Packers Report Card: Grades From Victory Over Cowboys

The Green Bay Packers earned high marks for their performance on offense on Sunday against the Dallas Cowboys.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur arrived for his postgame news conference on Sunday wearing something different.

“Man, it’s been a long time to stand up here and have a smile,” LaFleur said following a 31-28 victory over the Dallas Cowboys that snapped a five-game losing streak. “Super-proud of our guys. It’s been too long to have that feeling to go into the locker room and see the just sheer joy. It’s something that’s going to stick with me for a long time.”

What wasn’t to like, especially from the perspective of an offense-minded coach? The running game blasted away for more than 200 yards. Four-time MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers played like a four-time MVP quarterback. The offensive line did its job. Rookie receiver Christian Watson made a series of splash plays.

They needed overtime to get there, but the Packers scored 31 points to snap a nine-game streak of scoring less than 30. Other than a 16-game streak spanning the 2017 and 2018 seasons – Rodgers missed a bunch of those games with a broken collarbone – it was their longest such streak since 2005.

“There’s no such thing as a perfect game and certainly we made our fair share of mistakes in every phase,” LaFleur said on Monday. But there were a lot of great things, as well, and I think that’s important, especially with everything our guys have gone through to make sure that we show them the things that they did at a high level.”

Here is this week’s Packers report card.

Passing Offense

No. 9 Christian Watson scores a perfect 10. (Photo by Dan Powers/USA Today Sports Images)

Aaron Rodgers was as sharp as a Ginsu knife. He completed 14-of-20 passes for 224 yards and three touchdowns. Turning two drops into completions and ignoring a throwaway, Rodgers was 16-of-19. The good: Rodgers was 6-of-10 for 151 yards and three touchdowns on passes thrown 10-plus yards downfield. For most of the season, Rodgers has been left to dink and dunk his way to completions. The bad: Rodgers, according to PFF, was 3-of-4 passing for 17 yards with a lost fumble when under pressure.

Last week, the Lions dared Rodgers to throw and won. This week, the Cowboys dared Rodgers to pass and got shellacked. Christian Watson overcame the two early drops to dominate with four receptions for 107 yards and three touchdowns. Sammy Watkins converted a second-and-22 with a 23-yard gain on a back-shoulder pass. And, with a chance to go win the game, Allen Lazard’s fake-block slant put his defender on his butt for a catch-and-run of 36.

The line was sensational. The Cowboys entered the day ranked No. 1 in sack percentage and pressure percentage. DeMarcus Lawrence (late vs. Josh Myers) and Sam Williams (vs. Elgton Jenkins) had the only sacks. To limit Micah Parsons to one pressure was an overwhelming achievement by right tackle Yosh Nijman.

Grade: B-plus.

Rushing Offense

Aaron Jones scores with style vs. Dallas. (Photo by Mark Hoffman/USA Today Sports Images)

Green Bay’s running game against Dallas’ run defense was the No. 1 reason why the Packers had a chance to spring the upset. The Packers took full advantage of the one matchup that was in their favor.

Aaron Jones, who missed the end of the Detroit game last week, was superb. He carried 24 times for 138 yards and one touchdown. If AJ Dillon is the mayor of Door County (there is no such title), then Jones is the president of Dallas (also, no such title). He’s topped 100 yards in all three games against the Cowboys. His long run of the day, a 23-yarder, was a thing of beauty. With no room to the right, he reversed course and gained 23 up the left sideline.

Dillon carried 13 times for 65 yards. It was one of his best games. He broke three tackles, by our count; that has not been a strength to his name, no matter the strength of his quads.

Give a huge amount of credit to the offensive line. On the backs’ 37 carries, 33 gained at least 2 yards. By consistently getting some yards, an offense stays out of those third-and-longs that can be a real nightmare against a high-quality defense. It also creates play-action opportunities, with which Aaron Rodgers was 9-of-11 (one drop) for 148 yards (had been averaging 63.2 yards) and two scores. Offensive tackles make their money protecting the passer but left tackle David Bakhtiari and right tackle Yosh Nijman are excellent run blockers.

