GREEN BAY (3-1) VS. DALLAS COWBOYS (4-1)
Sunday, Oct. 16 l Lambeau Field l 3:25 p.m. CDT
The Green Bay Packers will host the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday afternoon at Lambeau Field.
The Packers are 3-1, marking the second consecutive year and the seventh time since 2000 that they have won at least three of their first four games.
Green Bay is 17-16 against the Dallas in the overall series, but has won five straight over the Cowboys, including the last matchup, 28-7, in Week 14 last season.
Green Bay is 11-4 against Dallas at home during the regular and postseason, including wins in each of the last four contests.
The Packers have won six of the last seven against the Cowboys at Lambeau Field (including the postseason), scoring more than 40 points in three of the wins.
This is the fourth straight season that the teams have met (2013 and ‘15 regular season, 2014 postseason).
On Sunday, Dallas will become the only team outside of the division that the Packers have played four times (including the postseason) since 2013.
The Packers have outscored the Cowboys, 90-21, in the last three times they have faced them at home during the regular season. Green Bay held Dallas to seven points in each of those contests.
Of the Cowboys’ 15 previous road games against the Packers, only five have taken place in the month of October, with Green Bay winning four of the contests.
QB Aaron Rodgers has started five times against the Cowboys during the regular season, with the Packers winning four of the contests. In those five games, Rodgers has completed 120 of 179 passes (67.0 percent) for 1,302 yards, nine touchdowns, zero interceptions and a passer rating of 105.0.
Rodgers has registered a passer rating of 125 or more (125.4 and 131.5) in two of the last three games against Dallas.
Sunday, the Packers will wear a re-creation of the team’s uniform from 1927-48 for the second time (San Diego, Week 5 in 2015). It is navy blue and gold, and includes a gold yoke across the shoulders with faded gold pants and high navy socks. Green Bay is 8-3 when wearing a third jersey, including winning each of the last five games (2010-11, 2013-15) and seven of the last eight. In the five wins in the third jersey since 2010, the Packers have outscored their opponents, 169-72.
Dating back to 2006, the Packers (29-9, .763) hold the second-best winning percentages in the month of October behind the New England Patriots (36-7, .837).
Green Bay has won 11 consecutive home games during the month of October. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it is the longest current home October winning streak and it is the second longest in franchise history behind only a 16-game streak from 1928-32.
This Sunday, Green Bay will play the third of four consecutive home games over a five-week span. It is the first time the Packers have played four consecutive home games during a single regular season since 1963 (Games 1-4).
The Packers have a short turnaround after Sunday’s game, facing the Chicago Bears on Thursday night for the second consecutive season. It is the 11th consecutive year that the Packers and Bears will play in prime time.
WITH THE CALL
FOX Sports, now in its 23rd season as an NFL network television partner, will broadcast the game.
Play-by-play man Thom Brennaman joins color commentator Troy Aikman and sideline reporter Erin Andrews.
Milwaukee’s WTMJ (620 AM), airing Green Bay games since November 1929, heads up the Packers Radio Network that is made up of 50 stations in five states. Wayne Larrivee (play-by-play) and two-time Packers Pro Bowler Larry McCarren (analyst) call the action. McCarren first joined the team’s broadcasts in 1995 and enters his 22nd season calling Packers games. After originally being paired together in 1999, McCarren and Larrivee enter their 18th season of broadcasts together.
Sports USA Radio will air the game on radio across the country. Wayne Randazzo (play-by-play) and Doug Plank (analyst) will call the action.
The broadcast is also available on Sirius Satellite Radio (WTMJ feed) as part of the network’s NFL Sunday Drive.
DIRECTV subscribers can watch the game on Channel 715.
THE DOPE ON THIS WEEK’S OPPONENT:
Packers vs. Cowboys:
All-time, Regular season: 14-12-0
All-time, Postseason: 3-4
All-time, in Green Bay: 9-1-0
Streaks: The Packers have won the last five games overall.
Last meeting, regular season: Dec. 13, 2015; Packers won, 28-7, Lambeau Field
COACHES CAPSULES
Mike McCarthy: 115-63-1, .645 (incl. 8-7 postseason); 11th NFL season
Jason Garrett: 50-45-0, .526 (inc. 1-1 postseason); 7th NFL season
Head to Head: McCarthy 4-0
vs. Opponent: McCarthy 5-2 vs. Cowboys; Garrett 0-4 vs. Packers
MIKE McCARTHY…Is in his 11th year as the Packers’ 14th head coach.
Joined Vince Lombardi and Mike Holmgren as the only coaches to guide the Packers to a Super Bowl title with a win over Pittsburgh in Super Bowl XLV.
Led the Packers to their seventh consecutive playoff appearance last season, joining New England as the only two NFL teams to do so over that span. Has also led the team to eight playoff appearances in the last nine years (2007, 2009-15).
Guided the Packers to top-10 finishes in scoring in eight straight seasons (2007-14), joining the Patriots as the only other team to accomplish the feat over that time; Packers finished first overall in scoring in 2014.
His .655 winning percentage during the regular season (107-56-1) ranks No. 3 among active NFL head coaches (min. 50 games).
Had 104 regular-season wins in his first 10 seasons as a head coach, ranking No. 3 in NFL history.
JASON GARRETT…Is in his sixth full season as the Cowboys’ eighth head coach. Was the interim head coach for the final eight games in 2010.
In 2014, coached Dallas to a 12-4 record, its first winning season and playoff appearance since 2009.
