"This is why that hoary old cliché, "On any given Sunday," still has meaning in the National Football League.

It's also what 53 players, 20 assistant coaches and one head coach can do with clear minds and big hearts.

Performances as unified and inspired as the Green Bay Packers turned in Sunday don't come along more than every few years. They need to be counted out by just about everyone in the state, they need to be ripped from stem to stern all week long and they need to be playing a powerful opponent no one expects them to defeat.

The Packers didn't just whip the Dallas Cowboys, 17-7, on a 47-degree afternoon at Lambeau Field. After taking responsibility early in the week for their slovenly first half of the season, they put together superlative game plans in all three phases and for the first time demonstrated some grit and intensity.

"We came out with some attitude," linebacker Nick Barnett said. "Last week in Tampa opened our eyes. I felt if we lost this game our season was over."

A week ago, the Packers limped out of Tampa with their tails between their legs tied for the eighth-best record in the NFC.

Today, they own the fifth-best record, locked in a four-way tie with Atlanta, the New York Giants and Philadelphia at 5-4. Of those teams, the Eagles have the best record within the conference at 4-2, but the Packers are just a tick back at 4-3.

"We know teams that go the deepest in the playoffs are ones that get on a run here," said quarterback Aaron Rodgers, mindful that the Pittsburgh Steelers and Giants each won Super Bowls in the last four years as wild-card teams.

"The resolve of the team was tested. We proved some stuff today, not only to ourselves but the rest of the league. I think a lot of people were thinking this would be the end of the road for us and be a turning point for the negative this season."

Coach Mike McCarthy adjusted his tactics on offense and kept the Cowboys' talented front seven at bay. Although his problematic line was overwhelmed at times, McCarthy stayed with a short passing game and found ways to control the ball for 36 minutes.

"We tried to get the ball out of our hands," offensive coordinator Joe Philbin said. "We're starting a rookie right tackle (T.J. Lang) out there and we didn't want to expose him if we could help it. We tried to keep them off-balance."

Defensive coordinator Dom Capers coached more aggressively than he had been, especially after his massive front gained revenge against the Cowboys' equally massive offensive line that had dominated them twice in the last two years.

And Shawn Slocum, the coordinator of special teams that had been killing the Packers all season, avoided the terrible play and limited Dallas to a long return of 25 yards in seven runbacks.

"They played with incredible passion and energy," said McCarthy. "We were ready to play football.""