Seahawks will host the Packers in the NFC championship game
Published 2:20 pm Sunday, January 11, 2015
Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers will return to the stadium where their season began, facing the Seattle Seahawks at 12:05 p.m. PT Sunday with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line.
The Packers beat the Dallas Cowboys 26-21 Sunday, punching their ticket to the NFC championship game a day after Seattle did so with a 31-17 victory over Carolina.
One big story line all week will be the health of Rodgers, who played through a calf injury that appeared to be affecting him in the first half, but didn’t seem to be an issue in a brilliant second half. Rodgers finished the game 24 for 35 for 316 yards and three touchdowns, but if his mobility is limited again in Seattle, that could hinder Green Bay’s offense.
The Seahawks beat Green Bay 36-16 in the season opener, though both teams will say this week that they have changed a lot since that game.
One thing that will be interesting to watch is how Rogers and the Packers decide to attack (or not attack) Richard Sherman’s side of the field. In the previous meeting, the Rodgers didn’t target a receiver being covered by Sherman in the entire game, and since Sherman stays on the left side of Seattle’s defense, that meant more or less giving up a third of the field. And while that meant a quiet day for Seattle’s best cornerback, Rodgers passed for only 189 yards and the Packers were held to 16 points, a pretty sub-par day for that explosive passing game.
