a real advantage is with their offensive line and their running game."
That's not me. That's John.
Remember, last year the Cowboys offense was the eraser when healthy, rubbing out any problem this team might have had, from throwing five interceptions in one game to sleepwalking through the first half in Detroit - or already this year, when gift-bagging two touchdowns for the Eagles in like a minute.
And here is a news bulletin for the Cheeseheads, who probably are feeling really good about the Packers' chances come Sunday since the game is at The House Curly Built, where they have never seen the beloved Pack lose to the Cowboys:
This is the best offense the Cowboys have brought to Lambeau Field. Ever.
Sacrilegious?
Let me tell you, I've seen four of the five games the Cowboys have played at Lambeau, and was there in person for three of them. Yeah, you're right, I wasn't there for the first one, Nov. 13, 1960, when the Cowboys were clobbered during their inaugural season, 41-7. But come on, they went 0-11-1 that season, averaging just 14.7 points a season, like half as much as they have averaged over their past 18 games (29.1).
The 1-15 version of the Cowboys to lose up there, 31-13, on Oct. 8, 1989, barely scored more that season playing four more games (204) than the '60 bunch and put up the lowest average in club history (12.7) no matter how many games were played in a season.
In the Nov. 23, 1997, loss up there to the Packers, 45-17, the one Cowboys safety Darren Woodson would say of afterwards, "They came out and flat kicked our ass," the Cowboys offense was becoming fractured, and really was permanently put in the deep freeze by the 13-below wind chill that late afternoon. They would average just 19 points in '97, Emmitt rushing for his fewest yards (1,074) in seven seasons and Troy Aikman's QB rating (78.0) his lowest during a nine-year stretch. In fact, the Cowboys would not win another game that year (6-10), their first losing season since 1990, costing head coach Barry Switzer his job.
"This team is much better than the team we took to Green Bay," former Cowboys special teams coach Joe Avezzano said without hesitation. "Much better."
And 2004? Please. You remember that mess, the Cowboys having to rely on cajillion-year-old Vinny Testaverde to start that year after cutting Quincy Carter early in training camp? They averaged only 18.3 points a game, with Vinny finishing with more interceptions (20) than touchdown passes (17) and a QB rating of 76.4
Yuck, yuck, yuck and yuck.
Now we can argue about the Ice Bowl, the only time the Cowboys have gone up there - so far - with a worthy team and a capable offense. Why, the Cowboys averaged 24.5 points a game that 1967 season. Six times they scored at least 24 points going 9-5, and even put up 52 in the Eastern Conference Championship game to advance to the NFL Championship.
Too bad Lambeau on New Year's Eve was frozen solid by the 13-below temperatures and the overnight snowstorm. Too bad the underground heaters didn't work (we think). Too bad more guys than naught suffered frostbite. Because neither team's offense had a snowball's chance in Hattie to function, especially the boys from down South.
But you know, even at that, Cowboys quarterback Don Meredith only put up a 68.6 QB rating in 1967, throwing as many touchdown passes (16) as times he was intercepted (16), which went for backup Craig Morton (10 and 10), too. So you know, good but not great.
If form holds, the Cowboys should continue to score a bundle come Sunday night. Let's remember, for all the talk of what Rodgers did last year at Texas Stadium in the second half, the Cowboys did score 37 points against the Packers. And for all the talk about the Cowboys giving up 37 points to the Eagles Monday night, they did score 41 points themselves.
So yeah, the Cowboys have never won a game at Lambeau, but they have never gone up there with a team as good as this one and certainly never with an offense as electrifying as this one.
"Wade always said to us, 'If we play our best football, we are
