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GREEN BAY -- The Green Bay Packers just might be back on track. A rousing encore Sunday to their show-stopping victory a game earlier has them on a winning streak for the first time since they started 6-0 and with the outright lead again in the NFC North, too.
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"We're putting ourselves in a position to get in the playoffs," quarterback Aaron Rodgers said after the Packers improved to 9-4, a game ahead of the second-place Minnesota Vikings. "We've just got to keep winning football games."
Green Bay's second straight win, a 28-7 knockout of the visiting Dallas Cowboys, was no less significant than its improbable comeback victory at the Detroit Lions on Rodgers' Hail Mary touchdown throw Dec. 3.
Head coach Mike McCarthy made noise before Sunday's game by taking over as the play-caller for the offense after he had delegated those duties to associate head coach Tom Clements in the offseason.
The players downplayed the change after the game, but Green Bay's robust effort of 435 total yards, a season-high 230 rushing yards and controlling the football for nearly 38 minutes counted for something positive.
"I thought we played well offensively," McCarthy said after reviewing the game tape Monday. "The run-pass combination was the plan going into the game."
The Packers finished with a season-high 44 runs, nine more than the passes by Rodgers, who threw two touchdowns and was sacked twice.
Led by a season-best 124 yards in 24 carries from Eddie Lacy, who was back in McCarthy's good graces after a diminished role for breaking curfew on the eve of the road win over Detroit, Green Bay pounded the Dallas defense into oblivion.
"It just goes to show when everybody's on the same page - offensive line, quarterback, wide receivers, tight ends, running backs - possibilities are endless," Lacy said about the offense, which had Green Bay's highest rushing output in 11 years.
James Starks also was highly productive as the change-of-pace back, running for 71 yards in 11 carries. His 30-yard touchdown run on second-and-25 gave the Packers some much-needed breathing room with a 21-7 lead with less than five minutes to play.
Starks also had a 13-yard catch-and-run touchdown.
"Aaron changes so many plays at the line that, honestly, to us it doesn't matter who's calling the plays," right guard T.J. Lang said. "I don't know why that change was made, maybe just to give us a little bit of a spark on offense, but we did a better job of just executing plays that were called. It doesn't matter to us. We hear the play, we go out and try to execute our best."
McCarthy said the decision to take back the play-calling and move Clements from the sideline to the coaches' box wasn't made lightly, especially after the Packers sputtered on offense as they lost four of their previous six games.
"The decision was made because I feel as the leader of this football team I've got to make sure to maximize all of the opportunities and resources to give our team the chance to win," McCarthy said. "(But) personally, it didn't feel very good; it didn't feel good at all. That's a challenge with these types of decisions, but professionally, it was what I felt I needed to do."
REPORT CARD VS. COWBOYS
--PASSING OFFENSE: B-minus. Aaron Rodgers hasn't thrown for 300 yards in four straight games for the second time this season. Yet, Rodgers gladly will accept the 218 passing yards he had Sunday with the Packers' finally running as effectively as they did. Ten days after his heroic touchdown heave of 61 yards on the game-winning final play at Detroit, Rodgers didn't have to exert himself with downfield throws in rainy conditions against Dallas. His longest completion, of 24 yards to halfback Eddie Lacy, came on a dump-and-run play. Rodgers went 22-of-35 for two touchdowns with no interceptions for the first time in three games. A swing pass to halfback James Starks for a 13-yard touchdown started the scoring. Rodgers' other touchdown throw was from three yards out to tight end Richard Rodgers. Wide receiver Randall Cobb had a prominent role in the offense, catching eight of his 12 targets for 81 yards. James Jones (seven targets) matched Starks with four receptions, covering 49 yards. Aaron Rodgers broke containment a few times, running away from the defense for 27 yards in three carries with a long of 16. The two Cowboys sacks of Rodgers, by defensive ends DeMarcus Lawrence and Greg Hardy, came at the expense of right tackle Bryan Bulaga and right guard T.J. Lang, respectively.
