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Green Bay Packers vs. San Francisco 49ers - 01/13/02
NFC Wild Card
Game Summary - Packers Win 25-15
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| DT Gilbert Brown was a force in the middle, helping limit the 49ers RB Garrison Hearst to 42 yards rushing. |
For the Packers it's now "Meet me in St. Louie." Overcoming their first second-half deficit at Lambeau Field in the playoffs since the fabled "Ice Bowl" in 1967, the Packers overpowered the 49ers for a 25-15 victory.
With the win, Green Bay (13-4) moves on to the divisional round of the NFC playoffs to face the top seeded St. Louis Rams, while San Francisco (12-5) is finished for the season.
In the first home playoff game since 1997, Green Bay got on the score board first. Using a 35-yard return from Allen Rossum to spark their second drive, the Packers drove 40 yards on seven plays for a 6-0 lead. 49ers' defensive lineman Dana Stubblefield blocked Ryan Longwell's extra point at the line.
Longwell wasn't alone with early game kicking troubles. Just over three minutes into the second quarter Jose Cortez had a 34-yard field goal attempt blocked by Cletidus Hunt.
"We lined up in a 'middle push' and got good penetration on the center," Hunt said. "I blew up and got good penetration on the guard and kind of slipped in and put my hands up. The kick was nice and low and I was fortunate to block it."
Longwell connected on kicks from 26 and 45 yards in the second half. Cortez did not attempt another field goal.
Quarterback Jeff Garcia engineered two lengthy scoring drives for the 49ers. In the second quarter, San Francisco held the ball for almost seven minutes running 15 plays to drive 86 yards. Garcia was 6-of-9 for 61 yards on a drive punctuated by Garrison Hearst's 2-yard touchdown plunge with 11 seconds left in the first half.
The drive was the 49ers' longest in the postseason since a 17-play drive against Dallas in the NFC championship game on Jan. 23, 1994.
San Francisco's only other scoring drive came on a 61-yard march early in the fourth quarter that ended with Garcia hitting Tai Streets for a 14-yard score. Garcia promptly found Streets wide open on the two-point conversion to tie the score after the Packers had failed on their conversion attempt after taking a 15-7 lead.
Brett Favre connected with tight end Bubba Franks for a 19-yard touchdown with three and a half minutes left in the third quarter. The score gave the Packers a 15-7 lead, but a two-point conversion pass to Donald Driver failed.
"I made a read off of the safety," Franks said of his only catch of the game. "The safety cheated over to the free side and left the middle wide open. I'm glad Brett saw me. He just made a great throw."
Favre finished 22-of-29 for 269 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. He also remains unbeaten when the game-time temperature is 34-degrees or below. Today's kickoff temperature was 28.
"I don't think a quarterback could have a better game than he had today," GM/Head Coach Mike Sherman said. "He took total control of the football game."
Garcia, playing in his first postseason game, went 22-of-32 for 233 yards, including one touchdown and one interception. He was unable to find Pro Bowl wide receiver Terrell Owens for most of the game completing just four passes to his star counterpart. Garcia did try to hit Owens down the sidelines with the 49ers driving in the fourth quarter, but cornerback Mike McKenzie knocked the ball away and into the hands of Tyrone Williams for an interception.
"It's a quarter coverage so I knew he was going to be on that side, but I'm not going to sit here and say that I tried to tap it to Tyrone," McKenzie said. "But it was a situation where I definitely was able to get a good play on the ball and was able to tap it up into the air."
Safety Darren Sharper paced the defense with 10 tackles including one sack. The return of Gilbert Brown was noticeable on the first play from scrimmage as he sacked Garcia for a 4-yard loss.
"I forgot how that felt," Brown said. "It's been a while since I got one of those. It just felt good getting back out there fighting with my teammates and having fun. The main focus is to get back out there and get ready for St. Louis."
The Packers played consistently in all phases of the game. Ahman Green carried 21 times for 86 yards and the game-clinching touchdown. Antonio Freeman paced the receivers with six catches for 84 yards and one score. William Henderson caught four passes for 22 yards while Bill Schroeder added three grabs for 31 yards. Corey Bradford had two catches for 56 yards including a 51-yarder that sparked Green Bay's first scoring drive of the third quarter. Donald Driver made a crucial third-down catch at the two-minute warning.
San Francisco was unable to generate a complete game from the league's second-ranked rushing offense. Hearst carried 13 times for 42 yards and Kevan Barlow added 17 yards on five carries.
The 49ers receiving corps did not fare much better with Owens grabbing four passes for 40 yards. Streets had a productive day catching four passes for 50 yards and one touchdown while J.J. Stokes led all San Francisco wideouts with four catches for 52 yards.
"There were a lot of heroes out there today which was the most beneficial part of this win because everybody had a hand in it," Sherman said. "Everybody's excited. Donald Driver's third-down catch was a tremendous catch. Corey Bradford's long reception - the throw - there's so many parts to that - the protection they had on those plays. I'm not going to pick one guy out. I think the team did well."
Notes: Brett Favre's two touchdown passes him 11 straight playoff games with at least one TD pass, second on the NFL's all-time list behind Dan Marino (13)...The Packers improved to 13-0 all-time in home playoff games (including games played in Milwaukee)...Green Bay now holds a 4-1 series edge against San Francisco in the postseason.
Packers-49ers archived complete game broadcast
(Real audio)
Post-Game / Locker Room audio Clips
GM/Head Coach Mike Sherman (Realaudio)
WR Corey Bradford (Realaudio)
WR Donald Driver (Realaudio)
DT Santana Dotson (Realaudio)
QB Brett Favre (Realaudio)
TE Bubba Franks (Realaudio)
WR antonio Freeman (Realaudio)
RB ahman Green (Realaudio)
DE Vonnie Holliday (Realaudio)
K Ryan Longwell (Realaudio)
CB Mike McKenzie (Realaudio)
G Marco Rivera (Realaudio)
WR Bill Schroeder (Realaudio)
S Darren Sharper (Realaudio)
CB Tyrone Williams (Realaudio)
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