Grade: A.

Passing Defense

Rudy Ford celebrates one of his two interceptions. Photo by Jeff Hanisch/USA Today Sports Images)

Dak Prescott was 27-of-46 passing for 265 yards with three touchdowns. The two interceptions by safety Rudy Ford were game-changers. One came moments after Aaron Rodgers’ fumble set up the Cowboys at the Green Bay 10. The second set up the offense on a short field. Both led to Green Bay touchdowns.

The Packers had no answers for CeeDee Lamb, who caught 11-of-15 passes for 150 yards and two touchdowns. His biggest play was a 35-yard touchdown on a bust in which it appeared Jaire Alexander dropped the coverage. PFF charged Alexander with eight completions; aside from the touchdown, the others inflicted only minor damage.

With Eric Stokes on injured reserve, the Packers adjusted by moving Rasul Douglas from the slot to cornerback, Darnell Savage from safety to the slot and inserting Ford. Ford was excellent, Douglas was pretty good and Savage was so-so. Linebacker Quay Walker was the secret star. Targeted five times in the passing game, he allowed 4 yards and broke up a pass.

The pass rush without Rashan Gary was, shall we say, not great. Jarran Reed was the lone menace. He had three quarterback hits (official stats) and six pressures (PFF). The biggest came on fourth-and-3 in overtime to force an incompletion.

Grade: C-plus.

Rushing Defense

Tony Pollard found plenty of running room on draw plays. (Photo by Jeff Hanisch/USA Today Sports Images)

Green Bay’s run defense has been bad all season and it was bad again on Sunday. Even without Ezekiel Elliott, Dallas ran 31 times for 159 yards, led by Tony Pollard’s 22 attempts for 115 yards and one score.

The Packers didn’t get a single tackle for loss vs. the run. Similar to Green Bay with Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon, the Cowboys consistently gained 3, 4 or more yards. The Cowboys ran for 10 first downs – most of the season for their offense and against Green Bay’s defense. The only big play was the holding penalty flag drawn by Dean Lowry in overtime. That wiped away a 16-yard run and set up second-and-19. Rudy Ford made an impact as a run defender, too.

Grade: F.

Special Teams

Amari Rodgers bobbles a punt on Sunday. (Photo by Dan Powers/USA Today Sports Images)

On the first play of special teams, Dallas’ KaVontae Turpin almost returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown. On the second play, Amari Rodgers bobbled the punt before controlling the ball. On the third play, Mason Crosby was short on a 54-yard field-goal attempt. In the third quarter, Rodgers fumbled a punt that the Cowboys recovered, eliminating a Green Bay scoring opportunity and handing Dallas a touchdown.

On the bright side, Keisean Nixon caught the ball – awkwardly on his first try – and had a 13-yard return upon replacing Rodgers, Green Bay did a nice job on Turpin the rest of the game, Pat O’Donnell placed the Cowboys inside 20 three times and Mason Crosby booted the winning field goal.

Grade: D-plus.

Coaching

Jordy Nelson and Matt LaFleur share a laugh before Sunday's game. (Photo by Jeff Hanisch/USA Today Sports Images)

You can talk scheme, play-calling and personnel adjustments until the cows come home. And those are obviously important. But, with a five-game losing streak and a 14-point deficit, the Packers looked dead late in the third quarter. Credit to the coaches and the team’s leaders for rallying the troops.

It’s amazing what one win can do. The playoff standings don’t look as dire as they did a couple days ago. Who knows what could happen if the Packers can knock off the Titans on Thursday night.

Offensively, what a masterful game plan. Where has that been all season? Run the football and throw play-action passes – that should have been the plan all along. Defensively, Rudy Ford joined the team for Week 1. Where has he been all season (other than playing special teams)? Rich Bisaccia was supposed to be the savior on special teams. With some veteran additions to that unit, shouldn’t the Packers be at least mediocre? At least Bisaccia finally benched Amari Rodgers before he lost the team a game.

Grade: B-plus.

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