Packers receiver Davante Adams sort of shrugged when asked who can stop Green Bay's No. 1-ranked scoring offense.
"Nobody," he said. "We stop ourselves. I think that's been proven at this point."
Tom Brady could say the same thing about Tampa Bay's No. 3-ranked scoring offense heading into Sunday's NFC Championship Game at Lambeau Field.
"Turnovers usually are the story of football games," said Brady, the first-year Bucs QB playing in his 14th conference title game and shooting for his 10th Super Bowl after winning a record six championships with the Patriots.
The Packers (14-3) and Buccaneers (13-5) are 10-0 when winning the turnover battle this season.
Green Bay averaged 36.1 points in its 10 games; and Tampa Bay averaged 35.2 points. The Packers' turnover differential was plus-13 (15-2) while the Bucs' was plus-17 (22-5), including plus-2 in a 38-10 home victory over the Packers on Oct. 18.
When losing the turnover battle, the Packers are 1-3 and the Bucs 0-3.
The Packers averaged 21.8 points with nine of their franchise record-low 11 giveaways coming in those four games. The Bucs averaged 16.7 points while posting 10 of their 17 giveaways in one loss to the Chiefs and two to the Saints.
Five of Brady's 12 interceptions came while losing twice to the Saints, 34-23 in Week 1 and 38-3 in Week 9.
Then came Sunday's NFC divisional playoff meeting at New Orleans. Brady and the Bucs went turnover-free while Drew Brees (three interceptions) and the Saints turned the ball over four times, setting up touchdown drives of 3, 40 and 20 yards for Brady.
"The way the defense played today, they were spectacular," Brady said Sunday night. "It's a lot better feeling sitting in this tent the time around and the first time I was sitting here about 18 weeks ago."
Brady's numbers Sunday — 18 completions on 33 attempts, 199 yards, two touchdowns — were quite dull. But his presence as the greatest winner in league history took over when the fourth quarter started with a 20-20 tie.
While the 42-year-old Brees looked old throwing two fourth-quarter picks in what could be a sad end to a great career, the 43-year-old Brady kept right on winning.
In the last 19½ minutes, Brady converted four of five third downs, connecting with four receivers for 63 yards, three first downs and a touchdown as fifth-seeded Tampa Bay turned a 20-13 deficit into a 30-20 victory. The old G.O.A.T. also scored on a 1-yard sneak as the Buccaneers moved closer to becoming the first team to play a Super Bowl in its home stadium.
Brady's playoff record improved to 32-11. He is 18-0 when winning the turnover battle, including 5-0 in conference title games. In those 18 games, his teams were plus-43 (52-9) with 12 turnover-free games.
While going 9-4 in conference title games, Brady has completed 304 of 488 passes (62.3%) for 3,394 yards (261.1 average), 18 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. Thanks to some great Bill Belichick defenses, that mark includes three victories when Brady threw multiple interceptions and the Patriots lost the turnover battle.
This is Brady's 18th trip to the playoffs in 21 seasons. He has thrown 77 touchdown passes and 35 interceptions and lost four fumbles.
With his new team, Brady is 2-0 with four touchdown passes and no turnovers in playoff road victories over No. 4 Washington and No. 2 New Orleans. Next up: The No. 1 seed, MVP favorite Aaron Rodgers (48 touchdown passes, five interceptions), a wintry storm forecast and a limited but loud number of fans back inside Lambeau Field.
Brady has never gone turnover-free when playing at least three games in a single postseason. If Tampa Bay wins Sunday and Brady doesn't turn the ball over, it would be only the third time he has reached the Super Bowl without turning the ball over in the playoffs.
He accomplished that feat during the 2004 and 2017 seasons, when he won two playoff games to reach Super Bowls against the Eagles.
Brady also hasn't gone turnover-free in a postseason that has included a Super Bowl berth. He has a chance to do that — at age 43.
So one could flip that aforementioned question to Adams and ask Green Bay, "Can you stop the old G.O.A.T. if he doesn't stop himself?"
Mark Craig is an NFL and Vikings Insider. Twitter: @markcraigNFL. E-mail: mcraig@startribune.com