GREEN BAY – Facing the Green Bay Packers bench, referee Gene Steratore walked to the 30-yard line and flipped on his stadium mic.

It has been determined the receiver did not maintain …

Steratore may well have muted himself after that, as not a soul within Lambeau Field could hear the rest of his words following the crucial review of Dallas Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant’s 31-yard catch over Sam Shields at the Packers 1-yard line.

Shields knew it was coming. Fourth-and-two, the league’s leading rusher on the sidelines, empty backfield and No. 88 across from him. Shields said he played it perfectly, too, and Bryant won at the top.

"Yeah, I knew it," Shields said. "You know, fourth, they go to a guy – Dez. You know, just a man-to-man coverage, good-on-good, he got off the ball and he made a catch, then the refs made a good call."

Packers corner Casey Hayward was the one who first saw the ball come dislodged from Bryant’s left arm as he hit the ground, and the Packers corner was running to the sidelines for a challenge as Bryant eventually brought it in a second time.

"As a player, we’re aware of the rules and sitting there watching that play and dissecting it, at the time of the game, we felt that it should be overturned obviously," Packers corner Tramon Williams said. "We knew what the ruling was, obviously with the Calvin Johnson rule, so we were hoping they overturned it. We felt it should be. The referee’s did the right thing."

You could wonder if Dallas did the right thing at all even prior to that play. To that point, DeMarco Murray had rushed 25 times for 123 yards, good for 4.9 yards per carry.

Yet with two yards to gain, he was standing on the sideline, watching along with 79,000-plus as a jump ball to the 1-yard line determined the season.

"I felt like we had to go for it in that particular situation," Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said. "We had man-to-man coverage outside. I thought Tony made a great throw. Dez made a great catch on the ball."

Shields said he was initially surprised Garrett emptied out the backfield in that instance, although defensive end Mike Daniels professed not to know if Murray was in or not.

Datone Jones could only smile.

"I don’t know. We’re pretty good in the run game," he said with a laugh. "But, I mean, it’s all based on tendencies. We knew."

Garrett’s decision – no, decisions – to continually put the game in the hands of the hobbled Tony Romo in the second half was confusing, especially in the key moments.

For instance, after the Packers drew to within 21-20 with 1 minute, 41 seconds to go in the third quarter, the Cowboys handed off to Murray for a quick five yards, and exposed an opening left by a blitzing Clay Matthews for an easy 18 yards to move the ball to the Dallas 48.

Then, on 1st-and-10, Romo was swarmed under by Nick Perry for a loss of eight, ending the quarter.

Then on 2nd-and-18, Perry and Daniels combined on a sack to open the fourth quarter for a loss of another five yards. The possession ended with a dump off to Murray and a punt, which eventually led to the an Aaron Rodgers-led game-winning touchdown drive with 9:10 to go.

"That’s, that’s just awesome," Daniels said of that series. "When you’ve got guys like Aaron Rodgers, some really good pass rushers, that’s kind of what’s expected to happen."

In the end, the result is what many did expect – a return trip to Seattle to face the defending Super Bowl champion Seahawks.

"We’ve got a goal in mind and we know where we’re trying to get to, so it’s the next step for us," Packers wide receiver Randall Cobb said. "You want to play the best. They’re defending their title from last year and we’re going into their house and it’s going to be one of those games for the ages."

The play

You saw it …

Dez Bryant was THIS close to completely re-writing the end of #DALvsGB http://t.co/WdPwYQWduG — NFL (@nfl) January 11, 2015

He said it ...

"Although the receiver is possessing the football, he must maintain possession of that football throughout the entire process of the catch. In our judgement, he maintained possession but continued to fall and never had another act common to the game." – Referee Gene Steratore to a pool reporter after the game.

And Dez Bryant was like …

Lmaoooooooooo pic.twitter.com/HSVz7G5OQB

— Sir Odell Beckham (@bkhitman28) January 11, 2015

Battered QBs


Tony Romo lay prone, literally broken in parts of his back and ribs, after Micah Hyde twisted him down following a completed pass to Witten midway through the third quarter.

