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NFL NationESPN
Week 16 of the 2021 NFL season should give some clarity to the playoff races in both conferences.
Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers made history in the early game on Saturday, throwing his franchise-record 443rd career touchdown pass. Green Bay, which clinched a playoff spot last week, beat the Browns, dimming their playoff hopes.
The week started on Thursday night, when the Cowboys clinched a playoff spot with the 49ers’ loss to the Titans. San Francisco had led by 10 at halftime, before faltering in the second half.
Our NFL Nation reporters react with their takeaways and lingering questions. Plus, they each look at the bigger picture with their current team confidence rating — a 0-10 grade of how they feel about a team’s outlook coming out of the week. Let’s get to it.
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Packers
What to know: Quarterback Aaron Rodgers might have a late Christmas wish: for people to stop stepping on his toe. It happened twice in the first half — once by Browns defensive end Myles Garrett and once by his teammate, right guard Royce Newman, who got pushed into Rodgers by Malik Jackson. Two plays after that, Rodgers took a shot from Ifeadi Odenigbo that had him limping off the field at the end of that series. Seemingly every time Rodgers’ fractured left pinkie toe starts to feel better, it gets stepped on or kicked. If this keeps happening, Rodgers might have to consider surgery. He has said he could have surgery as a last resort and could do so without missing any games. It’s another reason the Packers would love the No. 1 seed, to get a bye on wild-card weekend. — Rob Demovsky
Can the Packers’ defense live by the takeaway when it really counts? The Packers won’t be playing Baker Mayfield every week in the playoffs. So their pattern of giving up a touchdown (twice) or getting an interception (three times) on the Browns’ first five possessions might not be a great way to live against a quarterback who takes care of the…
Source : espn
