The National Football League has been very entertaining so far this year. The league through next week will have already featured Duel In Dallas – Part I, Duel in Dallas – Part II, Duel In the Dome, Super Bowl XLI 1/2, and Super Bowl XLI 3/4.

The Duel in Dallas – Part I took placed in week 6 at Texas Stadium as the Dallas Cowboys hosted the New England Patriots. In a rare battle of 5-0 teams, the Patriots stomped the Cowboys as badly as everyone else they’ve faced so far, winning 48-27 Sunday behind a career-best five touchdown passes from Tom Brady.

The Duel in the Dome, also known as Super Bowl XLI 1/2, took place in week 9 as the Indianapolis Colts hosted the New England Patriots.

No running up the score that week. Against the Colts, the Patriots had to struggle just to survive.

Survive they did, staying on course for an unbeaten season as Tom Brady threw two of his three touchdown passes in a four-minute span of the fourth quarter to overcome a 10-point deficit and beat Super Bowl champion Indianapolis, 24-20.

The win, in perhaps the NFL’s biggest regular-season game ever, kept the Patriots (9-0) on course for the NFL’s first unbeaten season since Miami did it in 1972 and gives them the first tiebreaker over Indianapolis (7-1) in the AFC playoffs.

The Duel in Dallas – Part II, also being referred to as Super Bowl XLI 3/4, takes place next Thursday night as the Dallas Cowboys (10-1) host the Green Bay Packers (10-1) in a game that should decide home field advantage in the NFC throughout the playoffs.

Next week’s showdown with the Cowboys isn’t the Packers only concern.

The Packers are reeling from injuries suffered in their 37-26 win over the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving Day at Ford Field.

Receiver Donald Driver, defensive backs Charles Woodson and Aaron Rouse, right tackle Mark Tauscher and defensive linemen Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila, Ryan Pickett and Colin Cole were among the players hurt in the game.

Cole broke his forearm and will be out for at least one game, but McCarthy said the status of the other players for Thursday night at Dallas won’t be known until early next week.

The Packers, winners of six straight, and Dallas share the best record in the NFC at 10-1.

While the questions began in earnest about the significance of the game and its implications for the playoffs, McCarthy is placing a higher priority on getting his team well again for the long term.

“I just think you need to be smart with injuries at this time of year,” he said. “We have five games left, and I understand the importance and the excitement of the upcoming game at Dallas, but we just need to be smart as we go through these individual injuries and keep in mind there’s a lot of football left.”

Never mind that the winner of the impending matchup will have the inside track to home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs.

“I don’t think it would be smart to treat this as a playoff game, where there’s so much that rides on the outcome of this game,” McCarthy said. “We plan on winning the football game. We’ll do everything in our power from our preparation to win this football game. But, we’re going to be smart with the football team because there’s a lot of football left to be played.”

Brett Favre is 2-8 all-time against the Cowboys. Favre has never won in Texas Stadium were he is 0-8 in his career. The closest the Packers have come to beating the Cowboys at Texas Stadium during the Favre Era is a pair of 10-points losses. The Packers lost to the Cowboys 27-17 in 1994 and 34-24 in 1995.

Green Bay has won two of the last three matchups with Dallas. The Packers pounded the Cowboys 41-20 in 2004 at Lambeau Field in front of a then record crowd of 70,679.

The Cowboys are currently a 5 point favorite in the Duel in Dallas – Part II. The game will only be broadcasted in the local markets of the Cowboys and Packers otherwise if you want to watch Super Bowl XLI 3/4 you need to have the NFL Network.