Of all the predictions for the NFC championship game, you'd be hard to find anyone outside of Wisconsin who expected a total domination by the Green Bay Packers for much of the first half.
Yet, more than an hour after kickoff, well into the second quarter, the Packers had 16 points and the Seattle Seahawks didn't even have a first down.
The Packers had a 16-0 lead in the second quarter when Russell Wilson tried going deep and Ha Ha Clinton-Dix made an absolutely remarkable interception, turning around just in time for Wilson's pass hit his arm and he somehow hauled it in. The Packers took a 16-0 lead into halftime.
That was a pretty amazing play, but the Packers had plenty of those in a start that was simply incredible. Clinton-Dix had two interceptions. The Packers defense played great and didn't allow a first down until deep into the second quarter. Wilson's first completion didn't come until less than five minutes remained in the second quarter, after six incompletions including two interceptions. Green Bay's offense moved the ball fairly easily against Seattle's great defense. Only Mike McCarthy's conservative approach, kicking two field goals with the ball inside the 2-yard line and another on fourth and 1, kept the deficit from being even larger.
If the Clinton-Dix interception summed up the Packers' start, the massive (and penalized) hit Wilson took from Clay Matthews on the return summed up the Seahawks' start in the title game.
In the first half at least, the Packers made themselves feel right at home.
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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdowncorner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab
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