Pro football: Cowboys, Packers seek home-field advantage
Tom Orsborn
Express-News Staff Writer
IRVING — With a Pro Bowl appearance and 281/2 career sacks already to his credit, it's no stretch to call DeMarcus Ware one of the league's most feared linebackers.
But the third-year player was more lamb than lion when asked about the possibility of the Dallas Cowboys facing the Green Bay Packers on the road in the playoffs.
"Lambeau Field? In January? Oh, my God," Ware said Thursday after the Cowboys dismantled the New York Jets 34-3 to stay deadlocked with the Packers atop the NFC.
The Dallas-Green Bay showdown next week is loaded with rich storylines.
It's Wisconsin native Tony Romo vs. his boyhood idol Brett Favre, who could be making his last appearance at Texas Stadium. It's two of the NFL's most storied franchises meeting 40 years after they clashed in the legendary Ice Bowl. It's flashy, sprawling Dallas vs. blue-collar, tiny Green Bay.
But at the heart of only the second meeting between 10-1 teams since 1970 is this: The winner has the inside track in the race for home-field advantage in the playoffs because it will own the head-to-head tiebreaker.
In other words, the game could determine the conference's Super Bowl representative.
"What this game is about is to get back here in January," Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said. "It's a big one. There is a difference between playing in Dallas and playing in Green Bay in January."
Dallas is 0-5 at Lambeau. Green Bay is 0-8 at Texas Stadium since it won there in 1989.
Much of Cowboys coach Wade Phillips' news conference Friday was devoted to the topic.
Phillips doesn't fear a January visit to Wisconsin as much as some in the organization because he was Atlanta's defensive coordinator in 2002 when the Falcons handed the Packers' their only postseason loss at Lambeau.
"If it's bad weather up there and they can't throw it and have to go with their running game that wouldn't be too bad," Phillips said in a reference to Green Bay ranking second in the league in pass offense but 30th in rush offense.
"But, yeah, you'd rather play at home. That's the big thing — the crowd, the motivation factor. When a game gets going and the crowd really gets into it, it helps you. The crowd got into yesterday's game. We feel comfortable playing at home. We'd like to do that."
The Packers have the league's youngest roster. Asked whether that would give his team an edge next week Phillips said, "Well, they've got a mature quarterback, though. He handles all the maturity for them."
Favre, the 38-year-old three-time MVP, is 0-8 at Texas Stadium. But he'll journey to Texas coming off one of his best games of the season: a 381-yard, three-touchdown performance in the Packers' 37-26 victory over Detroit on Thursday.
Favre, whose 101.5 passer rating trails only Romo's 105.3 in the NFC, set a team record with 20-straight completions against the Lions.
"Hopefully, he had his best game of the year, because it's hard to put games like that together back to back," Romo said Thursday. "But I expect we'll get the best Brett has to offer next week."
With home-field advantage on the line, why expect anything less?
Notebook: Phillips gave the players Friday and today off. They return to practice Sunday. ... While the Cowboys got out of their Thanksgiving Day game healthy, the Packers weren't so lucky. Cornerback Charles Woodson suffered a toe injury while returning a punt and defensive tackle Colin Cole broke his left forearm. ... The last time two 10-1 teams met was in 1990, when the Joe Montana-led San Francisco 49ers played the Bill Parcells-coached New York Giants.
Express-News Staff Writer
IRVING — With a Pro Bowl appearance and 281/2 career sacks already to his credit, it's no stretch to call DeMarcus Ware one of the league's most feared linebackers.
But the third-year player was more lamb than lion when asked about the possibility of the Dallas Cowboys facing the Green Bay Packers on the road in the playoffs.
"Lambeau Field? In January? Oh, my God," Ware said Thursday after the Cowboys dismantled the New York Jets 34-3 to stay deadlocked with the Packers atop the NFC.
The Dallas-Green Bay showdown next week is loaded with rich storylines.
It's Wisconsin native Tony Romo vs. his boyhood idol Brett Favre, who could be making his last appearance at Texas Stadium. It's two of the NFL's most storied franchises meeting 40 years after they clashed in the legendary Ice Bowl. It's flashy, sprawling Dallas vs. blue-collar, tiny Green Bay.
But at the heart of only the second meeting between 10-1 teams since 1970 is this: The winner has the inside track in the race for home-field advantage in the playoffs because it will own the head-to-head tiebreaker.
In other words, the game could determine the conference's Super Bowl representative.
"What this game is about is to get back here in January," Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said. "It's a big one. There is a difference between playing in Dallas and playing in Green Bay in January."
Dallas is 0-5 at Lambeau. Green Bay is 0-8 at Texas Stadium since it won there in 1989.
Much of Cowboys coach Wade Phillips' news conference Friday was devoted to the topic.
Phillips doesn't fear a January visit to Wisconsin as much as some in the organization because he was Atlanta's defensive coordinator in 2002 when the Falcons handed the Packers' their only postseason loss at Lambeau.
"If it's bad weather up there and they can't throw it and have to go with their running game that wouldn't be too bad," Phillips said in a reference to Green Bay ranking second in the league in pass offense but 30th in rush offense.
"But, yeah, you'd rather play at home. That's the big thing — the crowd, the motivation factor. When a game gets going and the crowd really gets into it, it helps you. The crowd got into yesterday's game. We feel comfortable playing at home. We'd like to do that."
The Packers have the league's youngest roster. Asked whether that would give his team an edge next week Phillips said, "Well, they've got a mature quarterback, though. He handles all the maturity for them."
Favre, the 38-year-old three-time MVP, is 0-8 at Texas Stadium. But he'll journey to Texas coming off one of his best games of the season: a 381-yard, three-touchdown performance in the Packers' 37-26 victory over Detroit on Thursday.
Favre, whose 101.5 passer rating trails only Romo's 105.3 in the NFC, set a team record with 20-straight completions against the Lions.
"Hopefully, he had his best game of the year, because it's hard to put games like that together back to back," Romo said Thursday. "But I expect we'll get the best Brett has to offer next week."
With home-field advantage on the line, why expect anything less?
Notebook: Phillips gave the players Friday and today off. They return to practice Sunday. ... While the Cowboys got out of their Thanksgiving Day game healthy, the Packers weren't so lucky. Cornerback Charles Woodson suffered a toe injury while returning a punt and defensive tackle Colin Cole broke his left forearm. ... The last time two 10-1 teams met was in 1990, when the Joe Montana-led San Francisco 49ers played the Bill Parcells-coached New York Giants.
posted by The Gryphon at 10:58 AM
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