RealGM

DALLAS (2-0) at GREEN BAY (2-0)
Sunday, Sept. 21 | Lambeau Field | 7:15 p.m. CDT

WITH THE CALL

-NBC Sports will broadcast the contest to a national audience on Sunday night. Play-by-play man Al Michaels joins color commentator John Madden in the broadcast booth with Andrea Kremer serving as the sideline reporter.

INJURY REPORT

Probable:
-Clifton, KGB, Grant, Wells, Woodson
Questionable:
-Hall, Humphrey, Martin, Sitton
Out:
-Bigby

Probable:
-Miles Austin (WR), Newman (CB), Stanbeck (WR), Witten, Kosier (G)
Questionable:
-Sam Hurd (WR)
Out:
-Roy Williams (S), Anthony Spencer (DE/LB), Deon Anderson (RB)




vs.








PACKERS VS. COWBOYS: EARLY SEASON SHOWDOWN

-Two of the NFL's preeminent franchises -- and two of the favorites in the NFC this season -- square off in primetime at Lambeau Field on Sunday night in front of a national audience.

-Green Bay comes into the contest fresh off a 48-25 victory over the Detroit Lions, its second division win in as many weeks. It was the Packers' sixth consecutive win over the Lions.

-For the second time in three weeks, the eyes of the NFL will be focused on Lambeau Field, as the Dallas Cowboys travel to Green Bay for the first time since 2004.

-Having as distinct a homefield advantage as there is in the league, the Packers have won 10 of their last 11 regular-season home games.

-The Packers hope to keep another winning streak going Sunday night against the Cowboys. They have never lost to Dallas at Lambeau Field (5-0 all-time).

-Included in that streak is the 'Ice Bowl', the 1967 NFL Championship, played between Vince Lombardi's Packers and Tom Landry's Cowboys. It is widely considered the greatest NFL game of all-time.

-After Lombardi and Landry turned it into one of the league's great rivalries, the series reached another peak in the 1990s with some great playoff battles.

-More recently, the teams met last year in the NFC's biggest regular-season game. That contest, won by Dallas 37-27, marked just the second time since 1970 that two 10-1 clubs met.

-The Packers and Cowboys represent two of the proudest and most popular clubs in the NFL. They have combined for 17 NFL championships (Green Bay 12, Dallas 5) and eight Super Bowl titles.

-Dallas comes into the contest off a short week, having beaten Philadelphia 41-37 on Monday night.


SO FAR, SO GOOD

-Thanks to game-changing plays from all three of its units, Green Bay has an early lead atop the NFC North.

-Special teams provided a spark in the season opener, while two defensive touchdowns sealed the victory last weekend. The offense hasn't missed a beat, producing six scores and over 380 yards per game.

-Last season, the club finished as the league's No. 2-ranked offense and its No. 6 scoring defense. The Packers also finished No. 7 in the Dallas Morning News special teams rankings, a dramatic jump of 25 spots from their last-place finish the previous two years.

-First-year starter Aaron Rodgers has attracted most of the headlines thanks to accurate and efficient performances in his first career starts. A look at his numbers, including those from last year's Cowboys game:

at Dal: 18-of-26, 201 yds, 1 TD, 0 INT, 104.8 RTG
vs. Min: 18-of-22, 178 yds, 1TD, 0 INT, 115.5 RTG
at Det: 24-of-38 328 yds, 3 TD, 0 INT, 117.0 RTG


AMERICA'S TEAM?

-Since Harris Interactive began its poll asking fans to identify their favorite NFL team in 1998, the Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys have routinely shown to have the two largest fan bases in the country.

-Both clubs have owned the title of the NFL's 'most popular team' four times, including in 2003 when both clubs shared the honor.

-Neither club has ever finished outside of the top four in the poll.

-In a Sports Illustrated poll rating the game-day atmosphere for each NFL team, the experience of seeing the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field ranked first. Fans were asked to grade every aspect of the game-day experience, including ticket prices, team performance, tailgating, stadium atmosphere and the surrounding neighborhoods.

We don't have Jerry Jones and his hideous plastic surgery face. That alone makes us a better franchise.

That's just disturbing.

