For the Green Bay Packers to run the table, win six straight and make the playoffs, Aaron Rodgers had to do a little bit of running himself.
The Packers quarterback's play-extending scamper and touchdown pass topped Week 12's Top "Performance Moments of the Week", presented by Bridgestone.
Rodgers, known for his calculated pocket mobility and pinpoint accuracy, was in no shortage of it during Green Bay's crucial Sunday night battle for the NFC North with the Detroit Lions. By the time the Packers were driving to extend their lead at the start of the fourth quarter, Rodgers was already locked in, but the play of the night, and his year, was coming.
Up three points in Detroit's red zone, Green Bay had an opportunity to give itself a two-score lead over the lingering Lions. On third-and-9 from the 10, Rodgers took the snap out of shotgun with five wide. When the pocket collapsed after two seconds of a four-man rush, Rodgers spun out to the left in his patented fashion, looking for options. The QB quickly set his feet again between the hashes and the numbers, but soon took off farther to the left, evading another rusher.
Then after 8.6 seconds on the move, Rodgers squared up and launched a low bullet to the back of the end zone, where Geronimo Allison was cutting in from the right. The wideout from Illinois hauled in, just barely, Rodgers' toss to the shock of the Ford Field faithful.
The play gave Green Bay its first score of the fourth quarter and a larger lead it would not relinquish. Most importantly, it proved to the rest of the league that Rodgers was back at his boastful, discount-double-checking best, and the Pack were back in the postseason.
Also on the countdown: Tyreek Hill. Again. ... Jahleel Addae closes out Qualcomm with a long pick-six. ... Tony Romo looks like he never left.
