TOM CANAVAN

Tied with less than a minute to play and 80 yards from the end zone, Aaron Rodgers wasn’t going to wait until overtime.

It was the perfect choice for a team pushing perfection.

Rodgers completed passes of 24, 27 and 18 yards in a lightning-quick five-play drive to set up a 31-yard field goal by Mason Crosby on the final play, and the Green Bay Packers remained undefeated and clinched a playoff berth with a 38-35 victory over the New York Giants today.

“Those are the fun ones when they end up like that,” Rodgers said. “We’ve had a number of games we won by a couple scores,” Rodgers said. “You get the ball on the 20, under a minute, and we get it down there for a chip-shot field goal, it’s very rewarding. It probably (ranks) right at the top.”

The defending Super Bowl champions (12-0) won their 18th straight game. Coupled with the Detroit Lions’ loss to New Orleans, the Packers captured the NFC North.

Rodgers hit all four of his passes in the 58-second drive that sent the Giants (6-6) to their fourth straight loss, starting with a 24-yard laser to tight end Jermichael Finley just over the hands of rookie linebacker Jacquian Williams.

“I thought it was mine. I thought it was mine,” Williams said after the game. “Like I said, it’s a good throw and catch. He made some good throws.”

The second one covered 24 yards to Jordy Nelson down the left sideline and moved the ball to the New York 29. An 18-yard pass to Greg Jennings two plays later moved the ball to the 12. The third toss was a 1-yard loss.

Green Bay called time out with 3 seconds to go, and then Crosby delivered his winning kick.

“It was a huge drive,” said Jennings, who also caught a 20-yard touchdown. “We haven’t had one like that at the end in a while. It was very quiet in the huddle, actually. You could see everybody was focused. It’s great to see what we could do at the end like that.”

Coach Mike McCarthy said the Packers practice the two-minute drive all the time. Having Rodgers at the helm is just a bonus.

“I’m running out things to say about him,” McCarthy said. “He’s a great quarterback. Playing against the pass rush they had tonight, he hung in there and made the plays.”

Rodgers, harassed by the Giants’ front four and sacked three times, finished 28 of 46 for 369 yards. He threw touchdown passes of 7 and 13 yards to Donald Driver and 12 to Finley in addition to the one to Jennings.

The loss was another heartbreaker for New York, which played exceptionally well after being blown out by New Orleans on Monday night.

The Giants tied it on a 2-yard touchdown pass from Eli Manning to Hakeem Nicks, and a 2-point conversion run by D.J. Ware on a Manning audible with just under a minute to play.

However, Rodgers wasn’t going to settle for overtime after a touchback on the ensuing kickoff.

“He’s a great quarterback, but I expect more out of us on defense,” Giants defensive end Dave Tollefson said. “You know, it’s not like Jesus in cleats. He’s Aaron Rodgers. He’s a great quarterback, but we have to do a better job of finishing on defense.”

The three-point victory was the Packers’ smallest winning margin this season.

“We’re 12-0 and we’re focused on that,” said linebacker Clay Matthews who scored on a 38-yard second-quarter interception. “It’s been something we’ve been talking about since we were 7-0 or 8-0. So we’ll keep going from that.”

For the Giants, everything wasn’t terrible. Dallas also lost, leaving New York a game behind the Cowboys with four games to go. The teams will play twice over that span.

“It gives us relief to know we’re still right in the mix,” said Manning, who was 23 of 40 for 347 yards and three touchdowns. “If we handle our business and win out, we’ll be in the playoffs. It’s a playoff atmosphere now.”

Manning’s touchdowns covered 67-yards to Travis Beckum and 4 and 2 yards to Nicks. Brandon Jacobs scored on a 1-yard run after a rare interception of Rodgers and Lawrence Tynes kicked two field goals with a 50-yarder in the fourth quarter getting New York within 28-27.

Rodgers hooked up with Driver on a 7-yard TD with 3:34 to go to push the lead to 35-27.

However, Manning hit tight end Jake Ballard on two 15-yard passes and connected with Victor Cruz for 22 yards to set up the tying score that New York thought would send the game to OT.

Rodgers had other ideas, though, and the Packers continued their run at trying to match Miami’s perfect season in 1972.

It’s not surprising New York gave them a game. The Giants ended the Denver Broncos perfect season at 11 games in 1998 and they knocked off the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl in February 2008 when Tom Brady and company were a game from perfection.

