Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger and their six combined Super Bowls will square off in Sunday night's AFC Championship game, but Patriots-Steelers amazingly still will feel only like a misplaced appetizer to the NFL's earlier main course.
The Packers' Aaron Rodgers and the Falcons' Matt Ryan are the gold standard of the present, the hottest duo of this weekend's elite quarterback quartet. And while the NFC Championship Game in Atlanta (3:05 p.m., FOX) might not feature the QBs with the most hardware, it does represent the two most dangerous passers vying for a place in Super Bowl LI in Houston.
"I don't specifically go out on the field and defend Aaron, which is a good thing for us," Ryan, the Professional Football Writers' Association's pick for NFL MVP, joked this week. "He's had an unbelievable year. He's a great player."
"We've got to do a better job of playing a 60-minute game against them," said Rodgers, referencing an exhilarating 33-32 Week 8 Packers loss in Atlanta on Oct. 30. "Matt's been pretty hot."
This will be the Falcons' final game ever at the Georgia Dome before the franchise's move next season to $1.5 billion Mercedes-Benz Stadium across the street. Atlanta would have traveled to Dallas if not for Rodgers' heroics in defeating the top-seeded Cowboys, 34-31, in last weekend's divisional round.
The matchup of Ryan, 31, against Rodgers, 33, however, will take center stage in the clash of the No. 2-seed Falcons (12-5) and No. 4-seed Packers (12-6), winners of the NFC South and North divisions, respectively.
Both QBs have been full-time starters for the same franchise for nine straight seasons, having taken the reins simultaneously in 2008. Ryan was a rookie, drafted third overall by the Falcons out of Boston College; Rodgers was in his fourth NFL season out of Cal but his first as a starter (after waiting behind the always-retiring-yet-never-retiring Brett Favre).
Matt Ryan throws for close to 5,000 yards with 38 touchdowns in his best season in the NFL.
(Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
Ryan (38 TDs, 7 INTs) can be called this year's top quarterback based on his NFL-high 117.1 passer rating, the fifth-highest single-season rating in league history. Rodgers can claim the title due to his league-high 40 TD passes (to 7 INTs) and the Packers' current eight-game winning streak buoyed mostly by his right arm.
The most notable difference, though, is that Rodgers – like Brady and Roethlisberger – has won a Super Bowl. Ryan has not; not yet, anyway.
"Yet," Ryan emphasized, when reminded he lacks a ring. "But one thing I've learned is if you're sitting there worrying about all these things that don't make a difference for this week, your focus is not where it should be."
Unlike Rodgers' trademark bravado, on the other hand, Ryan's confidence doesn't come off as brash. The Falcons QB's humility is one of his strengths. So is his "leadership, his communication with everyone," according to his top receiver, Julio Jones.
"Matt's not a guy that has the big head or thinks he's the QB and everybody else just listens to what he has to say," Jones said this week. "He takes into consideration (what) everybody (has to say), it doesn't matter."
Jones' case for Ryan belonging in this weekend's elite final four of NFL quarterbacks included a veiled shot perhaps at the type of angry, emotional sideline behavior Brady displays during games.
Aaron Rodgers shook off a sluggish start to post another sensational season for the Packers.
(Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
"He's in the final four right now," Jones said of Ryan. "But … you see things on TV – and I really don't know the other QBs because obviously I haven't played with them – but you see (quarterbacks) jumping guys and talking down on them. At the end of the day you're a man, and Matt understands that, man-to-man.
"(He's) like, 'OK, we're football players, I understand that. I'm gonna do my job, you're gonna do your job.' But it's the way you talk to people and handle people, as well."
That is not to minimize Ryan's accomplishments on the field. Matty Ice, as he is nicknamed for his steely resolve and cold-killer mentality, has been lights out. He threw at least one of his 38 touchdown passes this season to 13 different receivers.
At least seven Falcons caught three or more TDs.
That group includes stud running backs Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman (2,522 combined rushing and receiving yards, 24 total TDs). Ryan's detractors therefore argue that a mean offensive line, strong running game and superstar receiver in Jones give Ryan's offense more weapons than most.
But for every Jones and Freeman, Ryan makes an Austin Hooper (three), Jacob Tamme (three) or Justin Hardy (four) or Aldrick Robinson (two) a weapon. He puts Taylor Gabriel (six TDs) and Mohamed Sanu (four) more firmly on the radar.
Rodgers, though, while hitting only 10 different receivers for TDs, made Jordy Nelson (14) and Davante Adams (12) the league's top and second-ranked scoring receivers in the entire NFL. The big question for the Packers is whether either receiver will play on Sunday.
Aaron Rodgers threw 40 touchdowns in 2016 against only seven interceptions.
(Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)
Nelson (broken ribs) is a long shot after sitting against Dallas. Adams (sprained ankle) reportedly plans to suit up but is hobbled. Even rookie Geronimo Allison (leg) is banged up.
Nothing has stopped Rodgers from blitzing the league during this Green Bay eight-game winning streak, though, and nothing may stop him now.
"We had extra pressure," Rodgers said of the Packers' desperation to turn around a 4-6 start. "I think some players can't quite harness that fear of failure and generate it into a positive, but we've shown this season in those situations we've been able to function and function at a high level."
The Falcons are history's underdog, despite Vegas calling them four-point favorites all week.
Atlanta never has won a Super Bowl since the franchise's inaugural 1966 season. It has been to only one Super Bowl after the 1998 season, the year of the Dirty Bird touchdown celebration, when the Falcons lost to John Elway and the Denver Broncos, 34-19, in Super Bowl XXXIII.
Green Bay has won four of the last five meetings overall and has won two of the last three playoff meetings. The Falcons' Dan Quinn just won his first ever playoff game in his second season as head coach.
The Falcons are in the postseason for the first time in four years. Ryan has just a 2-4 career playoff record, including a 48-21 loss to Rodgers and the Packers on Jan. 15, 2011, on Green Bay's way to Super Bowl XLV.
Matt Ryan is one win away from his first trip to the Super Bowl.
(Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
Ryan's critical mistake in that game was an interception in the closing seconds of the first half, on a pass to the left sideline intended for Roddy White. Packers DB Tramon Williams returned the pick 70 yards for a touchdown and an insurmountable 28-14 halftime deficit.
And remarkably, Ryan nearly made the same exact mistake in last week's 36-20 win over Seattle.
He threw to Freeman toward the left sideline just before the first half's two-minute warning, and Seattle DB DeShawn Shead jumped the route but tipped it incomplete. Ryan, fortunate to escape, proceeded to direct a scoring drive capped by a 14-yard TD pass to Coleman for a 19-10 halftime lead.
The Packers, on the other hand, have won four Super Bowls and an NFL-high 13 championships all-time. They are in the playoffs for the eighth consecutive year. They have won eight in a row entering Sunday's NFC Championship, just behind the Steelers' nine straight wins, tied with the Patriots' eight straight victories, ahead of the Falcons' five consecutive wins.
Rodgers is 10-6 and won his Super Bowl ring after the 2010 season with Mike McCarthy (10-7 in playoffs) on the sideline. Green Bay beat Pittsburgh, 31-25, in Arlington, Texas, on Feb. 6, 2011, to raise the Lombardi Trophy.
Will they get a rematch in Houston? Only if Rodgers beats Ryan, in a battle of MVP-worthy elite QBs.
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