--RUSHING OFFENSE: A. Better late than never, the Packers may have a potent rushing attack this season. The mostly dominant 1-2 punch of a rejuvenated Lacy and steadying influence Starks carried Green Bay to a season-high 230 yards on the ground, the team's highest since it amassed 231 yards against the St. Louis Rams in 2004. Five of the Packers' eight plays of at least 15 yards Sunday came via the run, topped by Starks' juking 30-yard dash to the end zone for a pivotal touchdown late in the game. A downfield block by Cobb sprung Starks the last 15-plus yards as Green Bay ground out 78 yards in nine run plays during a 12-play, 84-yard drive that chewed up more than 6 1/2 minutes and extended the Packers lead to 21-7 with less than five minutes to play. After enduring the wrath of head coach Mike McCarthy the previous game for breaking curfew at the team hotel in Detroit and not playing much the next night, Lacy made big-time amends with season highs of 24 carries and 124 rushing yards. Lacy completed the scoring by crashing across the goal line from a yard out, a play after he rumbled 24 yards before being tackled just short of the end zone. Starks delivered his finest effort in two months with 71 yards in 11 carries, averaging a robust 6.5 yards per touch. As a team, the Packers averaged 5.2 yards in 44 runs, which included two kneel-downs at the end of the game by backup quarterback Scott Tolzien. The only notable blemishes were Starks and Aaron Rodgers (on a sneak) failing to get into the end zone from a yard out on successive third- and fourth-down run calls late in the first quarter.
--PASS DEFENSE: A. The Packers lost top cornerback Sam Shields to a concussion midway through the second quarter after a collision on a tackle he made going out of bounds. No matter, though, because rookie Damarious Randall picked up where Shields left off in keeping Cowboys standout receiver Dez Bryant under wraps the rest of the game. Bryant had only one catch for nine yards, and that came with Shields in coverage late in the first quarter. Bryant was guilty of a few drops in his six targets, including a catchable high throw from quarterback Matt Cassel that glanced off a leaping Bryant's hands and into those of Shields from behind for an interception in the end zone earlier in the opening quarter. On the play after Shields exited the game, Cassel went after Randall by hitting Bryant for a 28-yard catch down the middle, but the reception was overturned by replay review since the football touched the ground as Bryant came down with it. An ineffective Cassel was a woeful 13-of-29 for 114 yards and no touchdowns with a dismal passer rating of 41.5. The Packers sacked Cassel twice, punctuated by linebacker Clay Matthews' unblocked blitz up the middle for a clutch sack on a third-down play to start the fourth quarter and force a punt with Dallas down only 14-7. Tight end Jason Witten was a tough matchup for defensive back Micah Hyde but managed five catches for only 40 yards in nine targets.
--RUN DEFENSE: D-minus. The Packers allowed Dallas to get back in the game with a forgettable 80-yard touchdown drive in the third quarter that took only four plays. All were on runs, highlighted by a 45-yard scamper from Darren McFadden to the outside, followed by a 22-yard gain by Robert Turbin up the middle that included a missed tackle by rookie cornerback Quinten Rollins. Turbin then promptly finished the sequence with a seven-yard touchdown run to cut the Cowboys deficit to 14-7. The Packers allowed 171 rushing yards and a staggering average of 8.6 yards. McFadden ripped off a 50-yard run in Dallas' first series of the game, aided by a lazy tackle attempt from safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, and rolled up 111 yards in only nine carries. Turbin added 51 yards in seven rushing attempts.
--SPECIAL TEAMS: B-minus. Jeff Janis still has a hard time getting on the field on offense, but the speedy and tenacious wide receiver was a team MVP with his special-teams work Sunday. Janis ran down to tackle Cowboys punt returner Lucky Whitehead three times, all for negative yardage. Another solid performance by punter Tim Masthay (averages of 47.0 gross and 44.7 net yards in six kicks) contributed to Green Bay's exceptional coverage. Mason Crosby also was a difference maker on kickoffs with all but one of his five going for a touchback. Whitehead's lone kickoff return was for only 22 yards. The Packers struggled just as much on their returns, however. Janis averaged only 20 yards in two runbacks on kickoffs, and Hyde totaled just 13 yards in his four punt returns.
--COACHING: B. The full-fledged return of McCarthy as the play-caller on offense with associate head coach Tom Clements bumped up to the coaches' box paid huge dividends. The Packers were never as committed to running the football as they were Sunday with 39 run calls, minus the three Rodgers scrambles and the two kneel-downs by Tolzien. McCarthy's insistence on staying with the run throughout the game as Green Bay clung to the seven-point lead well into the final quarter yielded that dominant, clinching 84-yard touchdown drive. Defensive coordinator Dom Capers didn't flinch when Shields went out with the head injury and entrusted the young Randall to match up exclusively with Bryant. The Packers' inability to stop the run against the ordinary duo of McFadden and Turbin was disconcerting.
