Davante Adams' Coming-out Party Propels Packers to NFC Title Game

With the rookie wall growing in front of him every week, first-year receiver Davante Adams had rightfully entered the postseason as an afterthought for the Green Bay Packers. 

Any believed barricade around the rookie came crumbling down against the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC Divisional Round on Sunday. 

Adams, who caught just four passes over his final three games of 2014, is a major reason the Packers are now traveling to Seattle to take on the Seahawks in the NFC Championship Game. His coming-out party has the Packers one game from the Super Bowl in his first professional season. 

Green Bay's second-round pick caught seven passes for 117 yards and one touchdown, including a 46-yard score to pull the previously flat Packers to within one point in the third quarter and a clutch 26-yard catch on third down late in the game to help seal the 26-21 win. 

No one could have envisioned a postseason breakout for Adams. 

The highlight of his roller-coaster rookie season came way back in Week 13, when Adams caught six passes for 121 yards in a 26-21 win over the New England Patriots. But he also dropped a late touchdown in the contest, setting up what snowballed into a disappointing finish to the rookie's first season. 

In subsequent games against the Atlanta Falcons, Buffalo Bills, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Detroit Lions, Adams caught just four of 12 targets for 29 yards and no touchdowns. He dropped two passes, and on a handful of occasions, Adams and quarterback Aaron Rodgers were on the wrong page for back-shoulder throws. Adams' growing confidence appeared to be losing ground to unshakable doubt. 

In fact, it was easy to wonder if the rookie wall had claimed another young receiver. 

The lead-up to Sunday's showdown between Dallas and Green Bay covered just about every angle of the contest, from Rodgers' calf to Tony Romo's homecoming, and all the Dez Bryant, Jordy Nelson, DeMarco Murray and Randall Cobb matchup watches one could handle. 

Al Bello/Getty Images

In the end, Adams stole the show.  

Late in the third quarter, the Packers found themselves in desperate need of a spark. Murray had just plunged into the end zone from one yard out to give Dallas a 21-13 lead, and Green Bay's surprisingly flat offense was facing 3rd-and-15 from the Cowboys' 46-yard line. A defensive stop in this situation and Dallas suddenly would have felt very good about its chances of leaving Lambeau Field with a postseason win. 

Rodgers and Adams had other plans. 

The Packers' one-legged quarterback bought just enough time inside the pocket for Adams to complete his deep in-breaking route and beat cornerback Sterling Moore over the middle. The rookie caught Rodgers' fastball, broke free of Moore and then juked safety J.J. Wilcox on his way to a 46-yard touchdown. Suddenly, the Packers had life—down a single point and with the offense finally heating up. 

	Rec	Targets	Yards	TD	Drops
vs. ATL	1	4	6	0	0
at BUF	1	4	6	0	1
at TB	2	4	17	0	1
vs. DET	0	0	0	0	0
vs. DAL	7	11	117	1	0

The ending could have spun a completely different narrative had Adams not helped put the game away on Green Bay's final possession. 

Who did Rodgers go to on 3rd-and-3 with under three minutes to go and the Packers up five points? Not Nelson. Not Cobb. Not Lacy. Not veteran Andrew Quarless. 

It was Adams. 

Rodgers and the rookie hooked up on the back-shoulder throw—the same play the two had miscalculated a number of times over the last month of the season. Adams made the contested catch along the sideline, made his man miss and sprinted upfield for 26 yards. It wasn't the dagger, but it was close. 

After Rodgers found Cobb for 12 yards three plays later, the Packers were able to kneel three times and stamp their trip to the Pacific Northwest, where the Seahawks await. The winner next Sunday goes to Super Bowl XLIX. 

Adams was just a green rookie during the first meeting between Green Bay and Seattle. He played only a handful of snaps and did not receive a target. 

Fast-forward to the playoffs, and Adams is now one of the reasons the Packers must believe a second chance at the defending champions will end differently. He gives the Green Bay offense more than just Cobb and Nelson in the passing game, a legitimate third option the Seattle defense will have to game-plan for. 

It's unlikely the Week 1 rematch even happens at all without Adams' unlikely heroics, as many once believed he'd succumbed to the perils of the rookie wall. Less than a month after turning the ripe old age of 22, Adams tore down the barricade and had his own coming-out party under the bright lights of the postseason. 

Zach Kruse covers the NFC North for Bleacher Report. 

Follow @zachkruse2