The Green Bay Packers go on the road for the first time since Week 1 to take on the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday.
Both teams enter Week 5 with 3-1 marks, tied for the second-best records in the NFC behind the 3-0 San Francisco 49ers.
Green Bay leads the regular-season series with Dallas, 15-13, while the two teams have each won four games against each other in the postseason. The Packers have won seven of the last eight contests (including playoffs).
Out of the last 15 regular-season meetings between the two, 13 have been decided by 10-plus points. The two contests decided by single digits were a 35-31 win by the Packers in 2017, the last time Green played at Dallas, and a 37-36 Green Bay victory at Dallas in 2013.
It is the seventh matchup between the two teams (including playoffs) since 2013, with Green Bay holding a 5-1 record in those contests.
The Packers are playing at Dallas in Week 5 for the second time in three seasons.
Including the playoffs, Green Bay is 3-0 against Dallas at AT&T Stadium.
The Packers are 3-1 this season, marking the fourth time in the last five years and the ninth time since 2000 that they have won at least three of their first four games.
QB Aaron Rodgers has started eight times against the Cowboys (including playoffs), with the Packers winning six of the contests. In those eight games, Rodgers has completed 198 of 293 passes (67.6 pct.) for 2,172 yards, 15 touchdowns, two interceptions and a passer rating of 103.5.
Rodgers has registered a passer rating of 120 or more (125.4 and 131.5) in three games against Dallas, including a rating of 122.9 after completing 19 of 29 passes (65.5 pct.) for 221 yards and three TDs the last time the Packers played the Cowboys in 2017.
ON TO OCTOBER
Dating back to 2008, the Packers (28-12, .700) hold the second-best record in the NFC and the fourth-best mark in the league in the month of October.
Green Bay has recorded at least a .500 record in the month of October in nine of the past 11 seasons.
Green Bay has a .600 winning percentage (12-8) on the road in October since 2008, leading the NFC and ranking No. 3 in the NFL.
The Packers are one of five NFL teams to have an above-.500 winning percentage on the road in the month of October since 2008.
Dating back to 2008, Rodgers leads the NFL (min. 300 pass attempts) in passer rating (107.8) and passing touchdowns (87) in the month of October, while ranking No. 2 in touchdown percentage (6.6) and No. 4 in passing yards (10,967).
WITH THE CALL
FOX Sports, now in its 26th season as an NFL network television partner, will broadcast the game.
Play-by-play man Joe Buck joins analyst Troy Aikman and sideline reporter Erin Andrews.
Milwaukee’s WTMJ (620 AM), airing Green Bay games since November 1929, heads up the Packers Radio Network that is made up of 50 stations in four states. Wayne Larrivee (play-by-play), two-time Packers Pro Bowler Larry McCarren (analyst) and three-time Packers Pro Bowler and two-time All-Pro John Kuhn (sideline) will call the action. McCarren first joined the team’s broadcasts in 1995 and enters his 25th season calling Packers games. After originally being paired together in 1999, McCarren and Larrivee enter their 21st season of broadcasts together. They surpassed Jim Irwin and Max McGee for the most regular-season and postseason games broadcast for the Packers with 313 at the 2018 season opener against Chicago.
The broadcast is also available on Sirius Satellite Radio (WTMJ feed).
DIRECTV subscribers can watch the game on Channel 716.
THE DOPE ON THIS WEEK'S OPPONENT
Packers vs. Cowboys:
All-time, regular season: 15-13
All-time, postseason: 4-4
All-time, in Dallas: 8-12
Streaks: The Packers have won seven of the last eight meetings (including playoffs).
Last meeting, regular season: Oct. 8, 2017; Packers won, 35-31, AT&T Stadium
COACHES CAPSULES
Matt LaFleur: 3-1, .750; 1st NFL season
Jason Garrett: 82-63, .566 (incl. 2-3 postseason); 7th NFL season
Head to Head: 0-0
vs. Opponent: Garrett 1-6 vs. Packers
MATT LaFLEUR…In his first season as the Packers’ 15th head coach.
In his 11th season in the NFL, having served as an offensive coordinator for two seasons (Los Angeles Rams, 2017; Tennessee Titans, 2018), a quarterbacks coach for six seasons (Washington Redskins, 2010-13; Atlanta Falcons, 2015-16), and an offensive assistat for two seasons (Houston Texans, 2008-09).
Guided the Titans’ offense in 2018 to a No. 7 league ranking in rushing (126.4 ypg) as Tennessee registered 11 games with 100-plus rushing yards, tied for No. 2 in the NFL.
Helped the Rams lead the league in scoring with an average of 29.9 points per game in 2017, more than doubling their average from 2016 (14.0 ppg).
Tutored QB Matt Ryan, who led the league in passer rating (117.1) in 2016 on his way to being named NFL Most Valuable Player by The Associated Press.
Coached rookie QB Robert Griffin III with the Redskins in 2012, who became the first QB in team history to win AP Offensive Rookie of the Year.
JASON GARRETT…Is in his ninth full season as the Cowboys’ eighth head coach. Was the interim head coach for the final eight games in 2010.
Has led Dallas to NFC East titles in two of the past three seasons, including helping QB Dak Prescott earn NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year honors in 2016 and Ezekiel Elliott win the rushing title in 2018.
