Shaq Barrett was a terror to Aaron Rodgers in the NFC Championship Game on Sunday, and he thinks he knows why.
Barrett had five tackles, three sacks, and four quarterback hits in his Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ 31-26 win over the Green Bay Packers in the conference championship game. He was interviewed by FOX after the game and offered an explanation for how he was able to get to Rodgers.
“We knew we could affect the game because Aaron Rodgers gives us a chance to get to him. He holds the ball, he wants to make the big play. We took advantage of the opportunities. It might look easy, but it’s not easy! A lot of work goes into it, for sure,” Barrett said.
Despite the sacks, Rodgers still had nice stats in the game. He went 33/48 for 346 yards and three touchdown passes, though he turned the ball over twice.
Ultimately, the Packers made a terrible decision to kick a field goal late, and it cost them.
This is Barrett’s second season with the Bucs, and he’s already headed to a Super Bowl, for a chance to win his second.
Tom Brady helped lead his Tampa Bay Buccaneers to the Super Bowl with a win at Green Bay on Sunday, and he couldn’t wait to celebrate with his family.
Brady walked over to the edge of the field at Lambeau Field. He yelled out for his son, Jack, and asked a security worker whether he could see his son Jack.
Jack, who was all bundled up for the cold, came down and got to share a hug with his father.
Jack is 13 and Brady’s oldest son. His mother is Bridget Moynahan. Jack is a big football fan and probably loved getting to make the trip to Green Bay to see his dad send his team to the Super Bowl. It’s unclear whether Brady’s younger son, Benny, made the trip.
Brady now heads to his 10th career Super Bowl, with a chance to win his 7th. The debate about the best quarterback ever ended years ago, and Brady is just now putting even more distance between him and everyone else.
Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski have teamed up yet again! Treat yourself or a friend with this great Tampa Fiesta shirt. You can buy it here.
Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers advanced to the Super Bowl with a win over the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship Game on Sunday, and a pass interference call helped them seal the victory.
The Packers needed a stop trailing 31-26 with less than two minutes remaining, and it looked like they got it when Brady threw an incomplete pass on 3rd-and-4. A late flag came in, however, and Packers defensive back Kevin King was called for pass interference. You can see the play below:
Very few flags were thrown throughout the game, and many fans felt the officials should have let that go. But King clearly grabbed ahold of Buccaneers wide receiver Tyler Johnson’s jersey.
The penalty gave the Bucs an automatic first down, and they were basically able to ice the game after that. Packers fans will likely be far more furious about head coach Matt LaFleur’s insane late-game decision than they are about the PI call.
Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski have teamed up yet again! Treat yourself or a friend with this great Tampa Fiesta shirt. You can buy it here.
Sports are unpredictable, and that rings more and more true the more specific the prediction is. That is, apparently, unless you’re Maurice Jones-Drew.
NFL Network asked its analysts to make one bold prediction ahead of Sunday’s conference championship games, and Jones-Drew decided to weigh in on the Packers-Buccaneers game. Specifically, the former running back boldly predicted that Green Bay cornerback Jaire Alexander would intercept Tom Brady twice during Sunday’s game.
That was precisely what happened, as Alexander picked off Brady on consecutive drives in the fourth quarter.
Calling an Alexander interception of Brady would have been bold enough, as that’s a pretty specific call. Adding in the second pick prediction and getting it right is just mind-boggling. That’s especially true when, as Jones-Drew noted, Alexander only had four career interceptions coming into the game.
Jones-Drew’s bold prediction aged a whole lot better than this take his NFL Network colleague gave last month.
Photo: Jeff Kern/Flickr via cc-by-sa 2.0
The Green Bay Packers made a surprising decision to kick a field goal with 2:05 left in the NFC Championship Game on Sunday, and it cost them.
The Packers were down 31-23 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and drove inside the 10. They had three shots at a touchdown but failed to score. Then on fourth-and-goal from the eight, the Packers decided to kick a field goal.
Mason Crosby easily made the kick, but that only made it a 31-26 game.
One has to wonder what Green Bay was thinking.
Even after kicking the field goal, they were still going to need a touchdown to win. A field goal was useless. They had three timeouts, so they were relying on their defense to get a quick stop and then the offense to drive for a touchdown.
The brighter idea would have been to go for the touchdown and 2-point conversion to tie. Even if they failed, they would have needed a defensive stop to get the ball back, and they would have needed a touchdown again.
By kicking the field goal in that situation, you are taking the fate of your team out of your MVP quarterback’s hands, and instead putting it into the hands of Tom Brady.
Why on earth would Matt LaFleur do that?
Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski have teamed up yet again! Treat yourself or a friend with this great Tampa Fiesta shirt. You can buy it here.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers made an aggressive call near the end of the first half of their game against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, and Tom Brady was the one who decided to go for the big play.
