Playoff Showdown: Packers vs. Cowboys – A Preview

Follow the game between the Packers and the Cowboys on Sunday from 4:30 p.m. on RDS and RDS.ca.

PREMATCH

Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys couldn’t have done better in the final two weeks of the regular season.

They moved into second place in the National Conference, so they won’t have to leave Dallas until the conference final, a game they haven’t played in 28 years.

The opportunity to play two playoff games at AT&T Stadium comes in the midst of a 16-game home winning streak for the Cowboys (12-5). That’s good, Prescott agreed, but we must not skip steps.

The champions of the Eastern section of the National will begin their playoff journey against the Green Bay Packers. Quarterback Jordan Love will play his first ever playoff game this Sunday.

“For our part, we start by focusing on this match,” said Prescott. We can talk about opportunities [à venir], of this and that, but the opportunity, currently, is this match. This is our approach. »

The Cowboys are in the playoffs for a third straight season. They had not had a streak like this since their six appearances in a row, from 1991 to 1996, three of which ended with the conquest of the Super Bowl.

The Texas team was eliminated by the San Francisco 49ers the last two seasons. It was in the first round in 2022, then in the second round last winter.

“Experience is everything,” said wide receiver CeeDee Lamb, who set team records this season with 135 catches and 1,749 passing yards.

“I feel like we have a lot of guys that have been on the team for a while and we’ve all been through the same struggles. We don’t want to feel like that again. »

This time, the Cowboys could meet the 49ers in the National final. They trailed the Philadelphia Eagles in the standings all season before surpassing them over the past two weeks.

Prescott lost his first playoff game to Aaron Rodgers and the Packers, then led by Mike McCarthy, in 2016. The latter is now in his fourth season at the helm of the Cowboys.

“This is an opportunity that we created for ourselves,” said McCarthy, who led the Packers to the title 13 years ago. We earned it, and more importantly, we’re going to enjoy it. »

Love has passed for 18 touchdowns and has just one interception in his last eight games. He thus allowed the Packers to maintain a 6-2 record during this sequence and clinch the last place giving access to the playoffs in the National.

“We had to win every game to be in this position,” Love said. Obviously the stakes are higher now, but I think we have the right mindset for what’s to come. »

2024-01-13 13:32:00
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