Tom Brady’s Biggest Play As a Buccaneer Came Against Aaron Rodgers’ Green Bay Packers

When Tom Brady arrived in Tampa, he came with one mission: to make an immediate impact and lead a franchise that hadn’t seen playoff success in years. A relentless perfectionist throughout his career, TB12 knew he needed to bring that same mindset to the Buccaneers.

But chasing a championship, especially against top-tier opponents, is never easy. Brady understood that. He wasn’t expecting everything to go perfectly, but he believed in seizing perfect moments in the biggest games. One of those defining moments came in the 2020 NFC Championship Game against Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers.

Heading into the 2020 NFC Championship Game, Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers had faced off only five times, including once earlier that same season. But this would be their first postseason showdown—a high-stakes clash with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line.

Brady’s Buccaneers, a Wild Card team, had fought their way past Washington and New Orleans to reach the title game. Meanwhile, Rodgers’ Packers were the NFC’s top seed, finishing the regular season 13-3 behind a league-leading offense and the MVP at quarterback. Green Bay was favored, playing at home in the freezing confines of Lambeau Field, but they knew they were up against one of the greatest to ever do it.

Early in the game, the Bucs took control, but the Packers battled back, cutting the deficit to 14–10 late in the second quarter. With just over a minute left before halftime, Rodgers had the ball near midfield and a chance to take the lead. But the Tampa Bay defense, relentless all night, pressured him into a mistake—he threw his only interception of the game at the Bucs’ 49-yard line.

With only 25 seconds left in the half, Brady took over. He started the drive with a quick six-yard pass to Leonard Fournette to get into Packers territory. Then came two incompletions. Facing 4th-and-4 from the Green Bay 45, Brady converted to keep the drive alive. But with just eight seconds remaining, Tampa Bay was still outside of field goal range.

Most teams would’ve settled for the safe play. Not Brady. Not Arians. With a timeout to burn and a chance to swing momentum, they rolled the dice—and it paid off.

On the final play before halftime, Brady stood tall in the pocket and launched a deep shot down the left sideline. Receiver Scotty Miller exploded off the line, burned past cornerback Kevin King, and hauled in a perfectly placed 39-yard touchdown pass as he tumbled into the end zone.

It was vintage Brady—a bold, precise strike in a crucial moment—and arguably the biggest play of his Buccaneers career.

” We hit the 4th down play, and BA was like, we’re going for it. Let’s take one shot. I saw the corner was kind of like squatting. I don’t know if he was playing to keep us out of field goal range. The thing with Scotty is, once he is running and you don’t get your hands on him, he can get up to full speed, he’s going to run by basically anybody.”

The Buccaneers went into halftime with a 21–10 lead, and from that point on, the Packers were forced to play catch-up. While the three-time MVP wasn’t flawless that night—completing 20 of 36 passes for 280 yards with three touchdowns and three interceptions—Brady delivered when it mattered most. In the critical moments, he was everything his team needed him to be.

That performance helped Tampa Bay complete their fairytale run to Super Bowl LV, where Brady once again rose to the occasion. Against the Kansas City Chiefs, he was near-perfect, leading the Bucs to a dominant 31–9 victory and securing his seventh Super Bowl title.

Although the Buccaneers couldn’t replicate that magic in the following two seasons, Tom Brady had already cemented his legacy in Florida. One season was all it took for him to change the culture—and deliver a championship.