What's the Secret to Cowboys' Success on the Road, and Can the Packers Stop It?
The Green Bay Packers know the record and the rarity of it all.
The Dallas Cowboys, who will make the trip north to take on the Packers in the NFC divisional round, completed the 2014 season with a perfect 8-0 record on the road—becoming just the third NFL team since 1990 and eighth since the 1970 merger to traverse the eight-game gauntlet away from home without a blemish. All seven of the previous teams advanced to at least the conference title game. Six played in the Super Bowl.
No other team finished better than 5-3 on the road this season.
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The record is just a number; the past is history. What the Packers really need to understand is how the Cowboys managed to win all eight road games this season and what can be done to end the streak.
Dallas built its road dominance on the four standard pillars of winning games home or away: efficient quarterback play and running the football on offense and stopping the run and taking away the football on defense. The Packers appear equipped to make life difficult for the Cowboys over at least two—and possibly three—of those foundations.
Winning anywhere in the NFL requires efficiency from the quarterback position. Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo was the most dominant passer in the NFL away from home this season and arguably the most efficient overall.
Over eight road games, Romo completed 70.6 percent of his passes, averaged 8.5 yards per attempt and threw 20 touchdowns against just two interceptions. His road passer rating was 121.8.
Here's how those away numbers stack up against the rest of the NFL:
| Cmp. % | 70.6 | 1st |
| Yards/Att | 8.5 | 1st |
| TDs | 20 | 1st (tied) |
| TD:INT Ratio | 10:1 | 2nd |
| Passer Rating | 121.8 | 1st |
Bottom line: Romo was in a league of his own on the road this season. His away passer rating of 121.8 was the fourth best since the merger. He also became just the 11th quarterback since 1970 to play at least eight road games and still complete better than 70 percent of his passes and just the third to throw at least 20 touchdowns and two or fewer interceptions on the road.
The Packers were stingy against the pass at Lambeau Field, despite leading by double digits in all but one of the eight games.
Opponents completed just 55.7 percent of their passes in Green Bay, the lowest mark in the NFL. The Packers' nine interceptions and 22 sacks at home ranked seventh and 11th respectively. Green Bay did allow 15 touchdowns and almost 2,000 passing yards at home, but those figures can be at least partly explained by 314 opposing passing attempts—the third most overall and the direct result of so many home blowouts.
That said, Romo will be one of Green Bay's toughest home tests of the season. Here are the eight quarterbacks who have previously lost at Lambeau Field in 2014:
| Geno Smith | NYJ | 50.0 | 5.5 | 1/1 | 64.1 |
| Christian Ponder | MIN | 50.0 | 5.1 | 0/2 | 45.8 |
| Cam Newton | CAR | 54.8 | 6.6 | 1/1 | 72.6 |
| Jay Cutler | CHI | 59.5 | 7.4 | 1/2 | 68.7 |
| Mark Sanchez | PHI | 59.1 | 7.9 | 2/2 | 80.3 |
| Tom Brady | NE | 62.9 | 7.0 | 2/0 | 102.7 |
| Matt Ryan | ATL | 61.5 | 9.6 | 4/1 | 116.9 |
| Matthew Stafford | DET | 48.8 | 5.3 | 3/0 | 89.2 |
| TOTALS | 55.7 | 6.3 | 15/9 | 78.9 |
A November win over Tom Brady stands out as the crowning jewel, but the Packers also beat some bad quarterbacks at home this season.
DeMarco Murray and the Cowboys offensive line figure to be the best running back-blocking combination the Packers have faced in 2014.
Dallas averaged 157.3 rushing yards per road game this season, which ranked third overall. The Cowboys broke 100 total rushing yards in all eight games, and only the Houston Texans ran the football more frequently away from home.
No player was more important than Murray, who rushed for nearly 1,000 yards on the road. Away from Dallas, he averaged 4.7 yards per carry and 25.9 attempts and 120.4 rushing yards per game. Only once was Murray held under 100 yards on the road, a 38-27 win over the Philadelphia Eagles. But the Cowboys still fed him 31 carries in the contest, showing an unwavering commitment to the run.
| at TEN (31) | 29 | 167 | 5.8 | 1 |
| at STL (27) | 24 | 100 | 4.2 | 1 |
| at SEA (3) | 28 | 115 | 4.1 | 1 |
| at JAC (25) | 19 | 100 | 5.3 | 0 |
| at NYG (19) | 24 | 121 | 5.0 | 0 |
| at CHI (22) | 32 | 179 | 5.6 | 1 |
| at PHI (20) | 31 | 81 | 2.6 | 2 |
| at WAS (10) | 20 | 100 | 5.0 | 1 |
| TOTALS | 207 | 963 | 4.7 | 7 |
The Packers run defense is still a bit of a mystery, even at home.
Over the first eight games of the season, Green Bay allowed 153.5 rushing yards and 4.8 yards per carry. Murray and the Cowboys would have eaten that defense alive. But since moving Clay Matthews to inside linebacker, the Packers have seen those numbers drop to 86.5 and 3.6—both among the best in the NFL.
