Packers-Cowboys Preview

Seldom does a game in the third week of the season mean so much. However, there are many reasons this week’s match-up between the Dallas Cowboys and the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field.

The Packers are a team that still has many questions. They are the youngest team in the league, and their entire quarterback position had zero NFL starts coming into this season. Aaron Rodgers is still under Brett Favre’s shadow despite playing well in two games.

In his first career start against Minnesota, he needed to avoid mistakes. But he came in knowing that the Vikings were not going to put up a lot of points.

In his first career road start, he needed to out-gun veteran Jon Kitna and the high-powered Lions passing game. But he only had to do it against a defense that is among the worst in the league against the pass.

Now, he must out-gun an even higher-powered offense while faced with a defense that is at the very least in Minnesota’s league. And because they are at home, if the Packers lose, there is a very real knowledge they are not the class of the conference.

But as much as this game means for the Packers, it means more for the Cowboys.

The competition in the NFC East is so stiff that they need every win they can get to even win their division. Moreover, the difficulty of the division translates into a tough schedule, and the likelihood of facing a road game for the NFC Championship Game.

Should the Cowboys lose to the Packers Sunday, they would also lose the tie-breaker against them, making it necessary for them to finish with a better record to get a higher seed. This would be all but impossible considering they would have to catch up two games among thirteen while playing superior competition.

Having to play in January at Lambeau Field is not something any team wants to do, but the warm weather Cowboys have additional reasons to avoid it. They already have enough trouble winning in the playoffs since their last title after the 1995 season without adding that headache, and have present personnel issues to be worried about.

Tony Romo showed no courage to step up in the pocket last year against the New York Giants, and had the infamous fumbled snap the year before; he has never won in the playoffs. Coach Wade Phillips has only coached one playoff victory. For all his self-promotion, Terrell Owens has rarely been on the field when a playoff victory was celebrated.

If the Packers win, they will have made a statement in beating a team that beat two tough opponents coming in. If the Cowboys win, they will have beaten a third contender, and a second on the road.

No matter how much the Giants or any other NFC team may want to be in this discussion, none of them can say that. Whoever wins this game is the king of the NFC, at least for a week.