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The football gods were generous in awarding us with these circumstances.It's noteworthy any time a marquee NFL team reaches the postseason. The and the will always be interesting draws in their own right because of their storied histories and their rabid fanbases.When you pit them against each other, it's something else entirely.It's the Ice Bowl. It's nine combined Super Bowls. It's the Cowboys' most recent NFC Championship Game win, all the way back in 1996. It's two previous playoff cla sics this past decade "Dez Caught It" and "third-and-20."ADVERTISEMENT This time around, it's also a chance for Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy to face off against his former team; the one he led to a Super Bowl championship in his current home stadium back in 2011.When the head coach has a street named after him outside the opponent's stadium, you know the storylines are good. And that's exactly the type of stuff McCarthy doesn't want to focus on."The drama of it, I'm sure you guys will love, but I will not participate in it this year," he said. "It's playoff time. It doesn't matter who we play, to be honest with you. We need to play our best football."Fortunately for us, the actual matchups in this game Roy Oswalt Jersey () look just as juicy as the narratives.FOX Sports Cowboys writer David Helman and NFC North writer Carmen Vitali break them all down.David Helman: For starters, Carmen, I can't help but think back to a month ago when it looked like the Packers had mi sed their chance at this type of opportunity. They lost an embarra sing Monday night game in New York, then turned around and got their doors blown off by Tampa Bay. Their playoff hopes appeared to be dead in the water.Three weeks later, it's not just that they've made the postseason, but the Packers have earned everyone's favorite label: "the team you don't want to play right now."I'll keep it simple: what changed these last three weeks that has Green Bay playing with so much confidence?Carmen Vitali: It's not a sexy answer, but they gained experience not only with each other but against NFL opponents. We aren't talking enough about how young this team is. The Packers have the youngest roster in the league. Even though quarterback is technically in his fourth season, he turned 25 a couple of months ago. His oldest receivers? is 23. is 24. Love's leading receiver? That's rookie , who is 23. Only nine players on the entire roster are older than 27. They just needed time to acclimate to one another and NFL competition.Now that they have, Love is playing as well as any quarterback in the league and elevating the play of those around him. Even with injuries they've sustained in the receiving corps, they've been able to call up the next man and have him perform. I'd like you to name anyone who thought was going to be a factor this year in Green Bay before the season.Above all else though, now that they have this experience, head coach Matt LaFleur has enough trust in his players to open up the playbook more. He'll be coming in with something to prove to the coach who brought Green Bay its last Super Bowl.Speaking of McCarthy and his offense, he took over play-calling duties this year for the Cowboys. Does he have the same tendencies he did in his Green Bay days and could that give the Packers a leg up?Helman: I don't think so, and that's more than a bit ironic.Going back to last spring, McCarthy made waves by insinuating he was going to take things back to the old school true, West Coast-style pa sing with a heavy reliance on the run. A conservative approach that would lean into the Cowboys' defense being the strength of the team.To this day, no one can pinpoint what forced the change. Maybe it was ' injury and the impact his lo s had on the defense. Maybe it was the inconsistency of the running game. Maybe McCarthy realized on his own that the approach wasn't working. Maybe Dak Prescott came to him after the disastrous Week 5 lo s to San Francisco and asked, "what on Earth are we doing?"All we know for sure is that, from Week 6 onward, something changed. The Cowboys realized that the strength of their team was putting the ball in Prescott's hands, and then letting Prescott get it to .It's clearly working. The Cowboys are within the top five-to-ten in most meaningful metrics this season scoring offense, third-down efficiency and explosive plays among them. Prescott is playing the best football of his career, and Lamb has ascended into the game's top tier.And yes, to be fair, I'm sure a lot of this offense is stuff the Packers will recognize. I don't think McCarthy has reinvented the wheel. But the difference is, I think Prescott is running the show more than he ever has in his career. He's got the wherewithal and the confidence to get his guys into the right play, regardle s of what's being called from the sideline. And when that call still doesn't work, he's using his athleticism to fix it more than we've seen in the last five years.So I don't think Green Bay's going to be caught off guard by anything McCarthy is calling. But he has a quarterback who's operating those calls at a hell of a high level.Cowboys vs. Packers: Does McCarthy need a deep playoff run to save his job? That feels like a natural segue to the other half of that equation. It's hard not to notice the angst in Green Bay about Packers defensive coordinator Joe Barry and his unit. What are they doing well right now? And more importantly for Dallas, what might give them trouble in this matchup?Vitali: The easy answer is the pa s rush. We've seen an uptick in how this Green Bay front gets to quarterbacks, with some coverage sacks sprinkled in. The Packers have recorded nine sacks in their last two games. Of course, that recent succe s has to be taken with a grain of salt given their last two opponents were a Nick Mullens-led Vikings team followed by a drubbing of Justin Fields and the Bears.Still, there seem to have been adjustments made and Barry deserves credit for that. We've seen more creativity upfront and a lot more man coverage in the game against Chicago. That's allowed for some coverage sacks given that Green Bay has talent in the secondary. is still a good corner when he's on the field. All signs point to him being available again on Sunday.However, like on the offensive side of the ball, the defensive secondary is still young. They're starting rookie opposite Alexander. Cornerback is also getting significant playing time. I'd think that a quarterback as experienced as Prescott, who is playing at an elite level, could take advantage of that youth, especially on the outside of the Green Bay defense.What do you think is the biggest key to the game for the Packers to pull off the upset? Where can they take advantage of a perceived Cowboys weakne s?Helman: I think the answer to that is two-fold.Shoutout to my guy , of 105.3 FM "The Fan" in Dallas, for this nugget: is averaging 100 rushing yards per game and five yards per carry over the Packers' last three games. Beyond that, in three career games against Dallas, he has also scored six touchdowns and averaged 157 yards per game in those outings all three of them wins.Aaron Rodgers is long gone from Green Bay, but the other Aaron remains a boogeyman for the Dallas defense.But it's more than just Jones' ability as a runner. Among the 14 teams in this year's playoffs, the Packers are fourth in pa s attempts off play-action, and they're also fourth in yards gained off play-action pa ses. With a young quarterback starting his first playoff game on the road, here's gue sing Matt LaFleur will lean into that to take some pre sure off Jordan Love.The Cowboys are notoriously aggre sive. It's often succe sful, but it can bite them at times. If they're not sound against the run as well as the threat of play action the Packers could hit them for some explosive gains, and that co Anthony Gose Jersey |
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发表于 2026-4-24 12:52:29