Packers 34 Dalass 31
Yes, my friends, I lived in TX during The Dark Times. We had been to the playoffs 3 straight times, each time, our record was worse than Dallass so we had to go down to Arlington and play Jerry’s Team. And Jimmy Johnson is yelling, “How ‘bout Them Cowboys!?!?” Then Barry Switzer comes on, inherits the team that Johnson built and wins another Superbowl. But as a fresh-eyed Brett Favre came back to Green Bay, he brashly guaranteed that he’d be in New Orleans in January...it’s only 10 miles from his mom’s house! Meanwhile, I (our hero) was getting told that once again we would play in Dallass and our playoff dreams would die. I replied, “That’s nice, and do fairies live in the make believe world you live in?”
Wonder of Wonders, Our record was 13-3, the NFC Championship would come through Lambeau Field! Dallass would come to us! Dallass won the NFC East, and would play the Vikings in Arlington. They won and Barry Switzer, true to form, ran his mouth, “You know, I don’t think I even know where Charlotte North Carolina is!” We beat the Wild Card San Francisco 49ers, and the chant came up, “We want Dallas! We want Dallas!”, but Switzer had given Charlotte’s upstart Panthers (NFC South Champions) with some Bulletin Board Material. So Sunday afternoon, Kevin Greene and Sam Mills are mugging for the camera, “Do you know where Charlotte, NC is now Sucka!?!?” We had been denied our revenge, it would be years before a playoff game was played again between our two teams. Sure we played Dallass the next year, but it wasn’t the same, Chan Gailey was coach not Switzer, Michael Irvin was not himself, Emmitt Smith was a non-factor. It wasn’t the same.
So Monday, I was gloating! I had a HUUUUUUGE Smile on my face all day!! We beat them in Dallas! FINALLY! My wife had MLK day off so she sat there while Steven A. reminded Max Kellerman and everybody else that Aaron Rodgers is a BAAAAAAAAD MAN!! Shannon Sharpe (and I) had to listen to Skip Bayless say, “Just wait ‘til next year!” Yeah, when our defense will be better and Jordy Nelson will be playing! We missed Jordy. I’m not going to lie, Number 87 has the ability to stretch the field like few players can. Coach Mike and Aaron had an answer to Jordy’s absence, spread the defense. It was a strategy that worked. Let me ask you this though? How does a player leave the line of scrimmage, at the end of his route, his shoulder pads are on top of his jersey, and no laundry is on the field? This happened twice Sunday. I guess the refs don’t know what constitutes defensive holding, more maybe DaVante Adams wasn’t on their fantasy team.
Aaron threw to everybody in Dallas. 6 receivers and 1 interception. He threw for 355 yards, 2 TDs and 1 int, and 3 sacks for a passer rating of just 96.6. Dak was up to 103.2. Which just goes to show that passer ratings are still kinda arbitrary.
Despite Ty Montgomery lining up in his normal wide receiving slot, he still managed to engage in his hobby of being a running back during the second quarter and get 2 TD’s on 11 runs for 47 yards.
What can I say about the final sequence? My heart isn’t healthy enough for that! It felt like I had been running a marathon!! Mason! Money!! Clutch!!! Aaron was a little more retrospect. A reporter asked him what he thought when the Packers got the ball back with 35 seconds left. Aaron said with a half- smile, “They left too much time on the clock!”
GO PACK!! GO!!!
(Ken Hill)
