Patriots vs. Packers the Perfect Thanksgiving Dessert

Tom Brady and the New England Patriots will take on Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers in what could be a Super Bowl preview.

Thanksgiving Week is arguably the most underrated sports week of the year. College basketball tournaments are featured on multiple television stations throughout the entire week. Midweek college football games lead you into what is the final weekend before Championship Saturday. There are, of course, those three Thanksgiving Day NFL contests. None of those, this time around, will be bigger than a Sunday afternoon game featuring two legitimate Super Bowl contenders.

The New England Patriots will be on the road to take on the Green Bay Packers at 4:25 pm ET on Sunday. Sitting at 9-2, New England would have home-field advantage in the AFC Playoffs if the season ended today. While the 8-3 Packers cannot say the same, no team in the conference has played better overall football than Green Bay since the end of September.

Nov 23, 2014; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (12) points during the third quarter against the Minnesota Vikings at TCF Bank Stadium. The Packers defeated the Vikings 24-21. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports /

What’s funny is that nobody would have thought that this would be a possible Super Bowl preview just a couple of months ago. Both teams started the season out at 2-2. Green Bay looked lackluster in losing to division rivals the Detroit Lions 17-9 in Week 3, a loss that dropped the Packers to 1-2. New England, meanwhile, was dominated and blown out by the Kansas City Chiefs on the final Monday of September.

It turns out that clubs that have future Hall-of-Fame quarterbacks on their rosters shouldn’t be counted out one-fourth into any NFL campaign.

Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has been an unstoppable force over the last seven games. While some were speculating after the loss to the Chiefs that Brady’s time as New England starting quarterback may be up, he has responded by throwing 22 touchdowns and four interceptions over the past two months. The Patriots have since stomped the Cincinnati Bengals, blew out the Chicago Bears at home, and manhandled a Denver Broncos side thought by many, heading into Week 9, to be the best team in all of the NFL.

Add in that the Patriots easily took care of business against the Indianapolis Colts and the Detroit Lions, and that the New England defense is better than what the team had when it went 18-0 before losing to the New York Giants in the Super Bowl back in February of 2008, and some around the country are saying that the Patriots are better than they have been in a decade. It’s hard to envision them losing, right?

Not so fast. After telling fans of the Packers to R-E-L-A-X following the team’s slow start to the season, Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers has been a man on a mission, the best QB in the NFL. Rodgers leads the league with a 119.2 QB rating, he is behind only Peyton Manning in touchdown passes (30), and Rodgers has thrown a total of three interceptions. Two of those came in a Green Bay loss at the New Orleans Saints, the only blip on the radar for the Packers since they got back to .500 on September 28.

Green Bay has the best first quarter offense in the NFL, one that has been finishing opponents off before halftime in some instances. The Packers have thus far run the table at Lambeau Field, going a perfect five-for-five on home turf. Included in Green Bay’s recent run of good form was a 53-20 win over the Philadelphia Eagles, an 8-3 side that is (technically) atop the NFC East standings.

Assuming that local forecasters are at least close to correct with predictions being made early in the week, we could be in for a classic winter-weather Lambeau Field encounter. Temperatures are expected to be in the 20s at kickoff. There is a 20% chance of snow.

Some chilly weather shouldn’t bother either Brady or Rodgers. Both have proven that they can get the job done in wintery conditions. The offenses of the Patriots and the Packers are built for all seasons.

Brady and Rodgers are the top NFL Most Valuable Player candidates 12 weeks into the 2014 season. Rodgers has the lead at the moment, but that could, of course, change if Brady hands the Packers their first home loss of the campaign. On the other hand, Rodgers will extend his lead in the MVP race if he lights up a solid New England pass defense.

So-called Super Bowl preview games often disappoint. One team comes out flatter than the other, or the home side, motivated by the atmosphere inside of the stadium, rolls to an impressive victory that makes the fourth quarter of the contest missable.

None of that should happen when the Packers host the Patriots. New England has to win to keep the Denver Broncos from stealing home-field advantage down the road. Green Bay, meanwhile, has a one-game lead over the Detroit Lions in the NFL standings, and that advantage could lessen if the Lions defeat the Chicago Bears on Thanksgiving Day. Don’t forget that the Packers also trail the Arizona Cardinals in the overall conference standings.

Both the Patriots and Packers should be prepared and motivated to earn the positive result.

Will the Patriots survive a potential first quarter Green Bay onslaught? Can Rodgers make enough plays against the New England secondary? Are the Packers truly the uncrowned best team in the NFC?

Learning the answers to such questions should make for a delicious conclusion to Thanksgiving 2014.

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