It's difficult to determine how much of the improvement is due to Matthews' move and how much can be tied to the rushing quality of their opponent over the last eight games. To call the Packers anything more than an average defense against the run is probably stretching the truth.
| Pre-bye (8 games) | 257 | 1228 | 4.8 | 9 |
| vs. CHI (27) | 24 | 55 | 2.3 | 0 |
| vs. PHI (9) | 31 | 109 | 3.5 | 0 |
| at MIN (14) | 25 | 112 | 4.5 | 0 |
| vs. NE (18) | 18 | 84 | 4.7 | 1 |
| vs. ATL (24) | 24 | 91 | 3.8 | 1 |
| at BUF (25) | 33 | 113 | 3.4 | 0 |
| at TB (29) | 14 | 16 | 1.1 | 0 |
| vs. DET (28) | 23 | 111 | 4.8 | 0 |
| Post-bye (8 games) | 192 | 691 | 3.6 | 2 |
Green Bay was much better stopping the run at home, where it allowed 102.0 rushing yards per game (11th best) and 3.9 yards per carry (ninth). On the road, Green Bay gave up 137.9 rushing yards per game, the third highest in the NFL. No team rushed for more than 150 yards at Lambeau Field, but that can be again tied to the fact that the Packers engaged in a number of home blowouts this season.
The Cowboys were surprisingly good at stopping the run away from Dallas.
In fact, no defense allowed fewer road rushing yards per game than the Cowboys (82.1), and only five defenses allowed fewer yards per carry (3.7).
Away from home, Dallas allowed just two teams to break 100 total rushing yards. Not among them: the Seattle Seahawks or Philadelphia Eagles.
The Packers figure to put that dominance to the test.
Green Bay rushed for 132.6 yards per game (sixth in the NFL) and 4.5 yards per carry (ninth) at home this season. Both numbers were only slightly behind what Dallas rushed for at home. The Packers were also especially impressive over the final eight games of the season, rushing 142.1 yards and 4.7 yards per carry from Week 10 on.
Running back Eddie Lacy can't match Murray's 1,845 rushing yards in 2014, but he did average 4.6 yards per carry—just a tick below Murray's 4.7. The difference? Murray carried the football almost 150 more times this season.
After a slow start, Lacy proved to be a workhorse late in the year:
| at MIN (25) | 25 | 125 | 5.0 | 1 |
| vs. NE (9) | 21 | 98 | 4.7 | 0 |
| vs. ATL (21) | 13 | 73 | 5.6 | 1 |
| at BUF (11) | 15 | 97 | 6.5 | 1 |
| at TB (19) | 17 | 99 | 5.8 | 1 |
| vs. DET (1) | 26 | 100 | 3.9 | 0 |
| TOTALS | 117 | 592 | 5.1 | 4 |
Dallas lost four times this season. All four came when an opponent rushed for 100 or more yards, including three when the total topped 120.
The Packers also figure to make it difficult for the Cowboys to get the lifeblood of any road win: takeaways.
Dallas led the NFL in road takeaways this season with 19. Included among the 19 were a league-high 12 road interceptions.
Quarterback Aaron Rodgers and the Packers know a little bit about protecting the football. Green Bay finished first in the NFL with only 13 giveaways, including only six interceptions (Rodgers threw five). The Packers amazingly had just five turnovers at home.
Those five giveaways were as follows: a botched snap in Week 2, a Matt Flynn interception in Week 5, Randall Cobb's lost fumble as he extended for the goal line in Week 10 and two lost fumbles in Week 17 (Cobb, Lacy).
| DAL on road | 19* | 12* | 7 |
| GB at home | 5 | 1* | 4 |
The Packers were a little sloppy late, with five turnovers over the final three games of the season. But the Cowboys still can't be expecting to rely on a bunch of giveaways from Green Bay at Lambeau Field, where Rodgers has been close to perfect.
At home, Rodgers has thrown 25 touchdowns and zero interceptions, good for a passer rating of 133.2. He hasn't thrown a home interception since early December of 2012, a streak of 16 games (including playoffs).
The NFL really couldn't have asked for a better matchup: the best road team in football in 2014 taking on the best home team to decide which club plays in the conference title game.
The Cowboys were amazingly consistent and efficient away from home, averaging 34.4 points and winning by an average margin of almost 12 points. Dallas' dominant offense had no problems on the road, while the defense did enough—in terms of stopping the run and getting takeaways—to escape without a loss.
The Dallas road schedule wasn't filled with tough matchups (48-80 record of road opponents). But away wins over the Seahawks and Eagles can't be discounted, and it's clear—through the reality no other team finished better than 5-3 on the road—that winning away from home in the NFL is no easy task.
The Packers appear capable of tearing down at least two of the Cowboys' road pillars in terms of running the football and avoiding takeaways. Stopping either Romo or Murray looks like a toss-up, with the odds favoring Dallas.
Still, the Cowboys haven't had a road game this season where at least three of the pillars weren't established. The Packers, a team that has excelled in all four categories at home this season, appear uniquely prepared to become the first team to beat the visiting Cowboys.
Zach Kruse covers the NFC North for Bleacher Report.
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