The series history
Green Bay leads 18-13-1 during the regular season.
These franchises have met just twice in the post season with the Packers winning 21-to-6 in 1936 for the NFL Championship, and in 1972 when the Redskins prevailed 16-3.
I don’t pretend to know much about the 1936 matchup, but I remember vividly the 1972 encounter. That was Dan Devine’s best Green Bay team at 10-4, winners of the NFC Central Division.
Led by running backs John Brockington and MacArthur Lane, the Packers returned to the post season for the first time since 1967 and hopes were high.
They went up against George Allen’s best “Over the Hill Gang” Redskins who were on their way to a Super Bowl meeting with Don Shula’s undefeated Miami Dolphins.
The Redskins beat the Packers at RFK Stadium on Christmas Eve in the first round of the ’72 playoffs 16-3, and from there it was all downhill for Devine and the Packers. They would not return to the post season for a decade.
Misconceptions
There are several misconceptions about this NFC playoff game between Washington and Green Bay.
First and foremost is the thought that the Packers “lucked out” by losing to the Vikings in the NFC North title game and drawing the Redskins in the Wild Card playoffs, thus avoiding a rematch with the Vikings or possibly getting the red hot Seattle Seahawks in the Wild Card game.
Another is that this Packers team can mirror the 2010 squad that made it into the post season as the 6th seed and ran the table, all on the road, on way to the Super Bowl Championship.
Still another thought is: playoff experience will make all the difference in this game.
Who got lucky?
Let’s start with the first misconception: The Packers lucked out by getting the Skins.
The Packers are taking on a team that has won four in a row and six of its last eight games. Green Bay has lost six of its last 10 games, including two in a row coming into this post season.
The Redskins are the healthier team by a long shot; Green Bay listed 18 players on its injury report as of Thursday.
Washington quarterback Kirk Cousins has led the NFL in completion percentage and passer rating over the second half of the season - six consecutive games with a 100-plus passer rating!
Washington didn’t stumble into the postseason, winning the NFC East with a 9-7 record, and did it with momentum and confidence down the stretch.
Plus, they will play at home where quarterback Kirk Cousins has posted a 117.0 passer rating this season with 16 touchdown passes and just 2 interceptions. No quarterback in the league was better at home than Cousins.
The Packers know they haven’t “lucked” into anything! Some would argue (I wouldn’t) the Redskins “lucked” into the Packers!
Like 2010?
Fans love to draw comparisons between teams, and of course the last time the Packers entered a postseason as a road Wild Card team, they ran the table.
That 2010 team like this one was injury-riddled, but they had a potent offense ranking in the top ten (9th) and the fifth ranked defense. The 2015 Packers are 23rd offensively and 15th defensively.
Furthermore the 2010 team never trailed by more than seven points in any game that season; this year’s team lost by 19 at Denver and by 30 at Arizona.
Experience
Finally, what about playoff experience? That can help but only so much.
It didn’t help the 2007 Seattle Seahawks who brought all kinds of post-season experience into Lambeau Field to face the youngest team in the NFL that year.
Seattle took a 14-0 lead in the divisional playoff game capitalizing on two Ryan Grant fumbles. Then the inexperienced Packers went on to outscore the seasoned Seahawks 42-6 on the way to a resounding 42-20 victory.
These Redskins are by no means the youngest team in the league. They have been built with a good many veteran free agents, many of whom have all kinds of post season experience like safety Dashon Goldson (San Francisco), DeSean Jackson (Philadelphia), Pierre Garcon (Indianapolis), Terrance Knighton (Denver) and Cary Williams (Seattle), just to name a few.
Forget about Washington playoff jitters helping the Packers Sunday in Landover, Maryland.
New season
The feeling I got in the Packers locker room this week is one of a fresh start and renewed confidence.
This is a new season, and for the players it is not about what they have done the past ten weeks or over the course of the regular season. It’s about what they do this week, and that is where their focus is concentrated.
As I mentioned, many of these same players made that run to the Super Bowl five seasons ago, and they believe - as they should - they have the ability to make another run.
As long as quarterback Aaron Rodgers is still at the controls, I wouldn’t put it past them!
But trust me folks, the Packers didn’t luck into anything. Washington is a very good team and deserves to be hosting a playoff game. Know-how and experience is a benefit, especially when you start a new postseason.
One last note: the Redskins have played just two teams in the current postseason and they lost to both of them, New England and Carolina, by a combined 71-26 score. The Packers played a much more difficult schedule having faced seven teams currently in the post season, winning three of those seven games.
So what does all of this mean?
Not a lot, because in the “one and done” NFL playoff format, all that matters is who comes to play and who plays best - that day.
