The Cowboys' Dez Bryant had what briefly seemed to be a key catch over the Packers' Sam Shields in the fourth quarter. Credit Mike Mcginnis/Getty Images
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Quarterback Aaron Rodgers stood in the tunnel at Lambeau Field rocking back and forth slowly. When his name was called before Sunday’s game against the Dallas Cowboys, he jogged out slowly to his Packers teammates.
The crowd roared and exhaled all at once.
Perhaps not since Willis Reed of the Knicks limped onto the court for the final game of the 1970 N.B.A. finals has a captain’s introductory walk been so closely scrutinized.
Rodgers is the Packers’ undisputed leader, and his injured left calf had been a source of concern for weeks. Without him in the lineup, the Packers would have stood little chance against the Cowboys. But with a first-round bye, he had an extra week to recuperate.
Still, Rodgers’s tender leg had not fully healed, and at least by his high standards, he looked like an ordinary quarterback on Sunday — until he did not.
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Hobbling and grimacing throughout the game, Rodgers seemed to come alive as the game wore on, engineering a stirring comeback and helping the Packers hold on for a 26-21 victory as the Cowboys were involved in another controversial call, this one going against them.
The Packers’ defense seemed to come alive, too. Despite giving up 123 rushing yards to the Cowboys star DeMarco Murray, the Packers pressured Romo often in the second half, picking up key sacks that stalled several drives.
The Packers’ victory in the topsy-turvy game earned them a trip to Seattle for the N.F.C. championship game next weekend. The two teams met in the first week of the regular season, with the Seahawks winning convincingly.
For the Cowboys, Sunday signified another humiliating exit from the postseason. Despite a high-powered offense, the team failed to reach the conference title game for a 19th straight season. Despite a sterling season, Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo will continue to be dogged by talk of his inability to reach the Super Bowl.
The Cowboys advanced to the divisional-round game at Green Bay by beating Detroit. They were helped in part by the controversial reversal of a pass interference call, so it was perhaps fitting that the referees played a big part in the outcome of Sunday’s game.
With the Packers ahead by 26-21 and Dallas driving toward the end zone, Romo lofted an arcing fourth-down pass to Dez Bryant, the Cowboys’ mercurial star receiver, with about four minutes left in the game. Bryant grabbed the ball out of the air and came down just short of the goal line.
Packers Coach Mike McCarthy challenged the call, arguing that Bryant did not have full possession of the ball when it hit the ground. The referees agreed, and the Packers took over.
Green Bay then ran out the clock, marching down the field.
On paper, the game had all the hallmarks of a classic. The Cowboys arrived in Wisconsin with a perfect road record to match the Packers’ undefeated home record. Romo and Rodgers, two of the league’s top quarterbacks, were going head-to-head. So were two top running backs, Murray of the Cowboys and Eddie Lacy of the Packers.
To add to the drama, it was the Cowboys’ first visit to Lambeau Field in the postseason since 1967, when they and Packers played a game that has since been dubbed the Ice Bowl because of the frigid conditions.
On Sunday, the conditions were balmy by comparison, with the temperature 24 degrees at kickoff. The Packers had far larger problems than the elements to deal with, too.
The team rejiggered its high-octane passing attack to offset Rodgers’s lack of mobility. Rodgers took snaps from the shotgun formation and often called plays without a huddle. The Packers’ running game, led by Lacy and James Starks, was effective.
Rodgers, though, could not scramble out of trouble to buy time for his receivers to get open, and he was sacked several times for big losses. When he did throw, he threw off his back foot. He hopped down the field.
But when it mattered most in the second half, Rodgers used his strong arm to toss pinpoint passes to Randall Cobb, Davante Adams and Richard Rodgers.
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