4 teams left in quest of Super Bowl 54

Just don’t look ahead Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Yes, Super Bowl 54 will be played at Raymond James Stadium, your home field in Tampa, but to become the first National Football League team to host the Super Bowl at home, you first need to get past the Green Bay Packers at their place Sunday.

And if this happens, it still wouldn’t be the usual packed stands in this season of the coronavirus pandemic. The Bucs only averaged 14,483 fans for their eight home games — about 22nd percent of stadium capacity — and fans had to be in pods separated by 6 feet, and face masks were required. Nothing will change for this Super Bowl and both clubs will be happy to just get there under maybe sunny skies, no precipitation, and temperatures in the 50-60 degree range.

But first it will be the clash of veteran, Hall of Fame quarterbacks in this meeting of the bays. It will be Tom Brady engineering the offense for Tampa Bay and in quest of his seventh Super Bowl championship after 10 appearances, the losses coming twice to the New York Giants and once to the Philadelphia Eagles. At age 43, he just keeps rolling along as the franchise seeks its first title since the Jan. 26, 2003, 48-21 rout over the Oakland Raiders at San Diego.

Last year, while the New England Patriots played in their 11th straight post-season with Brady, it was the Kansas City Chiefs winning it all while the Bucs went 6-10 and now, with Brady, makes their first playoff appearance and wins their first AFC South title since 2007. As usual, he has been devastating in the postseason, passing for a norm of 300 yards per tilt and 13 touchdowns, one in which he scored from a yard out in the 30-20 win at the 2nd-seeded New Orleans Saints in the division round.

Now 5th-seeded Tampa Bay carries in a 12-5 record while New England sits this one out.

And the top-seeded Pack (14-3) will bank on 37-year-old quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who is having a Most Valuable Player campaign and gets home field advantage before a limited number of its die-hard fans and includes all the other virus restrictions. with temperatures expected in the 20s and always a chance of snow.

Last week, Brady played in the New Orleans Superdome, now he resorts to his days in New England that also included low temps and even snow. Doesn’t matter to Rodgers as he reaches back to recall Green Bays’ last time in the league’s spotlight event, a 31-25 triumph over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Feb. 6, 2011, at A T & T Stadium in Arlington, Tex.

“It’s been a long time,” says Rodgers, “between then and now. I remember it was a beautiful day, important to all of us, and there are now so many guys who haven’t been in the mix before. Only a few of us remain from that moment, so it would be nice to get back there.”

But first things first, and as Rodgers acknowledges, it will be a tough time getting past Brady and his experience despite his first time with the Florida franchise. Last year, the Packers disposed of the Seattle Seahawks, 28-23, in the division round and then lost, 37-20, to the San Francisco 49ers in the conference finals. It is now Rodgers’ 18th year and second conference final with Green Bay after spending his first three seasons backing up Phillip Rivers with the then-San Diego Chargers.

His top receiver has been     Adams, who has made 18 touchdown catches and missed two games with a hamstring. There have been COPID-19 issues that has limited the ground attack, although Rodgers can tug the ball via the option he does so well. He is averaging 320 yards per game through the air and has been intercepted only five times.

The other real drawback for his team has been its breakdown on defense, mainly versus the rushing game that has allowed an average of 185 yards a game. Still, the Packers have the offense to overcome this. Against the pass, cornerbacks Jaime Alexander and Darnell Savage have excelled, and the top defensive lineman has been Darrius Smith with 26 sacks since 2019.

Brady, in turn, had to get accustomed to his new set of receivers after years of familiarity with his Patriots’ pass-catchers. Now at full strength after injuries and virus issues, he can go to Mike Evans, Chris Goodwin and Antonio Brown. Then add in tight end Rob Gronkowski, his former teammate up in New England, and Cameron Brate. Along the ground he has Ronald Jones and Leonard Fournette, and both are equally adept at reeling in passes.

The Buccaneers, though, have struggled against opponents who are able to pressure Brady. He might be a bit slower now, but remains crafty and able to avoid enough rushes to make his usual big plays to move the team downfield. In his career he has thrown for five less touchdowns than Rodgers.

“You know,” he says, “it doesn’t matter how you get there, we are there in the final four and are confident at this time. We hope to put our best out there against a very good team. I’m also happy for our linebacker Lavonte David playing in his first playoff in nine years.”

New Orleans future Hall of Famer Drew Brees has probably played in his final game after being ousted by Tampa Bay, but Rodgers and Brady are still hanging tough with the Super Bowl on Feb, 7 now their goals.