Facing 4th-and-4 with 13 seconds remaining in the half, the Bucs decided to go for it from the Green Bay 45-yard line rather than punting. Brady completed a six-yard pass to Leonard Fournette for a first down. On the next play, Buccaneers wide receiver Scotty Miller beat single coverage down the left sideline and Brady found him for a 39-yard touchdown.
Tampa Bay could have attempted a 56-yard field goal, but they made the right choice by going for the big play. FOX sideline reporter Erin Andrews said during the broadcast that Bruce Arians told her Brady made the decision to go for the end zone.
“I asked Bruce Arians what he thought about the way that first half ended and he said, ‘I loved it. That was all Tom Brady. He loved the matchup and he said let’s go for it,'” Andrews said at the start of the second half.
We know by now that Arians gives Brady a great deal of freedom, but that is a great illustration of just how much control Brady has over the offense. There was talk early in the season that Brady and Arians weren’t getting along, but FOX’s Joe Buck set the record straight on that during Sunday’s game. You can read Buck’s comments here.
Allowing a six-time Super Bowl champion to make big decisions in a conference title game seems like a recipe for success.
Longtime NFL head coach Tony Dungy is not a guy who likes to be excessively critical of his peers, so the comments he made about the Green Bay Packers’ defensive setup to end the first half of the NFC Championship are certainly notable.
With eight seconds left and the Buccaneers 39 yards away from the end zone and out of timeouts, it seemed the Packers simply had to keep them away from the sideline to run out the clock on the first half. However, Tom Brady managed to find Scotty Miller for a 39-yard touchdown after Packers cornerback Kevin King got torched on the play.
Dungy seemed to lay blame at the feet of Packers defensive coordinator Mike Pettine, calling Green Bay’s defensive setup on the play “the worst defensive design I’ve ever seen with 8 seconds and no timeouts left.”
Brutal, but there’s not much to argue with here. The Buccaneers were out of timeouts. They basically had to either score or find someone right by the sideline. The Packers should have been able to take both of those strategies off the table with a better defensive strategy.
We just wonder if Brady will like this Dungy take more than this one from last month.
Steve Sarkisian has left Alabama to take over the head coach job at Texas, and he is raiding his former boss’ staff.
Sarkisian is taking former Alabama offensive line coach Kyle Flood with him to serve as his offensive line coach and offensive coordinator for the Longhorns. He’s also taking Jeff Banks to be his assistant head coach, special teams coordinator and tight ends coach. A.J. Milwee is leaving Bama to be Texas’ quarterbacks coach.
Despite all that, Sarkisian isn’t too worried about Saban.
He’s right. No matter what or whom Saban loses, the Alabama coach rebuilds without issues. We have already seen Saban replace Sarkisian at offensive coordinator with Bill O’Brien, and Flood with Doug Marrone. That’s two former NFL head coaches. Plus, as long as Saban is there, that’s the key ingredient to lead the Crimson Tide program.
At least Sarkisian will have some nice help at Texas, while Saban has arguably upgraded. That’s a win-win for everyone.
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Michael Thomas is clearly bothered by the notion that he cannot make plays down the field, and the New Orleans Saints receiver appeared to throw his quarterback under the bus to make a point on Sunday.
Thomas was held without a catch in last week’s loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Following the disappointing performance, Bucs cornerback Carlton Davis and many others mocked Thomas by calling him “Slant Boy.” That’s a nickname Thomas earned from people who think he is only capable of running underneath routes and catching short passes.
In the first half of Sunday’s NFC Championship Game between Tampa Bay and the Green Bay Packers, Davis was torched by Marquez Valdes-Scantling on a 50-yard touchdown pass. Thomas immediately began bashing the cornerback on Twitter.
While Thomas was obviously trying to get back at Davis, the All-Pro receiver also seemed to take some swipes at Drew Brees. He said it’s easy for a defensive back to lock down a receiver when the defender knows the opposing quarterback can’t throw the ball deep.
Saints fans will likely consider that a low blow from Thomas.
Brees showed diminished arm strength down the stretch this season, and last week’s game was his worst playoff performance ever. That said, he and Thomas have enjoyed plenty of success together over the past several years. We understand that Thomas wants to shake the “Slant Boy” nickname, but it is surprising that he seemed to put Brees down while defending himself.
Antonio Brown has apparently shown the Tampa Bay Buccaneers enough that they’d like to keep him around for another season.
According to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com, the Buccaneers want to keep Brown for 2021. The team signed him in October to a one-year deal, and he is slated to be an unrestricted free agent when the season ends.
Keeping Brown would certainly make sense for the Buccaneers. Fellow receiver Chris Godwin is set to become a free agent as well. Between that and the fact that Mike Evans has dealt with some injuries in 2020, keeping Brown would work as a valuable insurance policy and possibly then some.
Perhaps most importantly, quarterback Tom Brady is a big fan of Brown and is essentially the reason the Buccaneers took a chance on the wide receiver. Brown has been able to stay out of trouble since signing, which probably makes the decision easier as well.
The 32-year-old wide receiver caught 45 passes during the regular season, racking up 483 yards and four receiving touchdowns.
