Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - Packer Plus
View from Dallas: Packers are pretenders
Editor’s note: This story was published Nov. 13, 1996.
Let’s get this straight from the start: I am not a Dallas Cowboys fan.
I live in Dallas, where I’ve written about the Cowboys for 18 years. But my latest book, “Hell-Bent. . . the Crazy Truth About the Win-or-Else Dallas Cowboys,” has made me public enemy No. 1 among many Cowboys fans. I’ve always written the truth — good or bad — about “America’s Team.”
The truth about America’s latest darlings, the Green Bay Packers, is that they’re not nearly as talented or confident or big-game battle-tested as the Cowboys.
At Lambeau Field, the great Packers crowd and Lombardi mystique help cover several Packers flaws, primarily that they’re pretty much a one-man gang, Brett Favre or bust. On the road — especially at Texas Stadium — the Packers get exposed.
Many national media people have been driving the Packers’ bandwagon since August because they’re sick and tired of the Cowboys and, to a certain extent, the San Francisco 49ers. But by season’s end, America will see that the Packers were 1996’s most overrated team.
Here’s why, on Monday night, the Packers will lose for a seventh straight time in Irving, Texas.
Favre is a better athlete with a bigger arm and much better extemporaneous instincts than Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman. While Favre is most dangerous when he escapes the pocket and buys time until receivers uncover, Aikman is at his worst on the run.
Two games ago against Philadelphia, Aikman tried to do too much on two fourth-quarter pass plays that just weren’t there and threw two uncharacteristic interceptions that blew the game. But when Aikman is in rhythm, delivering timing passes to receivers running precise routes, there is none better. The bigger the game, the more accurate, careful and mistake-free Aikman has been.
Against the best teams, Favre’s rambling, gambling strength turns into a weakness. Though Green Bay eventually
prevailed over San Francisco in overtime, Favre flung at least three passes that should have been intercepted and weren’t.
The Packers were fortunate that Elvis Grbac, and not Steve Young, was at the 49ers’ wheel. (Likewise, the Cowboys would have lost last Sunday at San Francisco if Young hadn’t been lost to a concussion after playing one sensational quarter.)
Turnover-prone quarterbacks do not win championships, and Favre’s gunslinging often has shot the Packers in the foot against Dallas. He tries to do too much, in large part because he can’t rely on a below-average running game or an average defense.
What happened in the NFC Championship Game last year at Texas Stadium? Though Green Bay led going into the fourth quarter, Favre got careless and flung one pass that seemed more intended for Cowboys cornerback Larry Brown than for a Packer. That blunder dramatically swung the momentum to the Cowboys, who won going away, 38-27. Dallas dominated the final quarter, re-establishing its psychological hold over an inferior foe.
Deep down, the Packers don’t think they can beat Dallas because they know the Cowboys simply have too many weapons and too many proud warriors who know how to win championships.
As Aikman says, “I know I’ll never have a break-out passing year (statistically) like Brett or Dan (Marino), because we’re going to run the football with Emmitt (Smith).”
But as Cowboys owner Jerry Jones says, “Troy’s greatness will be measured in the number of Super Bowl rings he wins.”
Aikman has been smart enough to play within himself and the confines of an offense built around establishing the run behind one of the most powerful offensive lines in NFL history.
Seriously, would you rather have Emmitt Smith or Edgar Bennett? Yes, Emmitt has lost a little edge, a little quickness, maybe even a little stomach for the constant pounding he has taken while winning four rushing titles. He won’t break the back-breaking 30- or 40-yard runs anymore, but he can still get 4 or 5 yards with the best of ‘em.
Yes, his elephant blockers are aging, but would you rather have Green Bay’s line? All five Cowboys linemen — Mark Tuinei, Nate Newton, Ray Donaldson, Larry Allen, Erik Williams — have made the Pro Bowl and could again. Is there any better lead blocker than Pro Bowl player Daryl Johnston?
Several times against Green Bay, the Cowboys have jumped ahead, then let Emmitt and the bodyguard blockers pound the Packers into submission.
Which Green Bay defender did Cowboys coaches most respect against the run? The one who now starts at middle linebacker for Dallas: Fred Strickland.
Yes, Aikman has lost one of his favorite receivers, tight end Jay Novacek, to a career-threatening back injury, and Deion Sanders hasn’t been able to turn himself into a legitimate deep threat to replace free-agent loss Alvin Harper. But even before Favre lost Robert Brooks and Antonio Freeman, he missed the big-time, go-to receiver that was Sterling Sharpe. At least Aikman still has Michael Irvin. Again: Advantage, Dallas.
Who would you rather have defending the pass? Packers cornerbacks Craig Newsome and Doug Evans or the NFL’s best tandem, Deion and Kevin Smith?
Who would you rather have rushing the passer? Reggie White, Sean Jones and Santana Dotson or Leon Lett, Tony Tolbert and the occasionally healthy Charles Haley? Close call. But Reggie has become the game’s most overrated “superstar,” living somewhat off his reputation. Against Erik Williams, he might as well be Betty White. For sure, he’s no Leon Lett. Advantage, you know who. Green Bay’s one breakthrough game came last year in the playoffs at San Francisco, when they caught the 49ers looking ahead to Dallas and shocked them with an attacking scheme cooked up by Fritz Shurmur, one of the game’s best coordinators. That game wasn’t a true measure of the Packers. The game Monday night will be.
The Cowboys again will expose Green Bay as no more than a pretty good team with a quarterback almost too talented for his own good.
Dallas again, 31-17.