Just Let The Offense Do The Talking
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IRVING, Texas - This is a hard one to figure, this Cowboys-Packers at Lambeau.
Just consider:
The Cowboys played Monday night, meaning they were having their first practice of the week in pads out here on Thursday when it should have been their second.
This should have been their fourth day removed from the previous game, not just the third, sort of messing with their football clocks.
The Cowboys are coming off the emotional high of beating one of their fiercest division rivals, and on national cable television, drawing the biggest cable audience in the history of box or dish TV, with everyone acting as if they won a playoff game Monday night at Texas Stadium instead of just the Eagles.
They will be without two starters at least, safety Roy Williams suffering a fractured right forearm and fullback Deon Anderson having his knee scoped to remove a piece of lateral meniscus that was partially attached.
They have to travel to Green Bay on a short week.
They have to play an equally 2-0 team, and one who matched them at 13-3 last year for the best record in the NFC.
And . . . and . . . as if that were not all enough, they have to play the Packers at Lambeau Field, where they have never ever won a football game.
The darn stars just don't seem to be aligned for the 7:15 p.m. (CDT) game being televised nationally on NBC, the Cowboys somehow needing to figure out how to ratchet it up to face another playoff-caliber team in what promises to be yet another playoff-caliber atmosphere since the majority of the 71,000 in attendance will be getting their tailgate on right after Sunday's gospel.
How in the world can they win this one - escape this perfect storm brewing just west of Lake Michigan?
Let me tell you . . . one word.
Offense.
See, here is what is being clouded by worries over too many penalties and worries over giving up 37 points to the Eagles and worries over failing to adequately cover DeSean Jackson on that one pass and worries over injuries and worries over what in the world will the Cowboys do with Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who in two games seems to have the NFL world in the palm of his hand:
In two games, and one on the road, the Cowboys have scored 69 points - that's a 34.5 average. They are the NFL's second-ranked offense to only Denver and third-ranked passing offense to only Philadelphia and Denver.
And this is no fly-by-night bunch. This is a repeat of last year when the Cowboys averaged 28.4 points a game and only failed to score at least 24 points three times during the regular season, losing two of those but one when the starters only played a half in the final game of the season. This is the same bunch from last year to score the second-most points in franchise history, to gain the most passing yards in franchise history, to total the most touchdown passes in franchise history - and on and on and on.
This offense is damn good, and don't you forget it. And to think four of those guys were starting their first full season with the Cowboys last year and three more just their second.
You think they can even be better this season?
"Yeah, because of their offensive line," said John Madden, NBC analyst for Sunday night's game. "That to me is where it all starts. That is a very physical and impressive group. And we know you can't be a great offense and one dimensional. That line can block with power and I talked earlier about Jason Witten, and Marion Barber, he runs like he is upset all the time. You know, he's going to finish off things.
"So you start off with that part of it, the physicalness of the offensive line and the toughness of the running, and then you kind of soften them up, you got Tony Romo throwing the ball to T.O. and Patrick Crayton, and all those guys, so it has all those parts, and it's kind of their second year together and they are just kind of getting a feel for each other where they have a lot of confidence.
"Again, we can talk about all the passing and receiving, but where I think they have a real advantage is with their offensive line and their running game."
That's not me. That's John.
Remember, last year the Cowboys offense was the eraser when healthy, rubbing out any problem this team might have had, from throwing five interceptions in one game to sleepwalking through the first half in Detroit - or already this year, when gift-bagging two touchdowns for the Eagles in like a minute.
And here is a news bulletin for the Cheeseheads, who probably are feeling really good about the Packers' chances come Sunday since the game is at The House Curly Built, where they have never seen the beloved Pack lose to the Cowboys:
This is the best offense the Cowboys have brought to Lambeau Field. Ever.
Sacrilegious?
Let me tell you, I've seen four of the five games the Cowboys have played at Lambeau, and was there in person for three of them. Yeah, you're right, I wasn't there for the first one, Nov. 13, 1960, when the Cowboys were clobbered during their inaugural season, 41-7. But come on, they went 0-11-1 that season, averaging just 14.7 points a season, like half as much as they have averaged over their past 18 games (29.1).
The 1-15 version of the Cowboys to lose up there, 31-13, on Oct. 8, 1989, barely scored more that season playing four more games (204) than the '60 bunch and put up the lowest average in club history (12.7) no matter how many games were played in a season.
