GREEN BAY, Wis. -- With Jordy Nelson doubled over in pain on the sideline and the offense already stuck in neutral, things looked bleak for Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers. Forget about a Super Bowl run; how would they get out of the first round of the playoffs without their No. 1 receiver?

Except they did, and they didn’t just squeak past the New York Giants, either.

Thanks to Randall Cobb and Davante Adams -- and, of course, Rodgers -- the Packers routed the Giants 38-13 and showed plenty on Sunday afternoon to convince everyone at Lambeau Field and those around the NFL that they still have enough left to challenge the Dallas Cowboys (13-3) in next week’s NFC divisional playoff game in Texas even if Nelson can’t come back in a week from his rib injury.

Who could have imagined the Packers; offense, which had minus-8 total net yards after three series, would take off without Nelson and his 97 regular-season catches that totaled 1,257 yards and 14 touchdowns?

Adams, for one, did.

As Nelson was carted to the locker room -- head in his hands -- Adams walked over to Cobb. The conversation was brief but pointed. It was up to those two now.

“That’s exactly what we said,” Adams recalled. “I went over to Cobb, and I’m talking to him and there’s really nothing to say to a guy like that because he’s already fully ready for it.

“We had to pick up the slack and that was a huge piece of our offense that we had to play without early in the game.”

Adams (with eight catches for 125 yards and a touchdown) and Cobb (five catches for 116 yards and three touchdowns) became the first pair of teammates with 100 receiving yards and at least a touchdown each in a playoff game since Zach Miller and Golden Tate for Seattle in 2012.

Cobb wasn’t even sure he would play against the Giants. He had missed the previous two games because a left ankle injury and it wasn’t until late in the week that he convinced coach Mike McCarthy to put him on the game-day active list.

“I tell you what, he’s something,” McCarthy said. “I was probably the last one in the building convinced he was ready to go. I mean, he made a huge jump from Wednesday’s practice to Thursday. But that tells you so much about him and the connection him and Aaron have. It was great to have him out there, and obviously he was huge.”

Three touchdown catches huge.

“We’re better with [No.] 18 on the field,” Rodgers said of Cobb.

Cobb not only hauled in the 42-yard Hail Mary touchdown to close the first half but added touchdown catches of 30 and 16 yards.

“I still today didn’t know for sure if they were going to activate me or not,” Cobb said after the game. “I was hoping so, but I thought I was going to be activated last week and I wasn’t. So I definitely think that extra week helped out. Our training staff did a great job working with me over the past few weeks.”

It was Adams who got things going. His 5-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter to wipe out a 6-0 Giants lead was Nelson-esque. He followed Rodgers’ eyes as the quarterback danced and darted in the pocket for more than eight seconds.

“I had Jordy-like play on the scramble,” Adams said. “Aaron held the ball for about 30 seconds it felt like, just making something happen.”

And that’s what they will have to do again if Nelson can’t play against the Cowboys.