Has helped guide the Cowboys to a top-10 offensive ranking six times (2007, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016) in his tenure as offensive coordinator and then head coach.
In 2014, coached Dallas to a 12-4 record, its first winning season and playoff appearance since 2009.
Won Super Bowls XXVII, XXVIII and XXX as a quarterback for the Cowboys.
THE PACKERS-COWBOYS SERIES
These clubs squared off in one of the most famous games in league history, the 1967 NFL Championship, dubbed the ‘Ice Bowl.’ Kickoff temperature was recorded as minus-13 with a minus-46 wind chill, the coldest game in league annals. Bart Starr’s game-winning TD, a 1-yard dive with 13 seconds left, sealed Green Bay’s third straight NFL championship en route to its second consecutive Super Bowl title.
Green Bay won 10 of the first 15 in the series, in which Tom Landry and Vince Lombardi - former assistants on the same N.Y. Giants staff in the 1950s - turned it into one of the NFL’s preeminent rivalries.
The teams met in the 2014 and 2016 NFC Divisional playoffs, with Green Bay coming out on top both times. In the 2016 playoff matchup, on third-and-20 with 12 seconds remaining, Aaron Rodgers threw a 36-yard pass to a toe-dragging Jared Cook on the sideline, to set up Mason Crosby’s game-winning, 51-yard field goal as time expired.
NOTABLE CONNECTIONS
Cowboys WR Randall Cobb was drafted by the Packers in the second round of the 2011 NFL Draft and played eight seasons in Green Bay...Cowboys LB Joe Thomas played in 42 games for the Packers from 2015-17...From 2003-11, Packers co-director of player personnel John Wojciechowski was the Northeast area scout for the Cowboys... Packers senior advisor to football operations Ted Thompson is from Atlanta, Texas, about 175 miles east of Dallas, and attended Southern Methodist...Cowboys safeties coach Greg Jackson spent the 2010 season as the nickel/assistant linebackers coach at Wisconsin...Cowboys C Travis Frederick played collegiately at Wisconsin and attended Big Foot HS (Walworth, Wis.)...Green Bay players with connections to Texas include: Tony Brown (Beaumont), Mason Crosby (Georgetown), Josh Jackson (Corinth), Aaron Jones (El Paso), Kingsley Keke (Richmond), and Ty Summers (San Antonio)...Jones (UTEP), Keke (Texas A&M) and Summers (TCU) all played collegiately in Texas...Packers P JK Scott and Brown played at Alabama with Cowboys WR Amari Cooper when they won the 2014 national championship…Packers wide receivers coach Alvis Whitted coached Cowboys WR Michael Gallup during his time at Colorado State…Packers offensive line coach Adam Stenavich spent the 2008 training camp as a player with Dallas…Packers defensive quality control coach Wendel Davis was the inside linebackers coach for two seasons at Texas A&M-Commerce…Packers outside linebackers coach Mike Smith, a Lubbock, Texas native, was on the Texas Tech coaching staff when Cowboys DE Kerry Hyder was a Red Raider...Packers defensive coordinator Mike Pettine (2013) and offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett (2013-14) worked with Cowboys offensive assistant/running backs coach Stephen Brown in Buffalo…Packers assistant offensive line coach Luke Butkus and Cowboys offensive line coach Marc Colombo signed as rookies with Chicago in 2002…Butkus also worked with Cowboys defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli for the 2009 season on the Chicago coaching staff…Cowboys wide receivers coach Sanjay Lal was an offensive assistant at California during Packers QB Aaron Rodgers’ senior season (2004). Additionally, Lal coached alongside Pettine with the N.Y. Jets in 2012…Cowboys strength and conditioning coach Markus Paul was on the strength and conditioning staff in both New England (2000-04) and the N.Y. Giants (2007-17) when Packers director of player engagement Grey Ruegamer was a member of both teams (New England, 2000-02; N.Y. Giants 2006-09). Additionally, Cowboys director of strength and conditioning Mike Woicik was on the New England staff during Ruegamer’s time with the Patriots…Cowboys special teams assistant Philip Tanner spent time on the Buffalo roster in 2014 when Hackett was the offensive coordinator…Cowboys C Joe Looney is the older brother of DL James Looney, who is on the Green Bay practice squad...Former college teammates include: Brown, Scott and Cooper (Alabama); Packers QB Aaron Rodgers and Cowboys LS L.P. Ladouceur (California); Packers QB Tim Boyle and Cowboys CB Byron Jones (Connecticut); Packers LB Rashan Gary and CB Jourdan Lewis (Michigan); Packers S Will Redmond, LS Hunter Bradley, LB Preston Smith, and Cowboys QB Dak Prescott (Mississippi State); Packers RB Dexter Williams and Cowboys LB Jaylon Smith (Notre Dame); Packers C Corey Linsley and Cowboys RB Ezekiel Elliott (Ohio State); Packers LB Blake Martinez, Cowboys T Cameron Fleming and TE Dalton Schultz (Stanford); Packers DL Kingsley Keke and Cowboys S Donovan Wilson (Texas A&M); Packers DL Kenny Clark and Cowboys G Xavier Su’a-Filo (UCLA).
