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- Mar 19, 2019
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GREEN BAY – Prior to the start of Sunday's NFC Championship Game, Aaron Rodgers pulled aside Marquez Valdes-Scantling with a message.
"I told him before the game, 'I was going to need some plays,'" Rodgers recalled. "'I was going to need at least two big ones.' He made many, many, many plays for us."
The Packers' third-year receiver came through for his quarterback and his team when they needed him most, catching four passes for a game-high 115 yards, including a 50-yard touchdown, against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
While Green Bay came up on the short end of a 31-26 outcome, Valdes-Scantling provided a badly needed spark for the offense at several critical points of Sunday's game.
His 50-yard touchdown catch down the sideline, which came in single coverage against Carlton Davis, got the Packers on the board after a slow start.
Valdes-Scantling's other three catches also contributed to drives that produced points, whether it was his 12-yard slant on second-and-10 in the second quarter or his 24-yard catch down the middle of the field that got the offense going after a lost fumble on the opening possession of the second half.
"All of us in this locker room think highly of Marquez," tight end Marquez Valdes-Scantling said. "(He) made the plays when they needed to be (made). (Even) when Marquez isn't getting the ball, he puts it into the run game and is blocking people from the beginning to the end of the whistle.
"MVS is a fighter and there's no surprise that we just keep going back at him."
It was the type of strong finish the Packers believed Valdes-Scantling could have after the 6-foot-4 receiver worked his way through a rough patch in the middle of the season that included a lost fumble in overtime of a Week 11 loss to Indianapolis.
Rodgers, Head Coach Matt LaFleur and the rest of the offense reiterated their confidence in Valdes-Scantling, who caught 10 passes for 275 yards and two touchdowns over the final three games of the 2020 season.
"I'm just really proud of him," Rodgers said. "He's had such an interesting year. I think it's been a good year of growth for him as a person. That's what I'm most excited about for him as a friend."
With his 115 yards, Valdes-Scantling became the first Packers player to register 100-plus receiving yards in a playoff game on four or fewer catches since Antonio Freeman (4-107) at San Francisco on Jan. 11, 1998.