Hometown Broadcasting Sports Monday 1/25/21
26 January 2021 Uncategorized
Sports for January 25th
Tom Brady, the man with six NFL titles will become the first quarterback to play a Super Bowl on his team’s home field. He owes the Tampa Bay defense that sacked Aaron Rodgers five times, and a curious late call on fourth-and-goal by the Packers as Brady and the Bucs beat top-seeded Green Bay 31-26 for the NFC title Sunday. The Bucs (14-5) will face the Kansas City Chiefs, winners over the Buffalo Bills at Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium on Feb. 7. No, a host team in the Super Bowl has never happened in 54 previous games.
Brady is back in his first year at Tampa Bay after reaching this stage nine times with the New England Patriots. He went 20 of 36 for 286 yards and three touchdowns, but also threw three interceptions as Tampa Bay squandered most of an 18-point lead. Shaquil Barrett and Jason Pierre-Paul combined for five sacks to help the Bucs hang on for their franchise-record eighth consecutive road victory. The Bucs snapped Green Bay’s seven-game winning streak. They were aided by a strange decision from Packers coach Matt LaFleur with just over two minutes remaining in a 31-23 game. After three straight incompletions had the Packers facing fourth-and-goal from the 8, the Packers elected to kick a field goal to get within five.
“Anytime it doesn’t work out you always regret it, right?” LaFleur said. “It was just circumstance of having three shots and coming away with no yards. And knowing that you not only need the touchdown but you’d need the 2-point. The way I was looking at it is we essentially had four timeouts with the 2-minute warning, we knew we needed to get a stop.”
Tampa Bay then ran out the clock on the Packers (14-4).
Rodgers went 33 of 48 for 346 yards with three touchdowns and one interception, but fell to 1-4 in conference championship games as a starting quarterback. The Packers had the NFL’s best red-zone offense this season, but they twice settled for field goals after having a first-and-goal on Sunday.
“I’m just pretty gutted,” Rodgers said. “It’s a long season. You put so much into it to get to this point. We had our chances.”first-and-goal Sunday.
Tampa Bay took command in the middle portion of the game.
After Sean Murphy-Bunting intercepted a Rodgers pass and Tampa Bay converted a fourth-and-4, the Bucs were at Green Bay’s 39 while leading 14-10 with 8 seconds remaining in the second quarter The Bucs passed up a long field-goal attempt, and Brady found Miller down the left sideline for a 39-yard touchdown with just 1 second remaining.
The Packers got the ball to start the second half, and Aaron Jones caught a short third-down pass. He took a huge hit from Jordan Whitehead that knocked the ball loose. Devin White recovered and ran 21 yards to the Green Bay 8. One play later, Brady found a wide-open Cameron Brate to extend Tampa Bay’s lead to 28-10. The Packers rallied as Brady threw interceptions on three straight drives for just the second time in his career. Green Bay cut the lead to 28-23 late in the third quarter on Rodgers’ touchdown passes to Robert Tonyan and Davante Adams. Twice in the fourth quarter, the Packers got the ball with a chance to take the lead after Jaire Alexander picked off Brady passes deep in Green Bay territory. Both times, the Packers went three-and-out.
On the injury front, Aaron Jones hurt his chest and Whitehead injured his shoulder on the third-quarter play that resulted in a Jones fumble. Packers defensive lineman Tyler Lancaster (ankle) and linebacker Krys Barnes (thumb) left in the second half. The Bucs played the entire game without wide receiver Antonio Brown (knee) and safety Antoine Winfield Jr. (ankle).
In Kansas City, quarterback Patrick Mahomes will be making his second straight Super Bowl appearance, as he led the Chiefs to a 38-24 win over the Buffalo Bills in the AFC Championship Game and will go to play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Super Bowl 55. He was 29-of-38 for 325 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions.
The Chiefs fell behind 9-0, mostly due to Mecole Hardman’s muffed punt. Kansas City scored 38 of the next 44 points in the game. Kansas City bounced back with three second quarter touchdowns and led 21-12 at halftime. The Chiefs stretched their lead to 31-15 at the end of three quarters before adding another touchdown in the fourth quarter go up by 38-15. The Bill scored a touchdown and a field goal in the fourth quarter but it was too little, too late. Tyreek Hill caught nine passes for 172 yards and tight end Travis Kelce snared 13 for 118 yards and two touchdowns.
Josh Allen was 24 of 48 for 287 yards with two touchdowns and one interception for the Bills. He also led Buffalo with 88 yards on seven carries. The Bill finish the season at 15-4 while the Chiefs go into the Super Bowl at 16-2.
In the NBA Sunday night, the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Atlanta Hawks 129-115. Giannis Antetokounmpo led the Bucks with 27 points and 14 rebounds. Milwaukee plays in Toronto on Wednesday night.
In men’s college basketball on Saturday, Wisconsin lost at home to Ohio State 74-62. The Badgers play at Maryland on Wednesday.
High School Boys Basketball (Mon.)
Waupun at Ripon-Tipoff is at 7:15 on AM 1600/93.1 FM, WRPN.
Oshkosh West at Fond du Lac
Seymour at Hortonville
Weyauwega-Fremont at Boscobel
River Valley at Adams-Friendship
Almond-Bancroft at Nekoosa
Dodgeland at Cambria-Friesland
Westfield at Pardeeville
Montello at Randolph
Girls Basketball (Mon.)
New Holstein at Saint Mary’s Springs
Poynette at Wautoma
Oakfield at Markesan
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