Dallas Cowboys: Leaders of the Pack

The hype surrounding the much-anticipated NFC matchup between the Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers did not get to Tony Romo.

Rather "it"—and the Dallas defense—got to Brett Favre, from the opening kickoff until Favre got knocked out of the game by Cowboys cornerback Nate Jones in the second quarter with injuries to his elbow and shoulder.

Aaron Rodgers quarterbacked the rest of the way for Green Bay, and played well—but not well enough to win, as the Cowboys won 37-27 to move to an NFC-best 11-1. 

In the process, they not only clinched a playoff birth but also are game away from their first NFC East crown since 1998, in addition to having the inside track for home field throughout the NFC playoffs. 

Romo again displayed his brilliance, as he has throughout much of this season, finishing with 309 yards on 19 for 30 passing with four TDs and one INT. Romo broke Danny White’s single season TD record (29), and now stands at 33 TDs with four games left.

The INT, incidentally, came on a Baby Drop Owens bobble of a what would have been a touchdown in the end zone, and landed in the hands of corner Al Harris. Despite that drop—as well as another one in the first quarter which would have been a first down—Baby Drop continued his streak of dominance, finishing with 156 yards on seven catches and a TD.

Baby Drop now has a TD in seven straight games, tying the Cowboys' team record, and has 14 for the season, which also ties him for a Cowboys' single-season record. 

With much of the short-handed defensive attention focused on Owens, Romo found Patrick Crayton (thee catches, 42 yards, two TDs) and Jason Witten (six catches, 67 yards) for big plays in the second half.

The offensive line did another solid job protecting Romo, as the Green Bay front seven were not able to get a single sack.

The Cowboys rushing attack had a good night on paper, as Marion Barber and Julius Jones combined for 105 yards on the ground. More often than not, the Cowboys' runners had trouble finding holes—but Barber, as he always does, found some crucial gaps in the fourth quarter and got stronger as the defense got weaker. 

The Dallas defense set the tone early, getting to Farve often and brutally. In his shortened start, Farve completed five of 14 passes for 56 yards, with no TDs, two sacks, four hard hits and two bad picks—one by Ken Hamlin and the other by Terence Newman.

Both INTs resulted in Cowboys TDs.

Favre was throwing quickly and frequently under pressure, and was never allowed to get into a rhythm. 

Aaron Rodgers played well in his first extended NFL experience, going 18 of 26 for 201 yards and a TD, and nearly gave the Packers a chance to win game.

After trailing 27–10 with a little under ten minutes left in the first half, Rodgers got the Packers back to within a field goal early in the fourth quarter. But DeMarcus Ware’s sack of Rodgers at the Packers 40 on third-and-five turned out to be the difference in the game.

Following the change of possession, Romo took the Cowboys down the field and hit Patrick Crayton for a score that gave the Cowboys a ten-point lead with a little under eight minutes to play. Both teams would add one more field goal before the final whistle. 

Ryan Grant had 94 yards rushing for the Packers, but 62 of those yards came on a first quarter TD run. He was never a factor after that. 

One has to give the Packers credit. Not only did they have to go the majority of the game without Farve—who is now 0-9 lifetime at Texas Stadium—but they were also without starting corner Charles Woodson and defensive end Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila.

Despite those losses, the Packers stayed in the game with Rodgers at QB, and battled to the end.  Should these teams meet again in the playoffs, it will be for the NFC crown at Texas Stadium on January 20th. Hopefully the Packers will be at full strength, so there will be no doubt lingering as to which is the better team. 

For right now, however, the Cowboys are alone atop the NFC with four games left. Now they must exercise the demons of past December swoons and do something they could not under Bill Parcells: finish strong when it matters most. 

With three of their last four games on the road, it will be important for the Cowboys to finish the last quarter of the regular season 3-1.

Then the Cowboys can go about doing something they haven’t done since 1996: winning a playoff game.