There’s not enough Head & Shoulders in the world to provide relief for the amount of head-scratching coming off that baffling Green Bay Packers performance in Dallas.
Between the disastrous defensive display, the continued meltdowns on special teams, and the mind-numbing clock management at the end of the first half and overtime, the Packers head into the bye week with more questions than an episode of Jeopardy!.
The biggest concern for me is the defense’s play. A unit that had caught the attention of the football-watching world through three games, allowing just 44 points and stifling the talented offenses of the Detroit Lions and Washington Commanders suddenly looked out of sorts.
Coming off a stunning loss in Cleveland that had little to do with problems on defense, the team was facing a Dallas Cowboys team without its biggest playmaker and two starting linemen. For for most of the first half, Jeff Hafley’s crew looked like that same unit. But when the Packers gave the Cowboys life, thanks to yet another blocked kick and then a turnover at the end of the half, it was as if they were given a shot of adrenaline.
Green Bay inexplicably was unable to sustain a pass rush all night; guys like Edgerrin Cooper suddenly forgot how to tackle and take proper angles, and cornerbacks were slipping and whiffing all over the field. It was a stunning collapse for Hafley’s unit, and it started to fall apart when Devonte Wyatt left the game with a knee injury. The team clearly doesn’t have adequate depth on the interior of the defensive line and may need to look for reinforcements during the bye week if Wyatt looks like he’s going to miss time.
The silver lining was that the offense finally looked like the group we expected to see, albeit against a very suspect defense. After a slow start, the ground game got going to the tune of 164 yards. Josh Jacobs broke some nice runs, and Emanuel Wilson was very good spelling him down the stretch.
Jordan Love was mostly brilliant, and Romeo Doubs had a career game. The issues were the decisions and execution at the end of the first half and at the end of the game. It’s one thing to be aggressive at the end of the half, but when a penalty backed them up with less than 30 seconds left and they were still inside their own 30, it seemed time to take a knee, regroup, and take a 13-9 lead into the locker room. Instead, a turnover deep in their own territory turned into an instant touchdown, and they were inexplicably trailing in a game they had dominated for 30 minutes.
The clock management at the end of the game was nothing short of appalling. There was a lack of urgency overall on Green Bay’s lone overtime possession, and I get that they didn’t want to kick a field goal with any time left on the clock.
There seemed to be a complete lack of understanding and urgency in those last 30 seconds. With a first-and-10 from the 12, they should have been able to take three shots in the end zone. Instead they barely mustered one, and it could very easily have been the last play of the game. The fact that there was one second left on the clock after that cluster was a gift from the gods. Whoever is operating the clock probably got their walking papers from Jerry Jones on Monday morning.
So much gets lost in a baffling game like this one. Brandon McManus calmly split the 53-yarder to send the game into overtime, punter Daniel Whelan continued to tilt the field, Love delivered a command performance, and Doubs’ heroics continue. Those were the positives, but the negatives stick with you much longer.
And most of them involve the defense, which, from the second half on, looked nothing like the unit we saw through three and a half games. Edgerrin Cooper looked like he was channeling De’Vondre Campbell’s last year with the Pack — nothing like the game-breaking linebacker we’ve seen.
Nate Hobbs and Carrington Valentine had miserable nights against a journeyman group of receivers, outside of George Pickens. And the team’s vaunted pass rush was a mere rumor Sunday night, finally notching its only sack when Micah Parsons ran down Dak before he could reach the end zone in overtime.
The early bye is coming at the perfect time for this Packers team that has seen a season’s worth of twists and turns in the first four weeks. Hopefully, Wyatt dodged a serious injury and will be back soon, along with Zach Tom and Aaron Banks.
Maybe Christian Watson will return to give Love another speedy weapon to add to his arsenal. Perhaps Matt LaFleur and the offense will learn to get on the same page in clutch moments.
Maybe the Packers will make a statement and relieve special teams coach Rich Bisaccia of his duties. OK, that’s not going to happen, but a guy can dream.
The Packers still have yet to lose a game in seven visits to AT&T Stadium, but this certainly felt like an L. Truth is, they were very, very fortunate to sneak away with a tie.
