Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers miracle run continue: an eighth straight win (having lost five of the six games before that) has them heading to the NFC Championship game, where they will face the Atlanta Falcons.
The latest team to fall to Rodgers and Green Bay are the Dallas Cowboys, following a thrilling clash in Texas last night. The fourth quarter was among the greatest the NFL post-season has ever seen, so here are the highlights for those of you who couldn't stay up/are currently bleary-eyed and simply want to take it in again.
With two minutes on the clock, and the score tied 28-28, Aaron Rodgers' arm deserted him, throwing an intercept pass. He was saved, however, by a defensive interference penalty, which ended with a 56-yard field goal attempt by Mason Crosby. He nailed it.
Dallas hit back, however, and with 38 seconds on the clock, they converted a 52-yard field goal of their own. With a nation of commuters facing the seductive nightmare of overtime, the Packers - with two timeouts remaining - went for the Cowboys' throat.
The prospect of the Packers' winning it without the added time diminished further, when Rodgers was sacked on 1st & 10, with 21 seconds on the clock. He miraculously held on to the ball, however.
That sack was so hard Aaron Rodgers' face changed. pic.twitter.com/dAqUTcHUmL
— SB Nation GIF (@SBNationGIF) January 16, 2017
Aaron Rodgers somehow not fumbling on that blindside sack was his best play today.
— Jimmy Traina (@JimmyTraina) January 16, 2017
And then...
A Hail Mary last week, Rodgers continued a celestial post-season with a miracle play. He scrambled out left, threw a dart for Jared Cook, who somehow managed to complete a catch. It was originally called as incomplete, befoe the video review revealed an utterly ludicrous bit of contortion by Cook:
Packers/Cowboys highlights
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqpp-7KjlXU
I wonder how much the fear of Aaron Rodgers uncorking a Hail Mary after he rolled left allowed Jared Cook to get open where he did.
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) January 16, 2017
More drama followed: Crosby hit a 5-yard Field Goal for the win with one second on the clock, only for it to be ruled out: Dallas had called a timeout before the kick was taken.
So, on the second try, Crosby did this:
https://youtu.be/qxsVNoZo_tA
What a game. The Packers advance to play the Falcons, with the winner facing either the Steelers or the Patriots at Superbowl 51.
