Rodgers does not have to worry about the specter of Favre more. Has made its name with the Green Bay Packers, especially with playoff victory in the first place.
Rodgers threw three touchdown passes, little-used rookie James Starks ran for 123 yards and the Packers beat Michael Vick and the Philadelphia Eagles 21-16 in a game of the NFC wild-card Sunday.
"I never felt like I had a monkey on my back," Rodgers said. "I'm so proud of these guys."
Rodgers had to watch from the sideline, while about Vick led the Eagles again. But Tramon Williams intercepted a pass from Vick to Riley Cooper in the end zone with 33 seconds left to seal the victory.
Favre has been in the field and took Williams out on the shoulder after that play. Rodgers is a bit more moderate than the No. 4. He grabbed his helmet and went to kneel for the final play.
"We fought hard today," said Rodgers. "Interception Big Tramon has had a great season for us."
The sixth-seeded Packers (11-6) head to Atlanta (13-3) for a divisional playoff game next Saturday night.
Rodgers patiently waited three years to become Green Bay starter and took over after the messy departure of Favre before the 2008 season. He has long made fans forget about Favre's Packers, and now has sprinkled his impressive resume with his first playoff victory in two tries.
"The defense played great. We have been doing much this season," Rodgers said. "We had three touchdowns tonight, was enough to win."
Rodgers was not the fault of Green Bay lost 51-45 in overtime to Arizona in January. These are not the same Packers. The Mosaic team has 10 different owners, and a much stronger defense.
Clay Matthews, Charles Woodson and company set mostly Vick. Vick threw for 292 yards and ran for 33 in his playoff start for the first time since losing the 2005 championship game of the NFC in the same field as a member of the Atlanta Falcons.
"I feel like I'm greedy and took a shot in the end zone," Vick said about his last pass. "I do not throw the ball I wanted, but I have chosen. Not the way I wanted out, but I went down swinging. I have to learn from it."
Vick has come a long way since it was one of the biggest stars of the game during his days in Atlanta. He missed two seasons, while serving 18 months in prison for his role in a dogfighting operation, played sparingly in a backup role last year and only got his chance after Matthews called Kevin Kolb in 27-20 Green Bay's victory in Philadelphia in Week 1.
Vick took full advantage of the opportunity. He had the best season of his career and was selected to start the Pro Bowl in the NFC.
Vick can go to Hawaii because now the Eagles (10-7) go home.
This was the third consecutive win Green Bay in an elimination game. The Packers beat the Giants on Dec. 26 to stay alive in the playoff race, and beat Chicago last week to secure a playoff berth.
The Eagles were the talk of the NFL after a sensational comeback victory at New York Giants on December 19. However, a shock defeat to lowly Minnesota on December 28 the cost of the NFC East champions the chance of a break in the first round, and it seemed that their Super Bowl hopes sank with the loss.
Moreover, the Eagles could have advanced if the Pro Bowl kicker David Akers had not missed field goals of 41 and 34 yards.
"They can count, and points that have helped," Eagles coach Andy Reid.
The Packers reportedly a dimension found a running game, giving the ball to Starks. The sixth-round pick who played in only three games had 101 yards rushing all year. The Packers had trouble running all year after Ryan Grant got out of the season in Week 1. But it exposed weaknesses in the defense of Philadelphia.
The Eagles are 21-16 when Vick came to sneak from the 1 with 4:02 left. The 2-point conversion no, but the defense held and Philadelphia has the ball at the Packers 34 with 1:45 left.
Vick completed passes of 28 yards to DeSean Jackson and 11 yards to Cooper before he threw the selection of 27.
Jackson and Cooper, both thought Vick should have shot the ball and called a lot. But he had other ideas.
"I feel that we rushed last play and not have to rush it," said Jackson. "That's what I was trying to say." Grounding the ball, just up the ball, just a little back to the huddle and regroup. "But he called" all go ". We just ran what was called so neither here nor there. It's just unfortunate."
Vick had 175 yards passing and 103 rushing in the season opener against Green Bay, near the meeting of the Eagles back from a deficit of 17 points. He then said he wants to play the whole game because he thought the outcome would have been different.
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