REEN BAY — Aaron Jones wanted to be perfectly clear. Yes, these Green Bay Packers are a young, scrappy and hungry bunch, one that began the season as the NFL’s youngest team with very few outsiders giving them a chance to do anything of significance this season.
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But now that they have outkicked outside expectations and made the NFC playoffs — where, as the No. 7 seed, the Packers (9-8) will face the No. 2-seeded and NFC East champion Dallas Cowboys (12-5) on Sunday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas — don’t assume they’re just a bunch of just-happy-to-be-here dudes who doesn’t have their sights set on more.
“This is everything that you’re working for, to get to that second season, to have a chance to win the Super Bowl,” the 29-year-old seventh-year running back said following the Packers’ 17-9 victory over the Chicago Bears that punched their postseason ticket. “(The season) didn’t go the way we wanted it to at first, and there were a lot of ups and downs.
“We could have chosen to do any number of things in this locker room, but we stuck together and we believed in each other that we’d be here. Nobody else believed that we’d be here. But we did, so it’s even sweeter.”
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And now that they’re here, they might as well give ex-Packers coach Mike McCarthy and his Cowboys everything they can handle, even as an early 7.5-point underdog facing a Dallas team that was 8-0 at home in the regular season and averaged 37.4 points per game in those wins.
“I fully believe that these guys have the mindset of just showing up and continuing to work, try to get a little bit better,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said Monday afternoon. “We obviously know we have a great challenge in front of us going down to Dallas against a team (that’s) 8-0 at home this year. They seem to be playing their best ball at home, and they’re littered with Pro Bowlers all over their roster.
