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Tuesday, November 18, 1997

Dazed Packers change focus for Cowboys

By ARNIE STAPLETON AP Sports Writer

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) - This is not the way the Green Bay Packers had envisioned kicking off Cowboys Week.

Finally getting the Dallas Cowboys at Lambeau Field after losing to them seven straight times at Texas Stadium, the Packers no longer see the game as a grudge match between the last two Super Bowl champs.

After getting humbled by the hapless Indianapolis Colts 41-38 on Sunday, the dazed and disgusted Packers now view the game as a matter of survival.

The Packers need to win just to stay in the NFC Central logjam and to keep alive their fading hopes of homefield advantage in the playoffs. At 8-3, they trail San Francisco by two games.

Yet, they may have to face Dallas without sack artist Reggie White (back), run-stuffer Gilbert Brown (ankle) or deep threat Robert Brooks (rib),

Coach Mike Holmgren is hopeful all of them will get the green light by Sunday. "If the guys can play, even with hurts, they'll play, because this is a huge game," he said.

White aggravated his bad back against the Colts and sat out much of the second half. He underwent an MRI on Monday but wouldn't reveal the results. "I feel fine," was all he had to say as he strolled through the locker room.

Brown walked around the locker room without any apparent discomfort, but he declined comment, as did Brooks.

There are bruised egos to go with the battered bodies for the Packers, now tied for the NFC Central lead with Minnesota and Tampa Bay and facing road games in those cities.

Green Bay needs to get back on track for a strong finish or it will have to begin thinking about defending its title as a wild-card.

The Packers put themselves in this predicament by allowing the NFL's second-worst offense to amass 467 yards, their biggest yield since 1987.

"I told the team after the game, 'There's not going to be a lot of hysterics with this,' " Holmgren said. "We're going to conduct business as usual and try to correct the errors and go on from there."

Then he added, "Well, there might be a little hysterics."

A little?

Running back Dorsey Levens said Holmgren was furious during film review on Monday: "I don't think you've got enough bleeps in your arsenal to cover up what he said today in the meeting."

And who could blame him?

After jumping to a 14-3 lead that should have signaled a rout, the Packers collapsed when the Colts returned two Brett Favre turnovers for touchdowns.

Green Bay's dominant defense turned dismal again when Brown went out on the seventh play and White played sparingly.

"We had $10 million of our defense sitting on the sideline," Levens said.

Without Brown stuffing the run and collapsing the pocket of pass protection, the Packers, who blitzed just once, allowed Paul Justin to throw for a career-best 340 yards and Marshall Faulk to gain 116 yards on 17 carries.

The Packers had allowed an average of just nine points a game since Brown returned from a knee injury a month ago.

That all ended Sunday, when the Packers wasted an offensive effort that included 363 passing yards by Favre and an average gain of 10 yards per play.

"You hate to lose one like that because you don't get a lot of those where everything on offense seems to be working," Holmgren said.

Where were the breakdowns?

Everywhere, safety Eugene Robinson said.

"Missed tackles, poor technique, poor alignment, everything that could possibly go wrong went wrong collectively," he said. "We didn't tackle well, we didn't get the pressure we needed to have, we didn't cover well."

Anything else?

Plenty.

The Packers coaches never made any adjustments to stop the plays injury-plagued Indianapolis (1-10) used effectively all afternoon, and Green Bay forced just one punt.

Cornerback Doug Evans, who had shut down Herman Moore and Isaac Bruce the previous two weeks, got burned all day by Marvin Harrison and tight end Ken Dilger caught six balls for 96 yards, mostly on linebacker Bernardo Harris.

"We stunk," Robinson said. "As well as our offense played, we gave them no help at all. None, whatsoever. Zilch. Zero. Nothing."