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This Just In...
Kevin Fischer is an award-winning veteran broadcaster who has been seen and heard on Milwaukee TV and radio stations for nearly three decades.
Kevin, who is a legislative aide to state Sen. Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin), can be seen offering his views on the news on the public affairs program, “INTERchange,” on Milwaukee Public Television Channel 10. He lives with his wife, Jennifer, in Franklin.
PACKERS-COWBOYS: An intense rivalry
By Kevin Fischer
Thursday, Nov 29 2007, 05:29 AM
Cowboys-Packers a series with high-stakes intensityBy ALBERT BREER / The Dallas Morning News
abreer@dallasnews.com
In the 48 years the Cowboys and Packers have shared NFL turf, the two teams have hooked up just 26 times. So in this case, as the teams gear up for their 27th meeting on Thursday, it's not familiarity that breeds contempt. Here, it's intensity.
Cowboys vs. Packers all-time results
Consider that six of those 26 games have taken place in the playoffs. And consider that at least one team carried a record of .500 or better into 18 of the 20 regular-season games. Both teams have been at least .500 entering the game eight times, including five of the last six. Thursday will make it six times in seven games, the only exception coming in 2004. The last time neither team came in at .500 or above was in 1993, when both were 1-2 going in but rebounded to meet again in the playoffs. The Cowboys wound up repeating as Super Bowl champions. As for the six playoff games, here's all you need to know: Four times, the winner has gone on to win the Super Bowl. Two times in the '60s, it was the Packers. Twice in the '90s, it was the Cowboys. The stakes are again high. The teams have never faced each other carrying a combined winning percentage as high as their .909 this year. With home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs potentially on the line, and a chance to further distance themselves from other division leaders in the conference, the two teams gear up for another showdown.
DALLAS-GREEN BAY: THE PLAYOFFS Note: To read The News' accounts of the key games between the Cowboys and Packers listed below, click on the highlighted text in the paragraphs underneath the headings
1967: The Ice Bowl
Packers 21, Cowboys 17
Some say Vince Lombardi was the one who turned off Lambeau Field's $80,000 field heating system. Others say it failed under the weight of a kickoff temperature of minus-13 and wind chill of 46 below. The only things certain are that it was frigid, and that the 1967 NFL Championship Game – serving as the Packer dynasty's last stand – was a classic.
For the second straight year, the teams battled into the final moments for the league crown. As was the case in '66, Green Bay won on the goal line in the game's waning moments. Bart Starr's 1-yard sneak behind Jerry Kramer and Ken Bowman with 13 seconds left, a year after a goal-line stand by the Packers' defense sealed a championship, delivered Green Bay a 21-17 win in a game that belongs to the ages. The Cowboys rallied from a 14-0 deficit to take a 17-14 lead in the fourth quarter, and the failed comeback added another tale of heartbreak for a Dallas franchise that was becoming accustomed to such disappointment.
Years later, the effects of the frostbite suffered by players like Starr and Cowboys defensive tackle Jethro Pugh that day remained. After the game, Starr's counterpart, Don Meredith, came down with pneumonia. It was so cold that the Wisconsin-La Crosse marching band couldn't perform at halftime because of frozen instruments.
After repeating as Super Bowl champions two weeks later, the Packers spiraled into irrelevance, making the playoffs twice and winning one postseason game in the 25 seasons to follow. The Cowboys played in five Super Bowls and won two in the 11 seasons to follow. But no matter: This game links the franchises in perpetuity.
The morning after
The lead from Bob St. John's account of the Ice Bowl, in the Jan. 1, 1968, edition of The Morning News: The Green Bay Packers, as they had a year ago, broke the hearts of the Dallas Cowboys in the twilight hour Sunday to reign once again as champions of the National Football League and all that's holy in professional sports. Somebody got their settings mixed up. Conditions were impossible. Temperatures zipped to 13 degrees below at gametime and were unfit for man and beast and especially football. And the turf here at Lambeau Field, which was not supposed to freeze because of an electrical heating system under the ground, froze. ... Dallas did not die easily at all and the final blow did not come until Bart Starr's 6-inch quarterback sneak on third down with 13 seconds remaining on the clock.
1966 NFL Championship, Cotton Bowl, Jan. 1, 1967
Packers 34, Cowboys 27
Bart Starr threw four touchdown passes, helping build a 34-20 fourth-quarter lead. A furious Cowboys comeback led by Don Meredith gave Dallas a first-and-goal on the Packers' 2, down 34-27. But an interception by Tom Brown on fourth down with 28 seconds left sent the Packers to the first Super Bowl.
1982 NFC Second Round Playoff, Texas Stadium, Jan. 16, 1983
Cowboys 37, Packers 26
This is the most nondescript of these teams' playoff showdowns, coming in the "Super Bowl Tournament" held in a strike year. The Packers battled back from a 20-7 halftime deficit, but Danny White led a 74-yard touchdown drive in the fourth quarter to drive a final stake into the Packers. The Cowboys then lost to the Redskins in the NFC title game.