New York seemed to be in control until Manning made a mistake on a play-action pass on the first play of the second quarter. With his primary receiver covered, Manning threw a sideline pass to Ahmad Bradshaw in front of the Packers bench and Matthews jumped the route and returned it 38 yards for a touchdown and a 14-10 lead.

Rodgers had only been intercepted four times all season but linebacker Chase Blackburn, signed Wednesday, picked him off at the Green Bay 21 and returned the ball to the 12. Two plays later, Brandon Jacobs plowed in from the 1 to give New York a 17-14 edge.

Rodgers atoned for the error on the next series, driving the Packers 80 yards in 11 plays with the biggest play being an 11-yard scramble on a third-and-10 from New York 43. Rodgers capped the march with a 13-yard, third-down touchdown pass to a wide-open Donald Driver on a play in which the Giants secondary blew the coverage.

The 49ers (10-2) sealed their playoff berth and the NFC West division title with a 26-0 shutout over the struggling St. Louis Rams (2-10) while the battle for playoff spots in the AFC looked likely to go down to the wire with none of the teams able to break free of the pack.

Last year’s Super Bowl runner-up, the Pittsburgh Steelers (9-3), romped to a 35-7 win over the Cincinnati Bengals (7-5) only to remain behind Baltimore (9-3) in the AFC North division after the Ravens won 24-10 at the Cleveland Browns (4-8).

The Houston Texans (9-3) snuck past the Atlanta Falcons (7-5) to move two games clear in the AFC South while the New England Patriots (9-3) held off the winless Indianapolis Colts 31-24 to lead the AFC East by two but not assured of anything.

The Denver Broncos (7-5), led by in-form quarterback Tim Tebow, rallied for a 35-32 win over the struggling Minnesota Vikings (2-10) after Matt Prater kicked a 23-yard field goal on the final play to join Oakland (7-5) atop the AFC West as the Raiders fell 34-14 to the Miami Dolphins (4-8).

Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers threw four touchdowns and Mason Crosby kicked a 30-yard field goal as time expired as the Packers survived a scare from a Giants team that has lost four straight and is in danger of missing the postseason.

“This was the first step,” said Rodgers. “Get in the playoffs, win the division, get a first-round bye, homefield advantage and hopefully go undefeated.”

The 49ers showed why they have the best defense in the NFL as they booked their first playoff berth in nine years with Alex Smith throwing for two long touchdowns.

The Bears, already without quarterback Jay Cutler, suffered another blow during their surprise loss to the Chiefs when running back Matt Forte left the game with a right knee injury in the first half.

Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger threw a pair of touchdown passes while Rashard Mendenhall rushed for two more as the Steelers recorded their third straight win.

The Texans made it six wins on the trot, a record for the franchise, when Arian Foster scored the winning touchdown and rookie quarterback T.J. Yates celebrated his first NFL start with a win.

Another rookie, Cam Newton, set a NFL record for the most rushed touchdowns in a season by a quarterback when he scored three times in the Carolina Panthers’ (4-8) dominating 38-19 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4-8).

Newton took his total for rushed touchdowns for the season to 13, one more than the previous mark set by Steve Grogan in 1976.

Rob Gronkowski set a single-season record for touchdowns by a tight end in the Patriots’ win over the Colts (0-12), the only remaining winless team this season.

Gronkowski scored twice to lift his season total to 14 touchdowns, eclipsing the previous record of 13 jointly held by Vernon Davis and Antonio Gates.

- AP, Reuters

(Reuters) – The unbeaten Green Bay Packers can secure their place in the playoffs and take a step towards the ‘perfect season‘ when they face the New York Giants on Sunday while the San Francisco 49ers could join them in the post-season with a win over St.Louis.

The schedule has not been kind to the Giants who come off Monday night’s 49-24 mauling in New Orleans and now face the 11-0 Super Bowl champion Packers and the league’s most feared quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

There are numerous ways that Green Bay can make sure of a playoff place with a quarter of the regular season remaining, the most obvious being a victory, but other scenarios include losses for Chicago, Atlanta or Detroit.

But the Packers, who will already be aiming for home field advantage in the playoffs, are not going to be giving much time to calculations.

The elusive unbeaten record of the 1972 Miami Dolphins is a topic that few challengers are willing to discuss and Rodgers is no exception, insisting the motivation, even at this stage, has nothing to do with the record books.