He looked at the Lambeau Field turf for long enough for both teams to wonder if the game was ending right there. Yet he pulled himself up and limped slowly to the line of scrimmage, the Green Bay 27-yard-line.

The world knew DeMarco Murray was going to get the ball on that next play, if not the rest of the drive. He did, and burst 26 yards down the right side. He then took the next play to the left, scoring from a yard out to give the Cowboys a 21-13 lead with 4:12 to go in the third quarter.

Then, as Romo was having his knee attended to on the Cowboys sideline, Aaron Rodgers hobbled out to his own 10-yard line to try and answer, to get something going for the Packers offensively.

After dumping off to John Kuhn on first down, the stadium again wondered if the game had ended as Rodgers took a moment on one knee following a big hit and near interception when he gingerly tried to scramble.

But, answer Rodgers did – on 3rd and 15 no less – finding Davante Adams with a perfectly placed ball past the fingertips of Sterling Moore. Adams then dipped J.J. Wilcox in concrete with a shoulder shake en route to a 46-yard touchdown pass, pulling Green Bay to within 21-20.

Rodgers then won the game by scuttling out of the pocket and fitting a pass between defenders to fight end Richard Rodgers in the back of the end zone in the third quarter for the game winning score.

"Yeah, it was a pretty small window," Richard Rodgers said. "I’m surprised it didn’t get tipped actually. It was a really good throw."

Those in the press box, inside Lambeau Field and on social media wondered the same things: how can you not feed Eddie Lacy? Why would you drop Romo back at all?

Yet, for as good as Lacy and Murray are, and proved to be on Sunday afternoon, it’s all about the quarterback.

Such is the fragility of a Super Bowl dream, however.

Romo and Rodgers got these teams to this point and head coaches Jason Garrett and Mike McCarthy were going to ride them until their wheels literally fell off.

"He’s the greatest one in the game," was all Cobb could say of his quarterback. "He come out and proves it week in and week out and for him to come out and gut it out again and be able to make these plays for us is huge."

And when the clock rolled over into the fourth quarter, Garett pushed his quarterback onto the freeway while McCarthy allowed his to navigate a county highway.

"Offensively, we were aggressive (late)," Aaron Rodgers said. "Mike put us in some empty sets and the guys protected really well and we got open. It kind of made them more vanilla on defense so it gives us confidence that if we’re down in the fourth quarter that we can come back and get the job done."

The result was Romo being sacked three times in the second half and throwing for just 77 yards while Rodgers lead the Packers to victory.

"When things didn’t go our way, he kept battling back," Garrett said of Romo."When people hit him he kept battling back. He made critical throws throughout this ball game and gave us a great chance to win it at the end."

Romo played well overall, completing 15 of 19 passes for 191 yards and two touchdowns without a turnover for a rating of 143.6, but he was battered consistently.

"I mean, ’12’ wasn’t all the way there either," Datone Jones said of the hobbled quarterbacks. "He got stepped on by a 330-pound man not too long ago. He’s hurt. He’s barely practiced. He’s limited as well, so. Both the QB’s are handicapped. We’re not going to make that excuse tonight. We affected the QB and came out with a great defensive game plan and we got off the field."

A dirty Clay?

On Dallas’ first quarter touchdown, Matthews hit Romo low and late but was not flagged.

It’s all Matthews really was noted for, Sunday making four combined tackles in the game with one quarterback hurry.

Notes


• A Lambeau Field record 79,704 people attended the game.
• With his 30-yard field goal in the third quarter, Mason Crosby became the franchise’s all-time leading scorer in regular season and playoff points with 1,121. Ryan Longwell held the record.
• With his 316 yards passing, Rodgers surpassed Brett Favre’s franchise record of three, 300-yard playoff performances.
• Davante Adams set a Packers rookie playoff record with 117 receiving yards.