Game in Dallas Doesn't Mean the Better Team Won

This past Thursday the Green Bay Packers lost to the Dallas Cowboys by the score of 37-27 giving the Cowboys a two game lead in the hunt for home field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs this season. But what does the Cowboys' win really tell us? That they can beat a beat up Packers team.

The Packers didn't have two key defensive players in starting cornerback Charles Woodson who was out with a toe injury and pass rushing specialist Kabeer Gbaja-biamila who missed the game due to a bum ankle.

While the offense sputtered under Brett Favre's erratic passing, but flourished when 2nd string QB Aaron Rodgers came in to replace Favre after he was knocked out of the game with a dislodged left shoulder and bruised right elbow. By the time Favre left the game the Packers were down 27-10 when Rodgers took the offense 74 yards to bring the Packers within 10 points at half-time.

The Packers whittled the deficit to 3 points before the Cowboys offense ripped through the Packers thin secondary and regained a comfortable 10 point lead with 1:03 left in the game.

Now flip the situation: Had Woodson, Gbaja-biamila and Favre all been healthy could the Packers have possibly completed the comeback and won the game?

With Woodson the Packers tandem of shut-down corners (Woodson and Al Harris) probably would have been able to contain the big gains that the 'Boys receivers broke against an exhausted Harris and inexperienced Jarret Bush and Tramon Williams.

Without Woodson the defense was forced to start nickel corner Bush who was mismatched against the Cowboys tall receivers Terrell Owens and Patrick Crayton. Bush was replaced by return specialist and dime corner Williams in the second half once it became apparent that Bush could not keep up with his assignments.


Had Gbaja-biamila been available he and starting right defensive end Aaron Kampman would have made the offensive line a bit more loose due to having to worry about the pass rush coming from both sides.

Without Gbaja-biamila the Cowboys were able to focus solely on Kampman and double teaming him the entire night which struck the Packers defensive line basically useless.

Now the tricky question: Would Favre had gotten the Packers as close as Rodgers did to winning the game? Favre already had 2 interceptions and was only 5-14 on passing attempts for 56 yards.

We'll just have to wait and find out for the NFC Championship game.