Packers find way to plow through

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- This city had suffered three years since its last playoff game and even longer since the last postseason victory -- far too long in a place that goes by “Titletown USA” -- so why not pull out all the stops?

A snowstorm blanketing Lambeau Field for that frozen tundra effect.

Some familiar Brett Favre tricks.

And an afternoon of spectacular highs -- with a few lows -- for a running back no one knew midway through the season.

It all added up to a raucous 42-20 victory for the Packers over the Seattle Seahawks in an NFC divisional playoff game Saturday.

“Just give us one of those big snow games,” Favre said. “I wanted to play where you couldn’t see the field and the snowplow comes out.”

The weather came through and so did Favre, completing 18 of 23 passes for 173 yards and three touchdowns. But the unquestioned star was Ryan Grant, a first-year starter who overcame two early turnovers to run for 201 yards and three scores.

Grant’s emergence has given the Packers a reliable ground game and makes them all the more of a threat against the Dallas Cowboys or New York Giants in next week’s NFC championship game.

“His running style is no-nonsense and it is a beautiful fit for what Green Bay does with its zone blocking up front,” Seattle Coach Mike Holmgren said. “He had a big, big day today and that had a lot to do with them winning the football game.”

To say that Packers fans were excited about the playoffs -- waiting around since 2005 when their team was dumped in a wild-card game against Minnesota -- is an understatement.

An estimated 15,000 people braved freezing temperatures to attend a Friday night pep rally at Lambeau Field.

A video screen showed highlights. A snow blower was given away as a door prize. Afterward, local television news included a live report on workers cleaning up the stands.

But when kickoff came around the next afternoon, the boisterous crowd fell silent as Grant produced two quick fumbles.

The first resulted in a one-yard touchdown plunge by Seattle running back Shaun Alexander. The second required more effort by the Seahawks, quarterback Matt Hasselbeck finishing a short drive with an 11-yard touchdown pass to Bobby Engram.

All of four minutes had elapsed.

“We were up by 14 and we were thinking it couldn’t be any better,” Holmgren said.

On the downside, Grant came off the field feeling “frustrated, disappointed . . . any time you fumble you’re always going to be disappointed.”

It was an unexpected hitch in what has been a Cinderella story.

Grant spent his first two seasons in the NFL on the Giants’ practice squad and non-football injury reserve list. Joining the Packers by trade before opening day, he won the starting job at midseason and produced immediately, averaging nearly 100 yards per game.

So even with those turnovers, neither he nor his team were about to fold. In fact, they were just getting started.

As if on cue, snow flurries thickened and began to stick, frosting the turf as Favre drove the Packers for a touchdown, passing 15 yards to Greg Jennings for the score.

On the Packers next possession, Grant broke off runs of 26 and 15 yards before scoring from a yard to tie the score, 14-14.

Twenty-eight combined points tied a record for the highest-scoring first quarter in NFL postseason history and there was more to come.

After the teams traded scores -- a touchdown for Green Bay, a field goal for Seattle -- Favre pulled off a bit of magic.

Hit in the backfield, he spun free and stumbled away. Just when he seemed likely to plant face-first in the snow, the 17-year veteran flipped an underhanded pass to tight end Donald Lee for a first down.

“I’m sure that watching it, it looked slow and unathletic,” Favre said. “When those plays work, there’s no one more excited in the building than me.”

The Packers scored on the next play for a 28-17 halftime lead, then scored on their first possession of the third quarter, Favre tossing a short pass that running back Brandon Jackson turned into a 13-yard touchdown.

Favre pointed skyward, pumped his fists and hopped toward the sideline as if sensing that Seattle was all but finished.

The Seahawks managed to respond with a field goal but by then it was clear that their smaller defense, which has relied on quickness, had no answer for Green Bay’s offensive line, and no answer for Grant, who busted around the left end for 43 yards before adding a one-yard run for the game’s final touchdown.

“You look at some of those plays and I didn’t get touched until the second level,” Grant said.

To make matters worse, Seattle’s fearsome pass rush was thoroughly defused. Defensive end Patrick Kerney, ranked second in sacks during the regular season, was shut out.

Hasselbeck played well, completing 19 of 33 passes for 194 yards and a touchdown with no interceptions. But the running game never got started, Alexander was held to 20 yards, and the Seahawks converted on only 27% of their third-down plays.

The Green Bay defense, the weather, all of it was too much.

“That was typical Packer football,” Grant said. “Playing in that stadium, in front of that crowd, in that type of situation, in the snow.

“I think people will remember that game.”

david.wharton@latimes.com