GREEN BAY – The Packers have a bunch of special memories at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Super Bowl XLV, the comeback from 26-3, Crosby (x2) at the wire, Rodgers-to-Adams in the final seconds, Jonesey's seven rushing TDs in two games, the wild-card blowout two years ago …
It's quite the list. Over six straight victories in that stadium, the Packers have averaged 36½ points per game. Three different starting quarterbacks have won in the 16-year-old palace known as Jerry's World, and three different defenders have recorded pick-sixes.
Will any of it matter come Sunday night against the Cowboys? Not really. Even for all the young players on the Packers' current roster who were part of that big playoff win down there just 20 months ago, positive vibes only go so far.
"I don't think so," Head Coach Matt LaFleur said, regarding whether it helps anyone psychologically to walk into a road venue in which they've experienced such memorable success. "It's a new year, new team, new opportunity, so you've got to treat it as such."
QB Jordan Love echoed that: "You might have that in the back of your head … But it's just a new test."
Two portions of that test the Packers are determined to pass involve penalties and the ground game.
The flags reached the maddening stage in last week's loss to Cleveland, as the Packers have racked up 24 accepted penalties in their last two games. Seven of those have been false starts, including five last week, which Love characterized as the biggest disappointment in the loss to the Browns.
He said the Packers have practiced this week with the music cranked up even louder than usual to prepare for the noise inside AT&T. LaFleur is doing all he can to test his players' focus and concentration, so the offense can get through what he's termed "choppy" timing with the snap and get-off.
"We're beating ourselves up when we're getting behind the sticks with pre-snap penalties," tight end Tucker Kraft said. "We're fed up with our own mistakes."
The defense has drawn its share of flags, too, but it's hard to be too critical of a unit that has allowed the fewest points in the NFL thus far. Kraft put it squarely on the offense to help out "the best defense in the NFL."
That offense is looking for the running game to provide some balance to the production, but it's been a struggle. Josh Jacobs is averaging just 3.1 yards per carry thus far (he averaged 4.4 last year). Not including a 2-yard TD run vs. Washington, exactly half of Jacobs' carries – 29 of 58 – have gained 2 yards or fewer.
There are myriad reasons, from defenses loading the box to linemen not sustaining blocks to the overall unevenness of the timing referenced earlier.
"There's a lot of room for more," LaFleur said of the running game. "It's collective. It's all of us."
Love has another thought: "We start killing people with the passing game, it's going to open that run game up."
There's some truth to that. It's how the offense succeeded in Week 1 vs. Detroit, when Jacobs was held to just 8 yards on six carries in the first half while Love posted a near-perfect passer rating (147.7) in throwing for 167 yards and two TDs by halftime.
In the second half, Jacobs then cranked out 13 carries for 58 yards, a 4.46 average more in line with last season. That couldn't be repeated in Cleveland last week because Love wasn't protected well enough from the Browns' pass rush to push the ball downfield.
To Jacobs' credit, he isn't sweating it. He's staying patient, letting the growing pains of the young season run their course. He's confident those gashing runs will come to him. It's all about the whole unit "getting locked in."
If that happens, perhaps another memory in Dallas gets added to the list.
"We have to show our brand," Kraft said. "We have to get 8 going."
