Packers-Cowboys Playoffs: Young and ‘Gritty’ Underdogs
GREEN BAY, Wis. – Only twice over the last two decades have the Green Bay Packers been a bigger playoff underdog than they are for Sunday’s NFC wild card game at the Dallas Cowboys.
At FanDuel Sportsbook, the Packers are 7.5-point underdogs against the Cowboys. Dallas has a lot more experience than the fledgling Packers, a lot more proven talent with a 7-0 edge in Pro Bowlers and a distinct homefield advantage.
Not that anyone in Green Bay’s locker room cares.
“I think everybody in here is a competitor,” running back AJ Dillon said. “That’s the core for our team. Everybody is kind of gritty. We all like ball. We all want to win. Underdog or the favorite, we don’t really care about that. It’s just about there’s opportunity for us to go play, we’re going to go play. We’re excited and up for it.”
With a 12-5 record, the Cowboys are really good. Dak Prescott is a top MVP candidate, CeeDee Lamb led the NFL in receptions, DaRon Bland led the NFL in interceptions and Micah Parsons might be the most-feared defender in the NFL.
But the Packers are talented, too. They just don’t have the household names because they are so young.
In fact, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Packers are the youngest playoff team since the 1974 Buffalo Bills.
Of course, coach Matt LaFleur sees the youth as a positive.
“I think it’s hard to sometimes stay resilient when things are going bad and you’re hitting some adversity and some rough spots, especially if you’ve had a lot of success,” LaFleur said. “But when you’re, I don’t want to say an underdog, but when you have something to prove, you don’t let that get you down.
“That’s what I love about this group is there’s so many guys in that locker room that, despite what was going on around them, they were hungry to prove not only to themselves but everybody that they do belong. I think that’s a big reason why we were able to improve throughout the course of the season is they had that mentality and they care about one another. You have to have that, and that’s why it’s a pleasure to come to work with these guys each and every day, because they have a great energy about them.”
When quarterback Jordan Love steps behind center Josh Myers on Sunday, it will be his first playoff snap. And he will be throwing to receivers and tight ends who will be playing their first playoff snap, as well.
However, in playoff-like games against Carolina, Minnesota and Chicago down the stretch, Love threw seven touchdown passes with zero interceptions to that young group of pass-catchers and trailed only Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson with a 123.5 passer rating.
“I think we’ve got a great team and I think everybody’s excited for the opportunity we have,” Love said. “Obviously, we’ve got a lot of guys in the locker room who’ve experienced being in the playoffs, things like that, and then we’ve got a lot of guys who haven’t. But I don’t think any of that will play a part in it going forward. I think everyone’s going to be ready to go come Sunday.”
The only times the Packers were bigger underdogs in a playoff game over the last 20 years? They were 8.5-point underdogs for their 28-22 loss at Seattle in the 2014 NFC Championship and 8-point underdogs for their 37-20 loss at San Francisco in the 2019 NFC Championship Game.
They also were bigger underdogs for their treks to Dallas in the 1993, 1994 and 1995 playoffs.
As an underdog of 3-plus points, Green Bay all-time is 3-14 straight-up. Its last win as a playoff underdog came at Dallas in the 2016 playoffs, when Green Bay as a 5.5-point dog won 34-31 on Mason Crosby’s legendary field goals.
