Mason Crosby kicked a last-gasp field goal as the Green Bay Packers downed the Dallas Cowboys 34-31 in a thrilling NFL playoff battle on Sunday.
Crosby held his nerve superbly to kick the winning three-pointer from 51 yards with just three seconds left on the clock in the final twist of an epic duel at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Green Bay play the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday in the National Football Conference Championship game for a place in the Feb. 5 Super Bowl in Houston.
Photo: AFP
Elsewhere on Sunday, the Pittsburgh Steelers won their ninth straight with an 18-16 win over the Kansas City Chiefs to book a spot in the American Football Conference Championship game against the New England Patriots.
Crosby’s winning field goal came after quarterback Aaron Rodgers connected with Jarad Cook with a 36-yard pass at the Dallas 32.
Cook was initially adjudged to have gone out of bounds, but the call was over-ruled, handing the Packers field position and Crosby his shot at immortality.
Packers coach Mike McCarthy paid tribute to Rodgers’ ability to lead the game-winning drive with just seconds left.
“He’s an incredible talent,” McCarthy said. “To do it when it’s on the line like that, that’s what great players do. That was one heck of a football game to be a part of. I just can’t say enough about my football team’s resiliency.”
The finale capped a pulsating closing two minutes.
Crosby had kicked a 56-yard field goal to put Green Bay 31-28 ahead, only for the Cowboys — who had rallied from a 21-3 first-half deficit — to tie it at 31-31 with a 52-yard Dan Bailey effort, but with just minutes remaining, Crosby was to prove the hero for Green Bay in his duel with Bailey.
In Kansas City, Missouri, the Steelers rode the strong right leg of kicker Chris Boswell to beat the Chiefs.
Boswell made all six of his field-goal attempts, while the Steelers’ offense produced plenty of yards, but no touchdowns.
“I tried not to think too much,” Boswell said. “I wanted to just be the guy coming out to do my job.”
The Steelers finished with 389 total yards on offense, with Le’Veon Bell running for 170 yards and Antonio Brown registering 108 receiving yards.
The victory sends the Steelers to a championship game against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, on Sunday. It will be the 16th time the Steelers have advanced to the championship game. They won eight of the previous 15, including their most recent appearance in 2011 when they beat the New York Jets 24-19.
Pittsburgh have faced Tom Brady’s Patriots twice before in the title game (2001, 2004), losing both times. This season, the teams met on Oct. 23 in Pittsburgh, with the Patriots winning 27-16.
The Steelers offense will be led by quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who has won two Super Bowls with Pittsburgh.
“It is going to be a showdown between two of the best teams in the AFC and two great quarterbacks going head-to-head,” Bell said.
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