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sports Tuesday 27 december 2022
Rams, Bucs, Packers earn wins on same day in upside-down NFC

By ROB MAADDI son, the Cowboys will beat playoffs with two more wins
AP Pro Football Writer them by double digits. plus a loss by Washington
Tom Brady and Aaron Rod- Brady doesn't seem to trust (7-7-1) or two losses by the
gers led comeback wins his offensive line, so he's Giants (8-6-1).
and the Los Angeles Rams getting rid of the ball at a Green Bay trailed Miami 20-
dominated Russell Wilson faster pace than he ever 10 in the second quarter on
and the Broncos. has, and he appears to Sunday before outscoring
It was a triumphant Christ- lack confidence in his re- the Dolphins 16-0 the rest
mas for the Buccaneers, ceivers at times. of the way. The defense
Packers and Rams as many The offense has been out picked Tua Tagovailoa
figured it would be when of sync all season and is three times in the fourth
the schedule was released averaging fewer than 18 quarter to help secure the
in May. The NFC's top three points. But the defense has 26-20 upset on the road.
preseason Super Bowl fa- stepped up and Brady has The Packers haven't resem-
vorites were expected to engineered three come- bled the team that won Philadelphia Eagles' Gardner Minshew after throwing an incol-
be jockeying for playoff back wins in the last seven 13 games in each of the plete pass in the final seconds of an NFL football game against
positioning Sunday. games. They'll need to play three previous seasons. But the Dallas Cowboys Saturday, Dec. 24, 2022, in Arlington, Texas.
Instead, the Rams (5-10) far better than they've they're starting to come to- Associated Press
are trying to avoid the shown to have a shot at gether down the stretch. a chance to sneak in. 28 passes for 238 yards and
most losses by a defending winning a playoff game. In 2010 when Rodgers won The Rams already have two touchdowns. Mayfield
Super Bowl champion. The Rodgers and the Packers his only Super Bowl, the been knocked out of the has led Los Angeles to two
Packers (7-8) need help just were headed toward elimi- Packers made the playoffs playoff race, but Baker victories in three games
to make the playoffs. The nation a few weeks ago as the sixth and final seed Mayfield has made them since he joined the team
Buccaneers (7-8) lead the after a 4-8 start. But they've in the NFC. They host the Vi- interesting. He was excel- two days before leading
dreadful NFC South with a won three straight games kings (12-3) and Lions (7-8) lent in a 51-14 win against a comeback win over Las
first-place showdown com- and now can make the in the final two games with Denver, completing 24 of Vegas on Dec. 8.q
ing up against Carolina.
While the NFC is upside
down, the AFC has lived
up to expectations. The
Buffalo Bills (12-3) and Kan-
sas City Chiefs (12-3) en-
tered the season as the
top two Super Bowl favor-
ites and they are 1-2 in the
race for the No. 1 seed. The
defending AFC champion
Cincinnati Bengals (11-4)
are third with a chance to
move up when they host
the Bills next Monday night.
Brady rallied Tampa Bay
from a 10-point deficit in
the fourth quarter to a
19-16 overtime victory at
Arizona following anoth-
er poor offensive perfor-
mance. The 45-year-old,
seven-time Super Bowl
champion threw two picks
for the third straight game,
the offense had no rhythm
until it went into hurry-up
mode late and the deplet-
ed offensive line lost anoth-
er key player.
The Buccaneers would
clinch the division title with
a win over the Panthers
(6-9) on New Year's Day.
They'd earn the No. 4 seed
in the NFC and home-field
advantage in a wild-card
game with the most likely
opponent being the Dallas
Cowboys (11-4).
The Bucs opened the sea-
son with a 19-3 win in Dal-
las. These are two different
teams now. If Brady and
the Bucs play the way they
have for most of the sea-