Every game in the NFL is important. At the end of the year it feels like you can always point to one or two games as season-defining moments. Now, we aren’t saying for sure that this week has that level of impact just yet, but any time the Cowboys and Packers come together it seems to be of some real importance for both teams.

For the Cowboys, a win would be another sign that this isn’t like prior teams that struggled against a Packers team. A sign of a team that is strong in all facets of the game and that are going to put away an inferior football team en route to their seventh win of the season. For the Packers, a loss could bury their season and give them their seventh loss which would deeply impact their playoff chances in a tight NFC playoff race. This game is important for different reasons, but we do know that the storylines and drama surrounding the game is not lost on us.

These two individuals, one a Cowboy, one a member of the Packers, will have the biggest impact on Sunday’s game.

Dallas Cowboys X-factor: Anthony Brown

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Any time you play a future Hall of Fame quarterback, all eyes will be on the cornerbacks and members of the secondary that he will be squaring up against. Anthony Brown and company will be tasked with locking down this underwhelming Packers receiving group to ensure Aaron Rodgers, and his offense, continues to struggle.

Brown has, and will in the future, face better wide receivers than he will face this Sunday, but what will be important is to continue his consistent level of play and quality technique. He has to ensure Rodgers does not exploit something in Browns’ game that we have seen others do before. This situation is worth monitoring mainly due to the respect and admiration for Rodgers as a quarterback. Rodgers is able to do things at the quarterback position that very few can, and that includes picking out weaknesses and attacking them. There is no reason to believe Brown and the rest of the secondary won’t be up for the challenge, but the ability for Anthony Brown to be on point this week will be vital to the Cowboys’ success.

Green Bay Packers X-factor: Aaron Jones

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All indications point to Aaron Jones avoiding serious injury and should be good to go this week versus the Dallas Cowboys. For Jones, that is a good thing for a multitude of reasons, but maybe the top one is his past performances against the Cowboys. Jones has had a field day in the past and has been a real issue for the Dallas defense. The Cowboys, while also looking to limit Aaron Rodgers, will look to limit Jones and his big-play ability as well.

The Packers deploy two running backs; Jones and A.J. Dillion are a quality running back tandem that the Cowboys will need to account for. While Dillon can be dangerous in his own right, Jones ability to hit the hole with burst and crack a play wide open is something that will need to be snuffed out for this Cowboys team to win. Rodgers can be dangerous at any time, but none more than when the Packers have an effective running game to allow for the play-action pass to really be deadly for this team. Dallas will be tasked with not letting Jones completely take over a game this time around and that type of impact a running back brings is why Aaron Jones is this weeks X-factor.