The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons were founded on June 30, 1965, and joined the NFL in 1966 as an expansion team, after the NFL offered then-owner Rankin Smith a franchise to keep him from joining the rival American Football League (AFL).
Super Bowl XXXI was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Green Bay Packers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1996 season. The Packers defeated the Patriots by the score of 35–21, earning their third overall Super Bowl victory, and their first since Super Bowl II. The Packers also extended their league record for the most overall NFL championships to 12. It was also the last in a run of 13 straight Super Bowl victories by the NFC over the AFC. The game was played on January 26, 1997, at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana.
In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team but caught by a player of the team on defense, who thereby usually gains possession of the ball for their team. It is commonly seen in football, including American and Canadian football, as well as association football, rugby league, rugby union, Australian rules football and Gaelic football, as well as any sport by which a loose object is passed between players toward a goal. In basketball, this is called a steal.
Mark Allen Brunell is an American football coach and former quarterback who is the quarterbacks coach for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL). He previously played in the NFL for 19 seasons, most notably with the Jacksonville Jaguars. For his accomplishments in Jacksonville, he was inducted to the Pride of the Jaguars in 2013.
Rex Daniel Grossman III is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons, most notably with the Chicago Bears. Grossman played college football for the Florida Gators, where he was named AP College Football Player of the Year and won the 2002 Orange Bowl as a sophomore. He was selected by the Bears in the first round of the 2003 NFL Draft.
Aaron Charles Rodgers is an American football quarterback for the New York Jets of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the California Golden Bears, before being selected in the first round of the 2005 NFL draft by the Green Bay Packers, spending 18 seasons with the team. He is regarded among the greatest and most talented quarterbacks of all time.
Antonio Michael Freeman is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL), most notably for the Green Bay Packers. He attended the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute and Virginia Tech.
Richard Franklin Mirer is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback for 12 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and was selected by the Seattle Seahawks with the second overall pick of the 1993 NFL Draft. In his first season, Mirer set the rookie records for passing yards, attempts, and completions. Unable to duplicate his success, however, Mirer was traded after four seasons to the Chicago Bears. He spent the remainder of his career with the New York Jets, San Francisco 49ers, Oakland Raiders, and Detroit Lions, mostly as a backup.
James Bradley Johnson is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback for 17 seasons in the National Football League (NFL), Johnson played for the Minnesota Vikings, Washington Redskins, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Dallas Cowboys. He is best known for his time with the Buccaneers, whom he led to their Super Bowl XXXVII title over the Oakland Raiders.
Brett Lorenzo Favre is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 20 seasons, primarily with the Green Bay Packers. Favre had 321 consecutive starts from 1992 to 2010, including 297 regular season games, the most in league history. He was also the first NFL quarterback to obtain 70,000 yards, 10,000 passes, 6,000 completions, 500 touchdowns, and victories over all 32 teams.
Tarvaris D'Andre Jackson was an American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for the Minnesota Vikings, the Seattle Seahawks and the Buffalo Bills. Jackson played college football for the Arkansas Razorbacks and the Alabama State Hornets. He was selected by the Vikings in the second round of the 2006 NFL draft.
The 2005 season was the Green Bay Packers' 85th in the National Football League (NFL) and their 87th overall. It would be the first season the franchise would have involving quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
The 1996 season was the Green Bay Packers' 76th season in the National Football League (NFL), their 78th overall and their fifth under head coach Mike Holmgren. The franchise won its third Super Bowl and league-record 12th NFL Championship. The Packers posted a league-best 13–3 regular season win-loss record, going 8–0 at home and 5–3 on the road. It was the first time since 1962 that the team went undefeated at home. Additionally, the Packers had the NFL's highest-scoring offense (456) and allowed the fewest points on defense (210). Green Bay was the first team to accomplish both feats in the same season since the undefeated 1972 Miami Dolphins. They finished the season with the number one ranked offense, defense, and special teams. They also set a then NFL record for the fewest touchdowns allowed in a 16-game season, with 19. The Packers also allowed the fewest yards in the NFL and set a record for punt return yardage. Brett Favre won his second straight MVP award while also throwing for a career-high and league-leading 39 touchdown passes.
The 1966 Green Bay Packers season was their 48th season overall and their 46th in the National Football League (NFL). The defending NFL champions had a league-best regular season record of 12–2, led by eighth-year head coach Vince Lombardi and quarterback Bart Starr, in his eleventh NFL season.
The 1998 season was the Green Bay Packers' 78th in the National Football League (NFL) and their 80th overall. The Packers entered the 1998 campaign as the two-time defending NFC champions, losing the Super Bowl the year before. The season began with the team attempting to improve on their 13–3 record from 1997, three-peat as National Football Conference (NFC) champions, and win their second Super Bowl in three years.
The 1995 season was the Green Bay Packers' 75th season in the National Football League (NFL), their 77th overall. The Packers finished with an 11–5 record in the regular season and won the NFC Central, their first division title since 1982. In the playoffs, the Packers defeated the Atlanta Falcons 37–20 at home and the defending champion San Francisco 49ers 27–17, on the road before losing to the Dallas Cowboys 38–27, in the NFC Championship Game. Packers' quarterback Brett Favre was named the NFL's Most Valuable Player, the first of three such awards he would win. This was the first season that the Packers played home games exclusively at Lambeau Field, after playing part of their home slate at Milwaukee County Stadium since 1953. After losing their home opener to St. Louis, the Packers would win an NFL-record 25 consecutive home games between the rest of 1995 and early in 1998.
The 1993 season was the Green Bay Packers' 73rd season in the National Football League (NFL), their 75th overall. They had a 9–7 record and won their first playoff berth in 11 years, but their first in a non-strike year in 21 years. The record also marked the first back-to-back winning season since the Packers 1967 season. During the regular season, the Packers finished with 340 points, ranking sixth in the National Football League, and allowed 282 points, ranking ninth. In his third year as a pro and second with the Packers, quarterback Brett Favre led the Packers offense, passing for 3,303 yards and 19 touchdowns. Favre, who played his first full season, was selected to his second of eleven Pro Bowl appearances.
The 1991 season was the Washington Redskins' 60th in the National Football League (NFL), their 55th representing Washington, D.C., and the eleventh under head coach Joe Gibbs.
The 1992 season was the Green Bay Packers' 72nd season in the National Football League (NFL), their 74th overall. The team finished with a 9–7 record under new coach Mike Holmgren, earning them a second-place finish in the NFC Central division. 1992 saw the emergence of QB Brett Favre and the start of the Packers' success of the 1990s.
The 2010 Green Bay Packers season was the 92nd season overall and their 90th season in the National Football League (NFL). Although they finished with only a respectable 10–6 record, good for a second-place finish in the NFC North, the Packers never lost a game by more than four points, and never trailed by more than seven the entire season, becoming the only team since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970 to accomplish this. All six of their regular season losses were by a combined 20 points. They entered the playoffs as the NFC's sixth seed. After defeating the Philadelphia Eagles 21–16 in the wild-card round, the Atlanta Falcons 48–21 in the Divisional round, and long time rivals Chicago Bears 21–14 in the NFC Championship, the team advanced to Super Bowl XLV in which they faced the AFC's 2nd seed Pittsburgh Steelers. The Packers defeated the Steelers 31–25 to win their fourth Super Bowl and 13th NFL championship. The Packers became the second overall team after the 2005 Pittsburgh Steelers, and the first NFC team, to win the Super Bowl as a sixth seed, as well as becoming the second NFC team to win three straight road playoff games.