It's 11 months almost to the day that the Green Bay Packers beat the Dallas Cowboys at Lambeau Field in the divisional round of the playoffs and earned a trip to the NFC championship game.  Tomorrow, the Cowboys are back and looking for a big upset win and exact some revenge for that loss.  All week long, we have been subjected to the highlight of Dallas receiver Dez Bryant's non-catch near the end of last year's playoff game that gave the ball back to the Packers and allowed Green Bay to run out the clock and get the win.  Many have debated whether the play should have been ruled a catch or not but in the end, it was not and the Cowboys were sent packing.  

The Cowboys are coming off of a big win on Monday Night Football against their division rivals, the Washington Redskins.  Dallas comes into tomorrow's game with one less day of rest and preparation, having played on Monday.  Other than that, the Cowboys are one of the healthiest teams in the league at this point, with only quarterback Tony Romo listed as out against the Packers.  On the Green Bay side, there are a few notable names listed as either doubtful or questionable.  Center Corey Linsley is listed as doubtful and it appears that J.C. Tretter will get another start in Linsley's place.  Offensive tackle Bryan Bulaga (ankle), receiver Ty Montgomery (ankle) and linebacker Nick Perry (shoulder) are listed as questionable, giving each a 50% chance of playing tomorrow.  If Bulaga can't go, the Packers will be without two of their starting offensive line that began the season.  Don Barclay would most likely start in Bulaga's place.  Tretter has held up fairly well in relief of Linsley.  Barclay has not held up much at all in any situation.  Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers looks to be on the move quite a bit and once again.

The Packers have lost their last two straight at home and look to end that streak tomorrow against Dallas.  It's certainly a game the Packers should win, but they should also have beaten the Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears.  Nothing can be taken for granted with this year's Packers team.  At this point, the Packers lead the NFC North division and would be the third seed in the NFC if the season ended today.  Ahead of them are the Arizona Cardinals at 11-2 and the Carolina Panthers at 12-0.  The Panthers have already clinched a postseason spot and the Packers can't overtake them for the top seed in the conference.  As for the Cardinals and the two seed, Green Bay would need to essentially win their remaining four games, including against the Cardinals in Arizona and hope that the Cards lose one other game along the way.  Beating Arizona on the road is a tall task for this year's Packers team, however, the Minnesota Vikings were within a long field goal try of taking the Cardinals to overtime before Arizona secured the win on a sack to end the game.  Difficult, but not impossible.  As I went through many different scenarios on the ESPN playoff machine, it seems that the most likely spot for the Packers is the third seed, where they currently sit.  That would give Green Bay at least one home game in the wild card round.

As we enter December, we're reminded that historically, the Packers have played some of their best football during that month.  After the Cowboys, the Packers travel to Oakland to face the Raiders followed by a road game at Arizona and then the season finale at home against the Vikings.  Depending how the next three games shake out, that week 17 game against Minnesota could be for the NFC North.  As I begin to get optimistic about the December trend, I remind myself that the Packers lost a home game to the Lions for the first time in 24 years so that trend means little this season.  That they followed it up with a loss to the Bears on a night when Bart Starr and Brett Favre were on the field does absolutely nothing for confidence going into this matchup with Dallas.

My gut feeling of the week is that Cowboys tight end Jason Witten has a big day.  He's a guy who is still every effective and one of Cowboys quarterback Matt Cassel's favorite targets.  It would seem that the Packers should have a sound plan in place to slow Witten but I can see him shrewdly tearing up the middle of the defense and converting first down after first down.  It's that type of player who can keep drives alive for the opposing offense, eat clock and take away valuable snaps from the Green Bay offense.  

My other gut is that the Packers do everything they can to get running back Eddie Lacy going.  Lacy has fallen out of favor with the coaching staff after missing curfew before last week's game against the Lions and much has been said about what's going on with Lacy and the Packers.  Both sides want to put it all behind them and a big day from #27 would start that process.  Lacy had run for over 100 yards in the previous two games before being benched for the first quarter in Detroit.  With it being colder, it's time for the Packers to amp up the run game and give the backs more carries.  Expect to see a good amount of James Starks and a few more carries for John Crockett as well.

On the defensive side, the Packers have to keep the pressure on Cassel.  They'll get cornerback Damarious Randall back and if they can force Cassel to move and dump the ball off, they can steal a possession or two.  The Cowboys don't have many quarterback sacks, but if the Packers are missing two starting linemen, that could mean little this week.

Bottom line, this isn't a "must win" for the Packers, but they really need to win the rest of their games to go into the playoffs with the appropriate amount of confidence to carry them through.  Green Bay also needs to remind themselves that they can win games at home.  That sounds very odd to write and say, but it's become a situation where until they get it done at Lambeau, there will be questions about how off their game the Packers have fallen.