Super Bowl berth at stake as top-seeded Packers host Bucs

TAMPA BAY (13-5) at GREEN BAY (14-3)

Sunday, 3:05 p.m. ET, Fox

OPENING LINE — Packers by 3 ½

RECORD VS. SPREAD — Buccaneers 11-7; Packers 11-6

SERIES RECORD — Packers lead 33-22-1

LAST MEETING — Buccaneers beat Packers 38-10 in Tampa, Oct. 18, 2020

LAST WEEK — Buccaneers beat Saints 30-20; Packers beat Rams 32-18

AP PRO32 RANKING — Buccaneers No. 8, Packers No. 2

BUCCANEERS OFFENSE — OVERALL (7), RUSH (28-T), PASS (2).

BUCCANEERS DEFENSE — OVERALL (6), RUSH (1), PASS (21).

PACKERS OFFENSE — OVERALL (5), RUSH (8), PASS (9).

PACKERS DEFENSE — OVERALL (9), RUSH (13-T), PASS (7).

STREAKS, STATS AND NOTES — This is the second playoff meeting between Tampa Bay and Green Bay. The Packers beat the Bucs 21-7 in a divisional playoff game at Green Bay on Jan. 4, 1998. … This marks the first postseason matchup between Packers QB Aaron Rodgers and Bucs QB Tom Brady. They have met three times in the regular season, with Brady’s teams owning a 2-1 edge. … Brady is making a league-record 14th conference championship game appearance, his first in the NFC. He went 9-4 in AFC title games with the New England Patriots. … Brady holds postseason record for starts (43), victories (32), completions (1,065), passing yards (11,968), passing touchdowns (77) and Super Bowl titles (6). … A win would enable Brady to join Peyton Manning, Kurt Warner and Craig Morton as the only quarterback to lead two separate franchises into the Super Bowl. … The Bucs have won a franchise-record seven consecutive road games, including playoff wins over Washington and New Orleans. With a win at Green Bay, they’ll become the first team to advance to a Super Bowl that will be played in its home stadium. …With LB Devin White leading the way, Tampa Bay’s defense forced four turnovers in last week’s divisional-round win over the Saints. The Bucs have scored a league-high 27 points off five takeaways this postseason. … It’s Tampa Bay’s fourth NFC title game appearance, first since their Super Bowl championship run 18 years ago. … Tampa Bay led the NFL in run defense during the regular season and limited Aaron Jones to 15 yards on 10 carries in its Oct. 18 victory over the Packers. … Rodgers went 16 of 35 for 160 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns in the regular-season loss to Tampa Bay. In the Packers’ other 16 games, he has completed 71.9% of his passes for 4,435 yards with 50 touchdowns and three interceptions. … Rodgers is one of four All-Pro selections from Green Bay. The others are WR Davante Adams, Packers OT David Bakhtiari (injured) and C Corey Linsley. … Adams led the NFL with 18 regular-season touchdown catches despite missing two games with a hamstring injury. He also caught a touchdown pass in the Packers’ 32-18 playoff victory over the Los Angeles Rams last week. … Green Bay committed a league-low 11 turnovers during the regular season. The Packers have committed just two turnovers during their seven-game winning streak. … The Packers are in the NFC championship game for the fourth time in their last seven seasons, though they haven’t reached the Super Bowl since their 2010 championship season. Green Bay’s 2014 team lost an NFC championship game at Seattle. The 2016 team lost a conference championship game at Atlanta. Last season, the Packers fell 37-20 at San Francisco in the NFC title match. … The Packers scored an NFL-leading 31.8 points per game during the regular season. … Packers OLB Za’Darius Smith had 12 ½ sacks during the regular season and contributed one more against the Rams. … Packers DT Kenny Clark and OLB Rashan Gary each made 1 ½ sacks against the Rams. … Fantasy tip: The Bucs showed they could run the ball on Green Bay back in October, when Ronald Jones rushed for 113 yards and two touchdowns. The trick is guessing how the Bucs will distribute carries after Jones and Leonard Fournette shared the load last week at New Orleans. The guess here is that Fournette gets more fantasy points than Jones on Sunday.

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