I hope our Fab 5 goes up to T.O. before the game, points out Aaron Rodgers and say in unison "That's my quarterback."

Green Bay - Coach Mike McCarthy said this afternoon that safety Atari Bigby is likely out for Sunday night's game. That means Aaron Rouse will get the call alongside Nick Collins.

Additionally, FB Korey Hall (knee sprain), TE Tory Humphrey (knee sprain) and RB Ryan Grant (hamstring) won't practice until Friday.

I think that the Cowboy offense is incapable of being stopped. I think that 90% of their games will come down to air-borne shootouts much like the Rams in their glory years. It will all come down to who makes the big plays. I have this one down as a close one, but a loss.

Having Bigby out sucks. Especially if Rouse plays like he did against the Lions.

This game will probably come down to who win in the trenches (but then again, every game does). Yet if Romo has all day to throw, then they will put a clinic on this defense. Hopefully there is a lot more blitzing, and Harris gets a lot of safety help (otherwise we'll see a lot of TO dances) or just put C-Wood on TO and see how that goes for a while.

Gotta contain Witten and Owens, not let Barber/Felix get those big runs and this game is very winnable. But easier said than done.

Rouse better not play like sh** again. Having Scott Wells back should definetely help this offensive line open up some holes for the HB's (if he's able to play).

My mind says Cowboys, but my heart says Packers.

Man I wish Bigby could play. I'd feel a lot better.

I think we're better than Philly and they came close, and we're at home. Watching McNabb bumble around outside of the pocket once again made me appreciate Aaron Rodgers beyond the Favre comparisons, which he is silencing. Rodgers can have tons of fun with Dallas' defense, I hope he really goes after them. He seems to have that attitude and is also pretty smart about picking his spots.

Grant better have a good game or they need to consider splitting carries with Lumpkin or Jackson. I'm not high on Grant right now at all. No force-feeding like last week.

Rouse was brutal last week but played pretty well when he started last season. Hopefully he rebounds.

The reason Grant looked horrible is because our play caller has no concept of equal tendency formations. If you come out in double tight with a lead back and your running back that is getting controlled snaps is on the field -- the other team knows what we are doing. On the other hand, if we come out in the 5 wide or the 4 wide and motion the back out of the backfield -- you get the picture. When we ran any play action on first down, we caught the other team (in this case the Lions) off guard because we had done nothing but run off guard first down the entire game (for something like a max gain of 3). If we start coming out in equal tendency formations and are not predictable in our play calling, we will score many points against the Cowboys.

The Cowboy offensive line is excellent, gigantic, and gets away with a lot of penalties. We will have to blitz to bring pressure, and this will lead to looks for Witten. If we can cover Witten, that will be the key to victory.

The Pack doesn't have Bigby but the Cowgirls are without Roy Williams who broke his arm against the Eagles on Monday Night!!

I wonder if Nick Collins should switch positions with Rouse and play SS. He has to be a better tackler than Rouse, and Rouse seems to have a nose for the ball when playing centerfield.

Our safeties are pretty interchangeable since they almost always are playing a deep zone on each side of the field.

I really hope Rouse's play last week was hampered by his ankle because those two misplays on CJ's TDs were killers. You can't let guys get by you like that. I honestly don't know what he was thinking with the angles he was taking. He's had trouble breaking down and making the tackle in other games he's played in, but in those games it usually just led to a few extra yards instead of 40+ yards and seven points.

man, your game threads are so much better than the ones on the ravens board.

there are people posting in them too, that's cool

I'll be there with my friend, it's going to be sweet. I'll be one of the many with an AJ Hawk jersey on!

jerrod wrote:man, your game threads are so much better than the ones on the ravens board.

there are people posting in them too, that's cool

Best fans in the world, wouldn't expect anything less.

Ill be there also. Bad news though, my friend who got passes for the miller lite zone, he is a cowboys fan. Cant complain though, its free and hes taking me. Just cant wait till the pack wins.

jerrod wrote:man, your game threads are so much better than the ones on the ravens board.

there are people posting in them too, that's cool

That'll happen when you have 42 times more posts.

Do we have more posts than all of the other board combined? Team boards, that is.