Current:Home > reviewsPackers vs. Cowboys playoff preview: Mike McCarthy squares off against former team -FinanceMind
Packers vs. Cowboys playoff preview: Mike McCarthy squares off against former team
View
Date:2025-04-18 06:01:50
No team has been more dominant at home this season than the Dallas Cowboys, winning all of their eight games at AT&T Stadium to extend a streak that now goes back 16 games. Only two this year were one-possession games, and the Cowboys scored at least 30 points in all but one.
Dallas now has a chance to carry over that success with at least one home playoff game for the NFC East champions and No. 2 seed behind the San Francisco 49ers.
Head coach Mike McCarthy actually already has a postseason victory inside the building. However, it came for the team trying to end the Cowboys' season next weekend.
The Green Bay Packers punched their postseason ticket with a victory over the Chicago Bears on Sunday and earned the conference’s No. 7 seed. McCarthy won Super Bowl 45 as head coach of the Packers, where he coached from 2006 until his firing after Week 13 of the 2018 season.
Jerry Jones hired McCarthy in 2020 and the Cowboys have gone 12-5 in each of the last three seasons. This year marked the second division title – and home playoff game – of the McCarthy Era.
NFL STATS CENTRAL: The latest NFL scores, schedules, odds, stats and more.
As part of one of the youngest teams in the league, few current Packers players called McCarthy “coach.” Running back Aaron Jones is one. Left tackle David Bakhtriari is the longest-tenured Packer, but he is out for the season with a knee ailment and hasn’t played since Week 1.
McCarthy himself isn't buying into any narratives about the matchup.
"The drama of it, I’m sure (the media) will love," he said Sunday. "But I will not participate in it. It’s playoff time. It doesn’t matter who play, to be honest with you."
Cowboys vs. Packers playoff history
The teams played in one of the NFL’s most historic games, the 1967 championship game, a 34-27 Packers victory dubbed “The Ice Bowl” for the sub-zero temperatures of the day.
Since then, they have met in the postseason seven more times. The winner of this weekend’s game will break the 4-4 deadlock. Dallas won four in a row and ended the Packers season in three consecutive years from 1994-96 before Green Bay took the last two. The most recent was a 34-31 victory engineered by McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers that led to a game-winning Mason Crosby kick as time expired in the 2016 divisional round; Dallas had entered as the NFC’s No. 1 seed.
Mike McCarthy’s history in Green Bay
McCarthy went 125-77-2 with the Packers and 10-8 in the playoffs. Green Bay hired Matt LaFleur to replace McCarthy, and the Packers had three straight 13-win seasons with little playoff success before a 8-9 campaign in 2022. This marks the franchise's fourth time in five years advancing to the postseason under LaFleur. It's the first with Rodgers' replacement, Jordan Love, as quarterback.
veryGood! (4)
Related
- Could your smelly farts help science?
- 2 teens who dated in the 1950s lost touch. They reignited their romance 63 years later.
- New York state trooper charged in deadly shooting captured on bodycam video after high-speed chase
- Film and TV actors set up strike at end of June, potentially crippling entertainment industry
- New data highlights 'achievement gap' for students in the US
- How Biden's declaring the pandemic 'over' complicates efforts to fight COVID
- Judge temporarily blocks Florida ban on trans minor care, saying gender identity is real
- In the Philippines, Largest Polluters Face Investigation for Climate Damage
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Triathlon
- Microsoft to pay $20 million over FTC charges surrounding kids' data collection
Ranking
- As Trump Enters Office, a Ripe Oil and Gas Target Appears: An Alabama National Forest
- In the Philippines, Largest Polluters Face Investigation for Climate Damage
- 2017 One of Hottest Years on Record, and Without El Niño
- Thawing Arctic Permafrost Hides a Toxic Risk: Mercury, in Massive Amounts
- Which apps offer encrypted messaging? How to switch and what to know after feds’ warning
- Bow Down to These Dazzling Facts About the Crown Jewels
- Ukraine's counteroffensive against Russia appears to be in opening phases
- Why The Bladder Is Number One!
Recommendation
Alex Murdaugh’s murder appeal cites biased clerk and prejudicial evidence
Algae Blooms Fed by Farm Flooding Add to Midwest’s Climate Woes
Need a push to save for retirement? This 401(k) gives you up to $250 cash back
Apple unveils new iOS 17 features: Here's what users can expect
Justice Department, Louisville reach deal after probe prompted by Breonna Taylor killing
Missouri man Michael Tisius executed despite appeals from former jurors
Prince Andrew Wears Full Royal Regalia, Prince Harry Remains in a Suit at King Charles III's Coronation
PGA Tour and LIV Golf to merge, ending disruption and distraction and antitrust lawsuit