“It is motivating to go out every week and compete better than you did the previous. We have been able to play the way we wanted to play consistently the first 11 games. We will see what happens when we get down this road a little bit,” Rodgers said on Wednesday.

“It is not something that we vocally talk about as a goal. Our goal is to win the division first, get a home game and give ourselves a chance and go from there,” he added.

GROUP OF SEVEN

Victory would move the Packers’ unbeaten streak to 18, including last season’s playoff wins, and another triumph would put them in the group of seven teams to have reached that total – including, two great pre-war Chicago Bears teams – a point that won’t be lost on the Green Bay fanbase.

Only the New England Patriots, who went 21 games unbeaten between 2003 and 2004, stand above that group on 18.

The Giants don’t need much reminding that unbeaten streaks do come to an end – they famously ended the Patriots’ hopes of a perfect season with a victory in the 2007 Super Bowl that ended New England’s run that season at 18 games.

The Giants (6-5) still have a shout at the playoffs themselves but they have a tough schedule and will need to pull off a few surprises if they are to keep their hopes alive.

The 49ers (9-2) have a five game cushion in the NFC West and a win or a tie will be enough to secure the division for Jim Harbaugh in his first season since moving from the college game.

Perhaps the closest fought game will be in New Orleans where the Detroit Lions (7-4) badly need an upset win after losing two of their last three.

That task will be made even tougher if, as expected, Ndamukong Suh’s suspension is upheld, despite an appeal from the defensive tackle.

In Houston, the Texans, who have lost two quarterbacks to injury, turn to third-stringer T.J. Yates against Atlanta.

The Falcons (7-4) trail New Orleans (8-3) in the NFC South and will be hoping for at least a wildcard spot while Houston must try to hold on to top spot in the AFC South.

(Editing by Rex Gowar)

There isn’t much change in this week’s NFL power rankings by The Times-Picayune. The top eight teams all hold the same position they held a week ago, as they ready for the stretch run.

Currently, the NFC appears to be the NFL’s strongest conference, with the top three-ranked teams each calling the NFC home.

The undefeated Green Bay Packers are No. 1, followed by the San Francisco 49ers and the New Orleans Saints.

The Pittsburgh Steelers (No. 4) and the New England Patriots (No. 5) are the top-ranked teams from the AFC.

Here are the rankings:

Rankings, (last week), team, record,

1.(1) Green Bay Packers 10-0 Have won 16 straight, dating to last year.

2. (2) San Francisco 49ers 9-1 Big game coming up at the Ravens on Turkey Day.

3. (3) New Orleans Saints 7-3 Should be well rested for stretch run. 

4. (4) Pittsburgh Steelers 7-3  Coming off a bye.

5. (5) New England Patriots 7-3 Good shot for No.1 seed in AFC.

6. (6) Chicago Bears 7-3 How will they handle the loss of Jay Cutler?

7. (7) Houston Texans 7-3 Coming off a bye.

8. (8) Baltimore Ravens 7-3 Keeping pace for top seed in AFC. 

9. (10) Detroit Lions 7-3 Looking to knock off the Packers.

10. (11) Atlanta Falcons 6-4 Roddy White bounced back nicely.

11. (14) Dallas Cowboys 6-4 Here come the Cowboys.

12 (9) New York Giants 6-4 Lost two straigth games heading into Saints game.

13. (13) Cincinnati Bengals 6-4 Have lost two in a row.

14. (16) Oakland Raiders 6-4 The Carson Palmer experiment is working out.

15. (20) Denver Broncos 5-5 Finding a way to win with Tebow.

16. (12) New York Jets 5-5 If the playoffs started today Jets wouldn’t make it.

17. (15) Tennessee Titans 5-5 Things will only get harder without Hasselbeck.

18. (17) Buffalo Bills 5-5 Have lost four of last five games.

19. (25) Philadelphia Eagles 4-6 Vince Young did a nice job filling in for Vick.

20. (23) Seattle Seahawks 4-6 Have consecutive wins for the first time this season.

21. (18) Tampa Bay Buccaneers 4-6 Have lost five of last six games.

22. (19) San Diego Chargers 4-6 Have lost five straight games.

23. (21) Kansas City Chiefs 4-6 Offense struggled against Patriots.

24. (27) Cleveland Browns 4-6 Looking to win against on Sunday vs. Bengals.