1993 NFC Divisional Playoff, Texas Stadium, Jan. 16, 1994
Cowboys 27, Packers 17
The young, rising Packers led 3-0 through one quarter, but after a 17-point second quarter – punctuated with a forced fumble with 14 seconds left and a touchdown two plays later – the Cowboys cruised to victory . Troy Aikman threw for 302 yards, and the Cowboys were on their way to repeating as Super Bowl champions.
1994 NFC Divisional Playoff, Texas Stadium, Jan. 8, 1995
Cowboys 35, Packers 9
Not even close. It was 14-3 after the first quarter, and 28-9 at the half, and the result was never in doubt, even after Emmitt Smith's afternoon ended with a hamstring injury in the first quarter. Troy Aikman made up the difference with 337 yards through the air, with 100-yard receiving efforts from Michael Irvin, Alvin Harper and Jay Novacek compensating for the sidelined workhorse. A week later, the Cowboys' bid for an unprecedented third straight Super Bowl title ended in San Francisco.
1995 NFC Championship, Texas Stadium, Jan. 14, 1996
Cowboys 38, Packers 27
The torch seemed poised to be passed, but as was the case in 1967, the old guard had just enough to hit the young upstart over the head with it. In a game that featured five lead changes, the Cowboys carried a 24-17 lead to the half but trailed, 27-24, entering the fourth quarter. It took Emmitt Smith's second and third touchdowns, part of a 35-carry, 150-yard effort, to put Green Bay away. Troy Aikman (255 yards) and Michael Irvin (100 yards receiving) played supporting roles as the Cowboys punched their Super Bowl ticket on the way to their third title in four years.
INSIDE THE SERIES
Favre detests Dallas
Over a star-studded 17-year career, Brett Favre has won three MVP awards, two NFC titles, a Super Bowl ring and zero games in Irving. The Packers icon is 0-8 at Texas Stadium, making the Cowboys one of two NFC opponents he's never beaten on the road (he's 0-6 in Philadelphia). Conversely, Favre is 2-0 in games against the Cowboys at Lambeau. His numbers at Texas Stadium:
| Date |
Cmp.-Att.-Yds. |
Pct. |
TD |
INT |
Rating |
| Oct. 3, 1993 |
21-37-174 |
56.8 |
0 |
0 |
69.0 |
| Jan. 16, 1994* |
28-45-331 |
62.2 |
2 |
2 |
80.9 |
| Nov. 24, 1994 |
27-40-257 |
67.5 |
4 |
0 |
118.4 |
| Jan. 8, 1995* |
18-35-211 |
51.4 |
0 |
1 |
58.2 |
| Oct. 8, 1995 |
21-41-295 |
51.2 |
1 |
1 |
72.7 |
| Jan. 14, 1996* |
21-39-307 |
53.9 |
3 |
2 |
84.0 |
| Nov. 18, 1996 |
21-37-194 |
56.8 |
1 |
0 |
80.2 |
| Nov. 14, 1999 |
26-50-260 |
52.0 |
1 |
2 |
57.1 |
| Overall |
183-324-2,029 |
56.5 |
12 |
8 |
77.3 | |
* Playoffs
Note: To read The News' accounts of the key games between the Cowboys and Packers listed below, click on the highlighted text in the paragraphs underneath the headings
Tuna meltdown
The last meeting between the teams, on Oct. 24, 2004, was perhaps the moment the Bill Parcells era bottomed out. After the 41-20 loss, Parcells said so himself, adding, "I'm embarrassed to put a team on the field that looks like that." Safety Roy Williams actually offered Parcells an apology for the defense's effort, then said, "We can't let ourselves be broken up or we're going to be back like two years ago when [Dave] Campo was the head coach and we were just playing for kicks."
Times a-changin'
When Herschel Walker took off his No. 34 Cowboys jersey after a 31-13 loss to the Packers in Jimmy Johnson's first season, rumors swirled that he was doing so for the final time. "When everything is said and done, then I can come out and talk about this," Walker said after that 1989 game. Little did he know that the deal made four days later would still be talked about 20 years later. The Cowboys traded Walker to the Minnesota Vikings and reaped eight draft picks, seven of them first-day selections and three in the first round. The trade was later lauded for laying the foundation for the three Super Bowl titles.
No one's safe
Physical play hasn't been limited to the players in this rivalry. During the 1995 NFC Championship Game, Cowboys safety Darren Woodson tackled Packers receiver Robert Brooks near the sideline, and their momentum carried both players into Green Bay receivers coach Gil Haskell. As Haskell fell to the turf, his head snapped back, fracturing his skull. He was taken to Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas by ambulance and listed in serious condition that night. Haskell never missed a game, returning the sideline the next season. He's been Seattle's offensive coordinator since 2000 and said he felt "like the luckiest guy in the world" before coaching the Seahawks in Super Bowl XL.
The very first time
The Cowboys-Packers series kicked off on Nov. 13, 1960, and the Dallas expansion franchise was blown out, 41-7. But signs showed again that the rookie quarterback from SMU, Don Meredith, might have something. A week after making his first start, Meredith was the third QB the Cowboys used that afternoon, going 9-of-16 and throwing for the team's only touchdown. The game was played before 32,294, then a record Green Bay crowd.
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