Mike McCarthy’s past and present converge on Sunday when the Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys meet in a playoff game. McCarthy’s Cowboys are a touchdown favorite at home against a Packers team that captured the final wild card by winning its final three games.
This is the middle game of Sunday’s playoff tripleheader and will kick off at 4:30 p.m. ET from AT&T Stadium. FOX will handle the broadcast.
NFC East champion Dallas (12-5) is the No. 2 seed, tied with San Francisco and Detroit for the best record in the conference. The Cowboys have also won 16 in a row at home, but their last loss in AT&T Stadium came in this round two seasons ago.
McCarthy knows that success with this storied franchise is measured by more than just making it to the playoffs, and the first step in attempting to end Dallas’ Super Bowl drought (going on 28 years) is beating the team he won a Lombardi Trophy with 13 years ago.
Green Bay (9-8) hasn’t returned to the Super Bowl since that magical 2010 season, but this Packers team under coach Matt LaFleur has already defied expectations simply by getting into the playoffs.
After some initial success, Jordan Love experienced the typical growing pains that first-year starting quarterbacks go through in the NFL. Combined with some key injuries led to a 2-5 record for Green Bay through the end of October. But Love has gotten into quite the groove over the last eight weeks, throwing 18 touchdown passes and just one interception. That helped fuel a 6-2 finish to capture a wild-card berth and earned Love bragging rights over predecessor Aaron Rodgers in one aspect – leading the Packers to the playoffs in his first season as the starter.
The question now is how Love will fare when the stakes are raised and when facing a Dallas defense that finished the regular season ranked fifth in both points and total yards allowed per game. This unit also features two of the best in the league for creating havoc and coming up with big plays in linebacker Micah Parsons and cornerback DaRon Bland. A complimentary Green Bay running game powered by Aaron Jones – who has three straight 100-yard efforts – will take some of the offensive load off of Love. Christian Watson is questionable for this game with a hamstring injury.
For the Cowboys, much of the focus will be on how their offense performs, especially since McCarthy calls the plays. But there also will be plenty of pressure on quarterback Dak Prescott. The league leader in touchdown passes with 36 (Love finished second with 32), Prescott is just 2-4 in the playoffs, including a home loss to the McCarthy/Rodgers Packers in the divisional round during his 2016 rookie season. Prescott’s previous playoff experience should help him against a Green Bay defense that finished the regular season ninth against the pass.
The Packers also know that Prescott will look for CeeDee Lamb early and often. Limiting the league’s receptions leader (135 for 1,739 yards and 12 touchdowns) while not allowing running back Tony Pollard to get going on the ground will be critical if Green Bay wants to hand its former coach another deflating postseason defeat.
Packers cornerback Jaire Alexander is questionable with shoulder and ankle injuries.
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(Photo of Dak Prescott: Kevin Sabitus / Getty Images)