In the Nov. 23, 1997, loss up there to the Packers, 45-17, the one Cowboys safety Darren Woodson would say of afterwards, "They came out and flat kicked our ass," the Cowboys offense was becoming fractured, and really was permanently put in the deep freeze by the 13-below wind chill that late afternoon. They would average just 19 points in '97, Emmitt rushing for his fewest yards (1,074) in seven seasons and Troy Aikman's QB rating (78.0) his lowest during a nine-year stretch. In fact, the Cowboys would not win another game that year (6-10), their first losing season since 1990, costing head coach Barry Switzer his job.
"This team is much better than the team we took to Green Bay," former Cowboys special teams coach Joe Avezzano said without hesitation. "Much better."
And 2004? Please. You remember that mess, the Cowboys having to rely on cajillion-year-old Vinny Testaverde to start that year after cutting Quincy Carter early in training camp? They averaged only 18.3 points a game, with Vinny finishing with more interceptions (20) than touchdown passes (17) and a QB rating of 76.4
Yuck, yuck, yuck and yuck.
Now we can argue about the Ice Bowl, the only time the Cowboys have gone up there - so far - with a worthy team and a capable offense. Why, the Cowboys averaged 24.5 points a game that 1967 season. Six times they scored at least 24 points going 9-5, and even put up 52 in the Eastern Conference Championship game to advance to the NFL Championship.
Too bad Lambeau on New Year's Eve was frozen solid by the 13-below temperatures and the overnight snowstorm. Too bad the underground heaters didn't work (we think). Too bad more guys than naught suffered frostbite. Because neither team's offense had a snowball's chance in Hattie to function, especially the boys from down South.
But you know, even at that, Cowboys quarterback Don Meredith only put up a 68.6 QB rating in 1967, throwing as many touchdown passes (16) as times he was intercepted (16), which went for backup Craig Morton (10 and 10), too. So you know, good but not great.
If form holds, the Cowboys should continue to score a bundle come Sunday night. Let's remember, for all the talk of what Rodgers did last year at Texas Stadium in the second half, the Cowboys did score 37 points against the Packers. And for all the talk about the Cowboys giving up 37 points to the Eagles Monday night, they did score 41 points themselves.
So yeah, the Cowboys have never won a game at Lambeau, but they have never gone up there with a team as good as this one and certainly never with an offense as electrifying as this one.
"Wade always said to us, 'If we play our best football, we are talented enough to win,'" said tight end Jason Witten. "The best trait on offense is to take what the defense gives you, and one of the best things our offense does is change by the way the game is going."
You don't want the Cowboys to run, they'll pass. You don't want the Cowboys to throw to Terrell Owens, they'll throw to Jason Witten. You don't want the Cowboys to throw to Witten, they'll throw to Crayton. You want to start doubling Owens and Witten, they'll run past your man coverage with either Miles Austin or Isaiah Stanback.
And to think, rookie Felix Jones has barely been fit into the offensive equation.
Said Cowboys defensive line coach Todd Grantham, the one-time Cleveland defensive coordinator who is glad he didn't have that season-opening headache this year, "They are not one-dimensional."
By no means, so this will be the first time since Dec. 31, 1967, the Packers and their fans should feel threatened by the Cowboys' presence at Lambeau. And unlike that game played on the frozen tundra, the temperatures promise to be in the low 60's Sunday at game time.
Look, this Cowboys team does not figure to be a winless team or a one-win team or one with a losing record, which has a way of making the presumed mystique the Packers have held over the Cowboys at Lambeau far less mystic.
As for the mental and emotional part come Sunday night, I'm no psychologist, but I do know the Cowboys reeled off seven consecutive wins at one point last year, and had won 12 of 13 before throwing down that clunker against the Eagles, losing 10-6. And, at one point they did beat Philadelphia, the Giants and Washington - the first two on the road - all in a row. So they have a history of being consistent, no matter if they are playing Sunday afternoon, Sunday night, Monday night, Thursday afternoon, Thursday night or Saturday night.
And while much has been made of how the Giants were such road warriors last year, did you realize the Cowboys had won seven straight on the road until throwing down the half-hearted, sub-laden performance at Washington in the final, meaningless game of the season? That means going back to the 2006 season, and including this year's season opener, the Cowboys have won 11 of their last 12 regular-season road games.
So hey, maybe this Lambeau storm the Cowboys are fixn' to run into isn't as perfect as you think.