Cheesehead
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- Mar 19, 2019
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GREEN BAY – One simple question. Can it continue?
The subject is the Packers’ run of success at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, just outside Dallas. It’s pretty remarkable when you think about it.
Not just the 4-0 record, but the magnitude of the games and the down-to-the-wire drama involved in every single one.
It’s as though not just a Week 5 game, but the Packers’ legacy in a particular venue, will be on the line Sunday against the Cowboys.
“We’ve had some great games over the years in that building,” quarterback Aaron Rodgers said. “One I didn’t even play in.”
Let’s recap.
Super Bowl XLV speaks for itself.
The Matt Flynn comeback game in 2013, which tied a franchise record for the largest deficit ever overcome to win (23 points, down 26-3 at halftime) kept the Packers in the playoff hunt and set the stage for the winner-take-all NFC North showdown in Chicago two weeks later.
Three years ago, the NFC Divisional playoff game was one for the ages. It required kicker Mason Crosby to hit a pair of field goals from 50-plus yards (three if you count the one on the timeout that failed to ice him) over the final minute and a half. It also featured one of the greatest throws of Rodgers’ career, the sideline dart to tight end Jared Cook preceding the winning kick.
Then in 2017, Rodgers was at it again, not with any singular highlight-reel play but a precise, efficient and cold-blooded two-minute drive capped by a touchdown pass to Davante Adams in the waning moments.
There’s really no way to top that list, only add to it, but that’ll be tough enough against a 3-1 Dallas team that was riding high before getting shut down last Sunday in New Orleans.
Similarly, the Packers’ fast start came to a screeching halt in a tough home loss to Philadelphia, so both teams are fighting to avoid a sudden losing streak after a strong beginning to 2019.
As for any effect prolonged success in a road venue has on the psyche of the players involved, veterans take it with a grain of salt. Whatever boost of confidence they may feel walking into a place that has provided good memories is tempered by the reality that every game is its own animal.
Left tackle David Bakhtiari, who made the last three trips to Dallas, calls it a “subconscious” element. They’ll take any edge they can, but psychology doesn’t win football games.