With eight straight losses at Texas Stadium, the Green Bay Packers certainly are looking to change their luck on Thursday night.
Maybe a change of clothes will help.
Unlike in any of those eight defeats to the Dallas Cowboys between 1993 and 1999, the Packers will be wearing their white jerseys on Thursday in the much-hyped meeting between the NFC's two best teams, both 10-1.
The Cowboys, who traditionally wear their white jerseys at home while the visiting team wears its colored ones, will instead be wearing their alternate uniform that features a blue jersey with white shoulder trim. Dallas' alternate uniform also includes a white helmet, rather than the customary silver helmet, with the blue star.
Packers' equipment manager Red Batty said he found out about Dallas' choice of uniforms for this game back in training camp, when teams notify the league of the uniforms they plan to wear for their home games. Once the entire list is updated, teams use that to determine which uniforms to pack for their various road games.
If the home team, which controls its choice, wears a colored jersey, the visiting team brings white, and vice-versa. It's not common for teams to wear white at home, but some do regularly, including Dallas, Miami and Carolina. The Packers have worn their green "home" jerseys in all their recent visits to Texas Stadium.
"When I saw it, it sort of surprised me," Batty said. "I called Dallas equipment manager Mike McCord just to make sure this was right."
Batty has been the Packers' equipment manager for the past 14 seasons, and consequently for the last six of the defeats during the current losing streak at Texas Stadium. Prior to working for the Packers, Batty held the same position with the then-Houston Oilers for 12 seasons.
"I tell you what, it's going to be different when I put those white uniforms in the lockers tomorrow," Batty said on Wednesday during the team flight. "Because in my mind, we always wear green in Dallas. In all my years in the NFL, I've never put out a white uniform in Dallas."
The change actually saved Batty and his staff some work for this game. This season, the Packers have a special patch on their green jerseys commemorating the 50th anniversary of Lambeau Field. But that patch would have to have been removed for a road game, and then replaced for the next home game.
Now, all that hassle isn't necessary, and sticking with the white jerseys on the road could be a good thing. The Packers are 5-0 on the road this season, wearing white each time. They are 10-3 on the road in Head Coach Mike McCarthy's two seasons and have worn green on the road just once, in a victory at Miami last season.
Batty said he didn't think the players were even aware what they would be wearing on Thursday as they got on the team charter plane Wednesday afternoon. Some of the team's young players who aren't as knowledgeable about Green Bay's history in Dallas won't think anything of it when they find out, Batty said, but some most definitely will.
"I guarantee you at least a dozen guys will make a comment when they see them, that 'Wow, we're wearing the whites,'" Batty said.
"It's a refreshing thing, and it's another positive note to take into this game. We've been pretty successful in that white uniform."