25. (22) Jacksonville Jaguars 3-7 Jags have plenty of problems.

26. (29) Miami Dolphins 3-7 Dolphins are getting it together.

27. (24) Arizona Cardinals 3-7 Have QB issues.

28. (26) Washington Redskins 3-7 Have lost six straight.

29. (31) Carolina Panthers 2-8 Despite record they still are competitive.

30. (28) St. Louis Rams 2-8 Ranked last in NFL in scoring.

31. (30) Minnesota Vikings 2-8 Adrian Peterson’s injury isn’t good news.

32. (32) Indianapolis Colts 0-10 Has first dibs on top pick in NFL draft.

 

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Tampa Bay Buccaneers weren’t just out to give the Green Bay Packers a scare in the middle of their perfect season.

   Raheem Morris and his team really thought they had a chance to hand the reigning Super Bowl champions their first loss of the season. And until Aaron Rodgers’ deep pass ended up in the arms of wide receiver Jordy Nelson for a game-clinching 40-yard touchdown, it looked like the Buccaneers had a chance.

   Josh Freeman threw for 342 yards with two touchdowns and a pair of interceptions, LeGarrette Blount bounced off tacklers all day on his way to a 107-yard rushing performance and the Buccaneers’ late rally came up just short in a 35-26 loss to the Packers on Sunday.

   “I felt great about the whole game,” Morris said. “Our guys did a nice job competing. We came out and played the way we wanted to play. We played aggressive. We played hard and tried to get a win. Try to steal one from the champs.”

   The Buccaneers (4-6) have lost four straight, but this wasn’t anything like being blown out at home by Houston last week.

   “I thought we were going to come back and win it,” wide receiver Mike Williams said. “It just happened we fell short today.”

   Defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth didn’t want to hear about moral victories.

   “There is no moral victory,” Haynesworth said. “Moral victory is for teams that are not that good and go out and play OK against another team. This team is good and we have a lot of talent.”

   With a 10-0 record going into a Thanksgiving Day game at Detroit, the Packers remain perfect, even if their quarterback walked away expecting much more from himself. Rodgers threw for 299 yards with three touchdowns, including a pair to Nelson, but wasn’t happy with the way he played.

   “I’m just frustrated,” Rodgers said. “I didn’t throw the ball very well. I’m not trying to be ridiculously humble right now, I’m just frustrated. The ball wasn’t coming out the way I wanted it to today.”

   Some of the credit goes to an aggressive Tampa Bay defense that Rodgers said played more man-to-man coverage than the Packers are used to seeing.

   “We weren’t going to be played scared regardless of how good they are,” cornerback Ronde Barber said. “They put their pads on the same way we do. They got a lot of good players, so do we. We are in it to win. There is no sitting back and letting it happen. We were going to go get them. We tried, gave ourselves a great opportunity. Get one more third stop on their touchdown, I think we win this game. It was the one stop we didn’t get.”

   Tampa Bay was penalized nine times for 55 yards, but Morris wasn’t using it as an excuse.

   “Penalties are what they are, they are judgment calls and the judgment went against us a lot of times,” Morris said. “It is what it is.”

   The Buccaneers trailed by only four and seemed to have some momentum when they tried a surprise onside kick before halftime. After a replay review gave the ball to Green Bay at Tampa Bay’s 38, Rodgers drove for a 5-yard touchdown to Nelson that gave the Packers a 21-10 lead.

   Tampa Bay then had a touchdown taken off the board in the third quarter when Kellen Winslow was called for offensive pass interference. The Buccaneers settled for a 32-yard field goal by Connor Barth.

   “I really felt we made enough to plays to beat those guys,” Winslow said. “It is hard to win when you put the game in the refs’ hands.”

   The Buccaneers’ defense got a stop, and Freeman directed an eight-play, 91-yard scoring drive that ended with a 9-yard touchdown pass to Mike Williams. Tampa Bay tried to tie it with a 2-point conversion, but Winslow — who had a pair of big gains on the drive — dropped a catchable ball in the end zone.

   Packers running back James Starks did the majority of the work in an eight-play, 85-yard scoring drive that ended with a 2-yard touchdown run by Kuhn.

   But the Buccaneers got another chance when Rodgers threw an interception to Elbert Mack — only Rodgers’ fourth pick this season — and Freeman threw a 37-yard pass to Arrelious Benn to set up first-and-goal at the 2.

