GREEN BAY — Aaron Rodgers is so excited about having one of his all-time favorite teammates — and fellow thirtysomething — back on the Green Bay Packers’ roster he’s hoping veteran cornerback Tramon Williams plays a lot in Sunday’s NFC Championship Game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

“He was a really, really humble man, and I definitely appreciated that humility,” Aaron Rodgers said of Ted Thompson, the former Packers GM who died on Wednesday.

Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians is many things. A meteorologist is not among them. So when he insists that the game day forecast — 28 degrees at kickoff, light winds, no precipitation — won’t be a factor for his team, it sounds like wishful thinking. After all, the Tampa-St. Petersburg area experienced its own fool temperatures throughout the week, with highs only reaching … the low 70s.

Both the Packers’ and Buccaneers’ offenses are predicated on effective play-action passing games that are designed to take advantage of their strong ground games, as both Arians and Packers head coach Matt LaFleur are big believers in it.

While both teams spent the week downplaying the significance of Tampa Bay’s 38-10 victory over the Packers on Oct. 18 at Raymond James Stadium — the Packers in hopes of the results being different this time around; the Bucs in an effort to combat overconfidence — there’s no denying that the game was easily the Packers’ worst offensive performance of the year.

Tom Brady’s teams are 10-3 against Mike Pettine-led defenses, including winning the past eight games.

Ted Thompson died on Wednesday night, three days after his 68th birthday and just as a Packers team that bears his fingerprints is again one victory away from a Super Bowl berth.

“My future is a beautiful mystery, I think," Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers said Wednesday. "The present is such a gift to be able to stay in the moment and to have gratitude for being in this situation again."

Tom Brady is already the NFL's GOAT, but if he can take the once-moribund Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a Super Bowl championship, he will be the lion of all GOATs.