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FRISCO, Texas — Depending on who you ask, a year can feel like nothing at all or an entire lifetime ago. The same can be said for the 12-5 Dallas Cowboys and the 9-8 Green Bay Packers entering Sunday’s Super Wild Card Weekend showdown at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Dallas, the NFC’s No. 2 seed, now has at least 12 wins three seasons in a row under head coach Mike McCarthy after going 12-5 every year since 2021. This stretch marks the second time in franchise history for that to occur, joining the Cowboys’ 1990s dynasty run from 1992-95 in which they won three Super Bowls in four seasons.
McCarthy is the first Cowboys head coach to accomplish this feat. Hall of Famer Jimmy Johnson was Dallas’ head coach for the first two of those seasons in the 1990s (from 1992-1993), but Barry Switzer was the Cowboys coach for the 1994 and 1995 seasons.
Just like last year, the Dallas defense is dominant. It is fifth in scoring defense once again (18.5), and All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parsons is as much of a game-wrecker as ever. In 2023, Parsons led the NFL in quarterback pressures (103), quarterback pressure rate (21.8%) and pass rush win rate (35.3%), which is when a defender beats his block in less than 2.5 seconds. This is remarkable considering Parsons was double-teamed on 35% of his pass-rush plays in 2023, the most in the league among edge players, according to NFL’s Next Gen Stats. No other edge rusher was double-teamed at a 30% or higher rate.
For the Packers, the NFC’s seventh seed, and their offense, life couldn’t be more different. Future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers, a four-time NFL MVP and Super Bowl XLV MVP, is now a New York Jet after 15 seasons as the team’s starter. Green Bay, meanwhile, now has the youngest playoff team since the 1974 Buffalo Bills — the average age is 25 years, 214 days old — including first-year full-time starting quarterback Jordan…
Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/cowboys-impressed-by-jordan-loves-improvement-see-shades-of-two-great-nfl-qbs-including-aaron-rodgers/
Author : Garrett Podell
Publish date : 2024-01-13 00:33:32
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