The Landry Hat
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Cowboys: Packers aren’t imposing force from 2014

By Brad Austin

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The Dallas Cowboys aren’t the same potent offense that battled Green Bay in the 2014 NFC playoffs, but neither are the Packers.

Dallas Cowboys fans surely dread knowing quarterback Matt Cassel‘s diluted offense must square off with quarterback Aaron Rodgers‘ 8-4 Green Bay Packers this Sunday.

Last Monday in Washington, Cassel’s unit failed to score a touchdown or break 10 points until 1:14 left in the fourth quarter.

One would think a similar stunt against Rodgers’ Packers will result in trailing by at least two touchdowns at that point.

Even worse, the Dallas offense has scored 20 or fewer points in four of Cassel’s five starts. Hard to imagine that bodes well against Green Bay’s scoring machine.

It’s widely known the Cowboys don’t possess the same potent offense that battled Green Bay in the 2014 NFC playoffs.

Fortunately the Packers’ offense is a knockoff from last season in their own right.

BEHIND THE NUMBERS

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Over the last six games, both teams have the same 2-4 record. Each team’s weekly outcome was identical the last six contests.

Identical weekly outcomes resulted in both teams losing three straight, and then winning two of the last three games.

Even each of their two wins were similar. On 11/22, Dallas won by 10 while Green Bay won by 17.

Last Sunday/Monday, the Packers prevailed by four and the Cowboys escaped by three.

What about playing on the road, aren’t the Packers nearly unbeatable at home?

Not quite the story this year as both Chicago and Detroit knocked them off at Lambeau Field the last two home games. The Cowboys won their last two road games.

On the season, both offenses have been sluggish. Dallas has totaled 330 yards per game while Green Bay is a tad better at 341 yards.

The Cowboys shuffled in three different starting quarterbacks during the mayhem.

At the same time Rodgers has uncharacteristically regressed to 8th in NFL QB rating (97.5). He hasn’t finished below the top 5 in QBR since 2008.

Over the last three games, the struggling Cowboys passing game (206 yards) is merely a hair below the Packers (210 yards).

With Jordy Nelson sidelined from a torn ACL, Green Bay hasn’t been able to exploit secondaries with their usual ferocity.

After 12 games, Rodgers has already been sacked once more than the 28 times he hit the deck all last season.

SUNSHINE IN FRIGID GREEN BAY

The Packers aren’t lighting it on fire like 2014, yet they’re better than Cassel’s bunch.

The reason Cowboys fans can remain optimistic rests with the upgraded defense.

For the season Dallas’ mix and match starting defense still allowed fewer total yards (326) than Green Bay (357).

With most of the starters playing the last three contests, the Cowboys defense edges the Packers in total yards allowed by 257 to 313.

Green Bay surrendered 3.3 fewer points per game the last three, but they didn’t face an offense near the Panthers’ 3rd ranked scoring machine (31.3 ppg).

Minnesota (19.8 ppg), Chicago (20.9 ppg), and Detroit (21.1 ppg) fall below 22 NFL teams in scoring offense.

Next: 2016 NFL Draft: Cowboys Full Seven-Round Mock

Digging beyond the Cowboys/Packers mystique into 2015 stats, two things are clear:

  1. Dallas will continue to struggle touchdowns as usual.
  2. The Cowboys defense is very capable of limiting the downgraded Packers offense.

Buckle up, this one should be another stressful battle with two teams scratching and clawing to pull away. A Cowboys/Packers dogfight sounds like a good rematch to me.

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