier in the playoffs, can't remember which game. I don't remember Zona missing a chip shot to win at all, funny how you forget the other teams gaffs.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

It was the Eagles game, but I'd forgotten about that one. He did make an insane catch in both the Super Bowl and the Atlanta game. He had a reputation for making impossible catches and dropping the ones right it in his chest.

 

That 2007 NFCCG should have been over a couple times too. Tynes missed two FGs in the 4th, I think one as time expired. I think both were shorter than the one he made in OT.

[homer]

Speaking of things that should have happened. The Super Bowl probably wouldn't have been remotely suspenseful If James Jones hadn't dropped what was likely a TD pass right off his mitts in the 3rd quarter. They would have gone up 18. Instead they punted and were up 4, nearly lost the lead before the famous fumble.

 

Jones had a nearly identical drop earlier in the playoffs, can't remember which game. I don't remember Zona missing a chip shot to win at all, funny how you forget the other teams gaffs.

 

So did I until I went back and watched the video of that Rodgers overthrow to Jennings

[owbc]

I don't know if the Packers will win or not but if I was in Vegas right now I wouldn't hesitate to put $100 on those 7:1 odds to win the Superbowl.

[nodakfan17]

Comparing playoff records is silly. They don’t tell the whole story. For example Kurt Warner is 9-4 and Eli Manning is 8-4 all-time. Those records are obviously pretty good, but how many times did those two quarterbacks miss the playoffs completely? Playoff appearances and playoff wins are far more telling.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Playoff records for anyone are dumb. If you make it and lose you're 0-1 and someone that went 4-12 doesn't get a loss. If you don't win the Super Bowl, you end with a loss. The loser of Sunday's game is .500 in the playoffs this year and was a game from the Super Bowl. It's stupid.

[OldHeidelberg]

Playoff records for anyone are dumb. If you make it and lose you're 0-1 and someone that went 4-12 doesn't get a loss. If you don't win the Super Bowl, you end with a loss. The loser of Sunday's game is .500 in the playoffs this year and was a game from the Super Bowl. It's stupid.

 

And the winner is 2-0 and is going to the Super Bowl, which would you rather be? I think I get what you are saying, if we went 9-7 and missed the playoffs there would be no conversation about Rodgers not getting it done. But I would say playoff record is pretty damn important, getting wins there is what it is all about. I always remind myself that the Lions have 1 playoff win in my lifetime. I am 51.

[stalton]

I had to look it up because I wasnt sure if the Lions won at all while I was alive (I'm 35) Turns out their 1 win was in 91 against the Cowboys followed by 9 losses over the following 28 years. Oof.

 

Really excited for Sunday. When they kickoff, they will be 1 of 3 teams left standing.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Playoff records for anyone are dumb. If you make it and lose you're 0-1 and someone that went 4-12 doesn't get a loss. If you don't win the Super Bowl, you end with a loss. The loser of Sunday's game is .500 in the playoffs this year and was a game from the Super Bowl. It's stupid.

 

And the winner is 2-0 and is going to the Super Bowl, which would you rather be? I think I get what you are saying, if we went 9-7 and missed the playoffs there would be no conversation about Rodgers not getting it done. But I would say playoff record is pretty damn important, getting wins there is what it is all about. I always remind myself that the Lions have 1 playoff win in my lifetime. I am 51.

 

I'd rather win, but I'm not sure you did get what I was saying. The point is that getting 1 game from the Super Bowl is a very, very good season. You're in the last 4 standing. And all you get to show for it is a ".500" playoff record. The stats will treat it identically to going 8-8, winning a Wild Card game and getting blown out by 40 the next week.

 

The Packers have a bunch of playoff losses and some wins in years they'd be 6-10 without Aaron Rodgers. Tacking their postseason W/L record on one guy is dumb. It's always been dumb.

[nodakfan17]

Aaron Rodgers played in 16 playoff games from 2009-2016. If we treated his playoff career like a season, his stat line would be as follows:

 

9-7 Record

36 TDs, 10 INTs

4,458 Yards

99.4 Passer Rating

 

Keep in mind those stats came against 16 playoff teams. Further, 10 games were played on the road. The SOS would be more difficult than any regular season schedule any quarterback has ever faced (and Rodgers essentially still had a Pro Bowl year).

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Exactly, and it's just a very misleading way of analyzing things. .500 is mediocre. The Packers reached the NFC Championship going 1-1 in 2007, 2014 and potentially 2019. That's 3-3 with three title game appearances. That's really hard to do and looking at it in hindsight and saying they're .500 in the playoffs just doesn't do it justice.

 

IMO they should treat NFL playoff records like tournament combat sports. If you win the game after your bye, you should get a win for the bye week.

[OldHeidelberg]

I'd rather win, but I'm not sure you did get what I was saying. The point is that getting 1 game from the Super Bowl is a very, very good season. You're in the last 4 standing. And all you get to show for it is a ".500" playoff record. The stats will treat it identically to going 8-8, winning a Wild Card game and getting blown out by 40 the next week.

 

The Packers have a bunch of playoff losses and some wins in years they'd be 6-10 without Aaron Rodgers. Tacking their postseason W/L record on one guy is dumb. It's always been dumb.

 

You can throw out outliers like this to try to discredit any stat but I sort of doubt any of the all time great QB's padded their playoff record with a bunch of wins like this. If you want to give them an extra win for earning a bye that's fine, I don't think it's going to make some guys look much better or worse though. Really it's just another way of saying Rodgers has only won 1 Super Bowl, of the 10 guys who have won 10 or more playoff games only Favre and PManning have worse records than Rodgers and both were criticized for it during their careers. Is it fair to judge one player for the teams wins and losses? NFL QB is the only position in sports I think you can and that is only during the passing era. If you don't think it's fair that's fine, but you have to be aware that postseason success is something people do look at when judging the great QB's. I am as big a fan of Rodgers as anyone and I know his teams have been flawed, especially on defense, but the clock is ticking on his career and he has a pretty good team behind him this year like he did in 2011 and 2014.

 

Can't wait for the game to start.

[homer]

JK Scott questionable with an illness (presumably the flu).