Green Bay Packers are playing for the right to go to the Super Bowl. This is the fifth time in Aaron Rodgers’ career that he will have this chance. For the first time out of those five, Green Bay will be favored and be home at Lambeau Field. All they have to do is beat Tampa Bay and Tom Brady, the best playoff quarterback of the last 20 years. Green Bay is playing with a confidence that is unmatched right now, but this is the right final opponent for Green Bay in the NFC. Here are the questions I have about this game.

1. Will the aerial attack come to Lambeau or will it be more balanced? – Originally, I thought Green Bay should pass the ball a ton against Tampa. The reason being is Kansas City and Los Angeles both lit them up this way. Tyreek Hill went crazy against this defense and thought there was an ability to do the same. But as Murph pointed out on the podcast, one of the things that plagued Green Bay in the first game was the lack of a running attack. I trust in Matt LaFleur’s decision making here.

2. Green Bay is going to rush Tom Brady, right? Right? – One of the things that were infuriating about the first matchup was Green Bay’s lack of pass rush. If you remember, the pinned-ears mentality changed around Chicago and since then, the Packers have been dynamic. They need to keep it up. The Smith brothers, Kenny Clark, and others need to attack Brady all game long. Trust in your corners even if that means Kevin King on an island.

3. Will MVS live up to the big moment? – Here’s the thing, I think the Packers are going deep to MVS in the first 10 plays. He has the speed to burn these corners and safeties for Tampa Bay. Marquez will have a moment early in this game. The question is will he live up to it or will we see the usual stuff from the talented wide receiver? It would not surprise me if MVs is the x-factor in this game.

4. What type of impact could Tramon Williams have? – One thing we didn’t cover was Green Bay bringing back Tramon Williams. Baltimore released him earlier this week. Brian Gutekunst continues to show a relentless nature of bringing in talent that could help them win a Super Bowl. My guess is they will make Tramon part of that rover in the secondary. The spot we saw Will Redmond and before that Raven Greene fill. My guess is they would try to keep him on the side of King if possible.

5. Can the offensive line beat Tampa’s mean front seven? – Green Bay Packers’ offensive line is still good without David Bakhtiari. They are not elite by any means but still very good. This Tampa front seven got the best of them the first time around. What is going to be important is the lineman get to the second level on their blocks. If they’re able to do that, Green Bay is going to win this football game.

Prediction
Yes, I’m a homer. I believe I’ve done preview posts for every NFC Championship game the Packers have been in. I think I even picked them against Atlanta which was fucking dumb, but whatever. This is not one of those games. This is different. I’m taking the Packers and think this might be a little more of a game in hand for Green Bay than the experts think. Green Bay 31 Buccaneers 20.

Charlie.