Garrett has helped guide the Cowboys to a top-10 offensive ranking five times (2007, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014) in his tenure as offensive coordinator and then head coach.
Was named NFL Assistant Coach of the Year by Pro Football Weekly for the 2007 season.
Won Super Bowls XXVII, XXVIII and XXX as a quarterback for the Cowboys.
THE PACKERS-COWBOYS SERIES
These clubs squared off in one of the most famous games in league history, the 1967 NFL Championship, dubbed the ‘Ice Bowl.’ Kickoff temperature was recorded as minus-13 with a minus-46 wind chill, the coldest game in league annals. Bart Starr’s game-winning TD, a 1-yard dive with 13 seconds left, sealed Green Bay’s third straight championship en route to its second consecutive Super Bowl title.
Green Bay won 10 of the first 15 in the series, in which Tom Landry and Vince Lombardi - former assistants on the same N.Y. Giants staff in the 1950s - turned it into one of the NFL’s preeminent rivalries.
The teams met in the 2014 NFC Divisional playoffs, with Green Bay coming away victorious, 26-21. After a controversial fourth-down catch by Cowboys WR Dez Bryant was ruled incomplete late in the four quarter, the Packers drove to run out the last few minutes of the clock.
NOTABLE CONNECTIONS
Packers LB Joe Thomas spent a couple weeks on the Cowboys’ practice squad in 2015...Packers executive vice president, general manager & director of football operations Ted Thompson is from Atlanta, Texas, about 175 miles east of Dallas, and attended Southern Methodist University...Packers S Chris Banjo (Sugar Land), K Mason Crosby (Georgetown), LS Brett Goode (Pampa), CB Demetri Goodson (Spring), WR Ty Montgomery (Dallas) and FB Aaron Ripkowski (Dayton) are from Texas...Goodson attended Baylor from 2011-13 and was teammates with Dallas WR Terrence Williams for two seasons (2011-12)...Banjo played all four years (2008-11) at Southern Methodist University with Cowboys WR Cole Beasley...Green Bay assistant offensive line coach David Raih was the director of high school relations at Texas Tech in 2013...Dallas secondary coach Joe Baker coached at Wisconsin in 1999 and for the Packers in 2005...Cowboys T Doug Free played at Lincoln High in Manitowoc, Wis. ...Packers DT Brian Price attended Texas San Antonio...Dallas QB Tony Romo starred in golf, basketball and football at Burlington (Wis.) High...Green Bay senior personnel executive Alonzo Highsmith played for the Cowboys from 1990-91...From 2003-11, Packers area scout John Wojciechowski was the Northeast area scout for the Cowboys...Cowboys C Travis Frederick played at Wisconsin from 2009-12 and was teammates with Packers WR Jared Abbrederis from 2011-12...Frederick went to Big Foot High in Walworth, Wis. ...Cowboys safeties coach Greg Jackson was a coach for the Badgers in 2010...Packers LB Julius Peppers was coached in Chicago by Dallas defensive coordinator/defensive line coach Rod Marinelli from 2010-12...Baker coached with Packers head coach Mike McCarthy (2000-04), associate head coach/linebackers Winston Moss (2000-04) and special teams coordinator Ron Zook (2000-01) in New Orleans...Green Bay defensive quality control coach Ejiro Evero (2009) and quarterbacks coach Alex Van Pelt (2010-11) coached in Tampa Bay with Baker...Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett and Packers defensive coordinator Dom Capers coached together in Miami in 2006...Evero coached Dallas OL Joe Looney (2013) and coached with Jackson (2011-14) in San Francisco...Evero and Cowboys assistant head coach/special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia coached in Tampa Bay from 2007-09...Green Bay tight ends coach Brian Angelichio coached with Cowboys senior offensive assistant Steve Loney from 2012-13 with the Buccaneers...Loney and Packers defensive line coach Mike Trgovac were colleagues at Colorado State from 1990-91...Packers QB Aaron Rodgers and Dallas TE Geoff Swaim both attended Pleasent Valley High in Chico, Calif. ...Rodgers and Cowboys LS L.P. Ladouceur played at California in 2003...Packers LB Clay Matthews (2008) and LB Nick Perry (2009-10) played with Cowboys T Tyron Smith at Southern California...Matthews and Dallas QB Mark Sanchez were Trojans teammates from 2006-08...Cowboys LB Anthony Hitchens played at Iowa with Green Bay DT Mike Daniels (2010-11) and DB Micah Hyde (2010-12)...Dallas DE Charles Tapper was coached at Oklahoma by Packers defensive front assistant Jerry Montgomery (2013-14) and was teammates with FB Aaron Ripkowski (2012-14)...Packers G Lane Taylor was Oklahoma State teammates with Cowboys K Dan Bailey (2009-10) and WR Dez Bryant (2009)...Green Bay WR Jeff Janis played at Saginaw Valley State with Cowboys TE Jeff Heath from 2010-12.
LAST MEETING, REGULAR SEASON
Dec. 13, 2015, Lambeau Field, Packers won, 28-7
RB Eddie Lacy notched his ninth career 100-yard rushing game (124 yards on 24 carries for a 5.2 avg.).
The Packers held Dallas to 1 of 11 (9.1 percent) on third down.
RB Darren McFadden had 111 yards on nine carries (12.3 avg.) for the Cowboys.
A 12-play, 94-yard drive was capped by a 30-yard TD run by RB James Starks
