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These are tough times for Cheeseheads.
First an emotional home loss to the hated Minnesota Vikings to give Brett Favre and his new purple teammates the season sweep, followed by a — gulp! — choke job at winless Tampa Bay.Now 4-4 and their playoff hopes on life support, the Packers face another distasteful foe Sunday at Lambeau Field, and it just happens to be the rolling Dallas Cowboys, the second-hottest team in the NFC (behind unbeaten New Orleans).Packers president Mark Murphy watched his club’s 38-28 flameout to the Buccaneers in person, but unlike the horde of perturbed Packers fans who want heads to roll, Murphy is taking a more measured approach."The loss [Sunday at Tampa Bay] was disappointing, and it was for us," Murphy told reporters. "Everybody in the organization felt it. I think we’ll bounce back. I’m hopeful and expect that we’ll make the changes that we need to end up having a successful season."The Cowboys will certainly be wary of a few new wrinkles.Pass rush kaputThe Packers could be without their most consistent pass rusher Sunday as outside linebacker Aaron Kampman deals with the fog of a concussion sustained Sunday in Tampa Bay.Kampman, Green Bay’s second-leading tackler, told reporters Monday that he was having trouble with his vision and had a monster headache. He said he took a blow to the left side of his head on the fourth play of the game, but he played into the fourth quarter.Philadelphia Eagles running back Brian Westbrook missed Sunday’s game against the Cowboys, his second week sidelined after sustaining a concussion.The Packers have one sack in the past two games and rank 29th in the league with only 13 overall.In the Cowboys’ 27-16 win last season at Lambeau, it was Kampman providing the only real pressure on quarterback Tony Romo with 1.5 sacks and four of Green Bay’s seven quarterback pressures.Pass rush comingMeanwhile, Aaron Rodgers can’t like the prospect of Jay Ratliff and DeMarcus Ware coming after him.Rodgers has spent a lot of time on his back side — Tampa Bay dumped him six times Sunday. The Packers have given up a league-high 37 sacks, seven more than Kansas City and 20 more than Dallas."Well, it has to stop," Packers coach Mike McCarthy said after the demoralizing Tampa loss. "You can’t sit here and keep taking sacks." Injuries have added to the problem on the offensive line. The movement will likely continue this week with rookie T.J. Lang possibly getting the start at right tackle after Mark Tauscher re-injured his knee in his first start at right tackle at Tampa Bay.It’s doubtful the Packers will go back to Allen Barbre, who started on the right side in the first seven games, but struggled in pass protection."We’ll look at all of our options. I am not committed to a starting five today," McCarthy said Monday at his news conference. "It’s unfortunate that we strive for continuity, building a starting five with the offensive line. We haven’t been able to accomplish that."(Not so) special teamsThe Packers are hurting on special teams. They rank dead last in net punting and are one of four teams to give up a blocked punt. While the Cowboys have thrived on field position, the Packers have not. They rank 26th in opponent starting field position, 24th in punt return and 17th in kickoff return."We definitely need to get that going in the right direction," Mike McCarthy said, "because the momentum swings are really holding us back."
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