Good morning, everyone. On Sunday afternoon, the Green Bay Packers took on the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium. I am here to give my thoughts on what happened in this game. Let’s get started with how it went down.
The Packers’ first possession ended in a three and out after two straight penalties against David Bakhtiari (false start and holding) gave the offense a third and 18. The Packers defense responded with an interception of QB Dak Prescott. The ball bounced off Amari Cooper’s hands and into the hands of Jaire Alexander for the pick. The pick return gave the offense great field position, which they used to get the first points on the board: an 18-yard touchdown run by RB Aaron Jones. The Cowboys tried to answer back with a score of their own, but a sack of Prescott by Za’Darius Smith on third and 7 in field goal range forced them to punt. Even with the drive starting at their own 11, Green Bay went down the field for another touchdown. During the drive, QB Aaron Rodgers had a ridiculous throw to TE Robert Tonyan. Tonyan caught the ball and kept his feet inbounds. Unfortunately, he injured his hip during the play. 4 plays later, Aaron Jones ran for a 3-yard touchdown that gave the Packers a 14-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. Once again, Dallas tried to answer back with a score. The drive ended with a great interception by Chandon Sullivan. The turnover was wasted though, as the Packers went three and out. The third down play was initially ruled a lost fumble, but replay reversed it to an incomplete pass. After the punt, the Cowboys tried to go down the field for a score. They were forced to punt back to Green Bay after Preston Smith sacked Dak Prescott on third and 4 at midfield. On the next drive, the Packers all the way to the Dallas one yard line. Like last week, they failed to score a touchdown from there. At least they got a field goal to make it a 17-0 game. Dallas went down the field for a score, but the field goal from 54 yards away went wide right. After two possessions of nothing, the first half ended with Green Bay up 17-0.
The Packers defense forced Dallas to go three and out to start the second half. After the punt, the offense went down the field for another touchdown. After a defensive holding penalty gave Green Bay first and goal at the 5, Aaron Jones ran it into the end zone for his third touchdown of the day. What I liked was that he waved bye to Byron Jones on his way to the end zone. The chance of a shutout was ruined thanks to a field goal by the Cowboys. During that drive, Prescott was sacked by Za’Darius Smith once again. That sack pretty much shut down any chance for a TD. The 24-3 lead quickly changed to 31-3 after Aaron Jones’ fourth touchdown run, tying a franchise record. During the drive, there was pass interference against the defense when Aaron Rodgers threw the ball deep to Marquez Valdes-Scantling. The ball was not thrown in stride and it was incomplete. Had he thrown that with a little more power, that‘s a touchdown. At least they scored on that drive.
The defense somehow gave up a touchdown on a 40-yard pass from Prescott to Michael Gallup. After the Packers went three and out, the Cowboys went down the field for a score. This drive had a lot of crazy sequences in it. First, a pass down the sideline to Cooper was ruled incomplete at first. Head coach Jason Garrett threw down the challenge flag and yelled to the official, who then threw a flag for unsportsmanlike conduct on him. The ruling was reversed as a complete pass but the penalty gave Dallas a first and 25. For some reason, the defense gave up a wheel route to Ezekiel Elliott that converted that long first down. After 2 more plays, the most ridiculous sequence of events happened in this game. First, a bad snap and a fumble recovery by Za’Darius Smith was nullified due to a false start penalty. Second, two penalties against the defense nullified an interception by Will Redmond. After that, Elliott ran it in for a touchdown that cut the lead to 31-17. After the Packers were forced to punt on their next drive, CB Kevin King picked off Prescott in redemption from a previous dropped pick. The interception set up a 38-yard field goal by Mason Crosby. That 17-point lead changed to 10 points after Prescott found Amari Cooper for a 53-yard touchdown pass. The Packers’ next drive stalled after they faced a third and 15. Before that play, the official failed to get out of the way before the ball was snapped. That was a potential penalty against the defense for too many men on the field. The head official said no play because of the other official being in the way. After a sack of Rodgers, the Packers punted back to Dallas. The Cowboys got all the way to the Green Bay 10 before their drive stalled. After a false start, the Cowboys missed a 33-yard field goal to the right. 3 kneel-downs later, the Packers walked out of AT&T Stadium with a 34-24 win over the Cowboys. The win improved the Packers’ record to 4-1 on the season.
This game should not have been as close as the score indicated. After Green Bay went up 31-3, I thought that the game was pretty much over. The defense allowed the Cowboys to score three touchdowns in the last quarter and a half. The offense did score another point until after the Kevin King interception. That said, the Packers held on to win the game.
Aaron Jones had a great day against the Cowboys, with 182 total yards (107 rushing, 75 receiving) and 4 rushing touchdowns. He became the first Packers running back since Dorsey Levens to rush for 4 touchdowns in a game. Aaron Rodgers had an OK day with 238 passing yards. Most of his passes were caught by the backs and tight ends. He had a few throws that I think he wants back, including the deep ball to MVS that should have been a TD. That said, he made some great throws, including the one to Tonyan along the sideline. At least the offense put up over 30 points for the first time in this season.
After no sacks or turnovers last week, the Packers defense got 3 combined sacks from Za’Darius and Preston Smith. After the first sack by Za’Darius Smith, he did the Ray Lewis dance. The reason why he did that is because he saw the comments that Lewis made on Inside the NFL about the defense having no leadership. Lewis was proved wrong by the Smiths in this game. The defense also got three interceptions off of Dak Prescott. If it wasn’t for a drop and those 2 penalties, the Packers would have had 5 picks. Yes, they gave up over 450 passing yards and 3 total touchdowns. Even with those things, they got the stops necessary to keep them in the lead all game long. What helped them was keeping the run game in check, as Ezekiel Elliott only rushed for 62 yards.
Overall, it was satisfying to see the Packers win in Dallas again. They are now 5-0 at AT&T Stadium, including the Super Bowl 45 victory and the 2016 Divisional Playoff game. Packers fans came out in droves to see them win in Dallas’ home turf. Next up for the Packers is a Monday night game at Lambeau Field against the Detroit Lions. Until then, have a great day. Go Pack Go!
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