Green Bay finds playoff success in setting the pace

It’s a rematch of a Week 16 game that Arizona dominated 38-8. “That’s fun having him in the room”, McCarthy said Monday. “It just takes one performance to get us going back in the right direction and believing that we can make a run”.

The hard work has paid off.

Late in the second quarter Sunday, Adams had a 20-yard leaping catch down the left sideline to give the Packers a first down on the Washington 10-yard line. Green Bay had four of its six sacks in the second half. A TV camera even caught a light moment when the giddy Rodgers walked up behind McCarthy and put two hands on the coach’s shoulders.

Following a concerning first quarter, the quarterback brought some of his best to spur his team to a 35-18 win over Washington in the Wild Card round. They had just 11 yards after one quarter. We’ve got to start the game running the ball better than we have.

Rodgers then came to life with the next five drives resulting in a touchdown, field goal, touchdown, touchdown and touchdown.

Quarterback Aaron Rodgers #12 of the Green Bay Packers and defensive end Chris Baker #92 of the Washington Redskins look on after the Green Bay Packers defeated the Washington Redskins 35-18 during the NFC Wild Card Playoff game at FedExField on January 10, 2016 in Landover, Maryland.

Las Vegas sports books are opening up with the Cardinals as 7.5 to 8.5 point favorites over the Packers, this is, by far, the biggest differential between Divisional Playoff opponents.

“I talked a lot the last couple weeks about being able to turn it on, and a lot of you probably thought that was lip service”, Rodgers said.

First, they need a little rest.

The 2015 Arizona Cardinals set a franchise record with 13 wins while leading the league in total offense and scoring. Others, such as Carson Palmer, were going to watch every snap of every game.

He said they had not yet nailed down the travel schedule, whether they would fly out to Arizona after practice on Friday or whether they would fly out on Thursday and practice here somewhere on Friday.

“You get in the postseason, everybody has an equal opportunity”, receiver James Jones said.

What that means for the crowd makeup at University of Phoenix Stadium is yet to be seen, but I don’t see how there will be as many Packers fans this time around as there were for the last meeting. After missing the last three games with a sprained ankle, Bakhtiari may return this week. J.C. Tretter, a third-year player from Cornell, played well in his absence at Washington. Also, cornerback Sam Shields has been out for almost a month with a concussion, and star wide receiver Jordy Nelson was lost to injury before the regular season began. “I don’t care how people pick or what they think”, he added. “It’s going to be tough to block us both when we’re both humming”.