   Freeman then threw a touchdown to Dezmon Briscoe and the Buccaneers kicked the extra point to cut the Packers’ lead to 28-26 with 4:25 left.

   Tampa Bay tried another onside kick, but the Packers recovered and Rodgers found Nelson to put the game away.

   Morris knew he might get second-guessed for the onside kicks but wasn’t apologizing.

   “We wanted to get the ball and win,” Morris said. “We are not going to apologize for being aggressive. When you play the Green Bay Packers, you’ve got to play aggressive, you’ve got to go out and make plays. (You’ve) got to steal possessions.”

   (Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

   APTV 11-20-11 1954EST

GREEN BAY (AP) — If the Green Bay Packers need to be reminded
why they can’t take today’s game against Tampa Bay lightly, they
need only look back to 2009. 

That year, the  Packers were 4-3 heading into what appeared to
be an easy game against an 0-7 Tampa team — only to watch the
Buccaneers and their rookie first-time starting quarterback, Josh
Freeman, make a fourth-quarter comeback to beat them, 38-28. 

Packers coach Mike McCarthy isn’t known for losing his cool very
often, but wide receiver Greg Jennings said he certainly did that
day. 

“I’ve probably seen him more upset once, and that was after the
Detroit loss last year,” Jennings said. “Since then, the
 expectation is to not have letdowns on games like this. Guys
aren’t going to take it for granted. The expectation now is to bury
your opponent when you know you should. That’s our mindset going
into this game and any game. We feel like we’re a better team. It’s
not about what’s on paper. It’s about what you’re going to put out
on the field.”

That loss to Tampa Bay was a turning point in 2009, as the
Packers  rallied to win seven of their last eight games to make the
playoffs. That success was a springboard for last season’s run to
the Super Bowl. 

Now the  reigning  champions are 9-0,  leaving them as the NFL’s
lone undefeated team. Their offense has been cranking all season,
and they finally showed they can play dominant defense in Monday
night’s 45-7 victory over the Minnesota Vikings. 

Meanwhile, it has been a rough few weeks for the  Buccaneers
(4-5), who came into the season hoping to build on last year’s 10-6
season. Instead, they’ve struggled, losing three straight and
coming off a 37-9 blowout loss to Houston at home. 

“We’ve played some really tough teams,”  Buccaneers coach Raheem
Morris said. “They’ve done a great job and we’ve got to play
 better. We’ve got to execute. We’ve haven’t played as fast, hard,
smart and as  consistent as we played last year. To get more wins,
we’ve got to do that and get back to that.”

After an impressive 2010 season, Freeman is having a rougher
time this year, with nine touchdowns and 13 interceptions. 

Freeman says he’s  actually getting  better at reading opposing
defenses, but is running a little short on luck. 

“It’s just been  certain plays, whether it’s a  play-action fake
in the red zone or a ball that’s just a little high getting
deflected, some of the breaks that went my way last year haven’t
gone my way this year,” Freeman said.

“At the same time you’ve got to take it for what it is and
continue to prepare and try to get better.”

Freeman has a sprained thumb on his throwing hand, but says he
“can’t really say that it’s been that big of a deal.”

Against the Packers, Freeman says the Buccaneers have to put
together drives and keep the Packers’ offense off the field. 

“Really, you’ve got to try to take on the mentality of, you’ve
got to match them and then you’ve got to try to hog possessions, 
you’ve got to try to keep them off the field and make the most out
of each possession,” Freeman said. “Because with an offensive like
New Orleans or obviously Green Bay, they’re going to get their
yards, they’re going to get their points, so you’ve just have to
try to limit their number of possessions, turnovers are something
that can’t happen and when you get in the red zone you’ve got to
score touchdowns not field goals.”

Until their impressive performance against the Vikings on Monday
night, moving the ball on the Packers hasn’t been particularly
difficult.

The Packers had given up too many big plays on defense in their
first eight games — but if their performance Monday was an
indication that they’ve finally found a way to play to their
potential, they might be tough to stop the rest of the season. 

“That’s the thing, we’ve always been confident,” defensive
lineman B.J. Raji said. “It’s one thing for people outside the
organization to talk, that’s one thing. But people who are actually
going through it and part of the organization, our confidence never
lacked. It’s hard to lack confidence when you’re undefeated, know
what I mean? It’s not like we’re losing games. But I think we’re
going to build off this.”