GREEN BAY, Wis. – All week long, the Dallas Cowboys, sitting at 2-3 and coming off that dastardly loss to the erstwhile winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers, promised changes heading toward Sunday's game against the 3-2 Packers here at Lambeau Field.
And brother, we got changes.
The Cowboys' second first-round draft choice, outside linebacker Malachi Lawrence, started for the first time in his NFL career.
Their top first-round pick Caleb Downs, as expected and was insisting, returned to playing in the slot on the nickel defense yet still played 100 percent of the defensive snaps.
And cornerback Joey Porter Jr., recovered from a stomach virus, started and played his Cowboys-high 36 snaps.
The Cowboys actually got aggressive on defense, blitzing multiple times and seemingly a whole lot more than in the previous five games. They played a much more aggressive brand of defense, possibly a direct correlation to having hired Mike Pettine as their senior defensive assistant, who sat up in the coaching box after a short week of "lab" work, as they called it.
They actually recorded their first interception of the season, representing the first in the past nine games going all the way back to last year. And they nearly had a second that initially was ruled an incompletion, then reviewed instantly into an interception, but eventually re-reviewed into an incompletion in a game reinforcing the historical voodoo this franchise suffers on the iconic tundra far from frozen for a change on this wonderfully fall but breezy halfmoon evening.
And get this, the Cowboys actually bagged three sacks after coming into this game with just five in the first five games.
Then there was offensive change: tight end Brevyn Spann-Ford, having been no more than the second tight end when the Cowboys were going multiple tight ends in the offense, actually played 36 snaps, many instead of Jake Ferguson with 42 snaps.
Despite all that, their defense ranking in so many categories in the 30s of this 32-team league surrendered an opponent to no more than 24 points in now the past two games, and an offense to just 318 total yards, which is 60 fewer than their previous five-game low. And they also held one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL to less than 300 yards passing (276) and a QB rating of 74.8, the first in six games under 100.
But still, we got this:
Woefully got this: Packers 23, Cowboys 13.
We got the Cowboys losing consecutive games for the first time this season, and the first since 2024, when Cooper Rush was filling in for the injured Dak Prescott, scoring no more than 16 points.
We got this, too: The Cowboys falling to 2-4, yet incomprehensibly just one win shy of the 3-2-1 NFC East-leading New York Giants (3-2-1). All three division members playing on Sunday lost (Washington 1-3-1 playing Monday night), thus keeping hope alive when all surely seems mighty dire now two games below .500 already, and far too reminiscent of last season's 2-3-1 start.
Why, a visibly drained head coach Brian Schottenheimer, having come into the season with high expectations, started his postgame media session this way before even one question was asked:
"I told the guys the effort was right, the fight was right, but mistakes are killing us."
Not that am begging to differ with the head coach, but a struggling offense for the second straight game finished with 13 points and scored but 16 in the previous loss – the first time in the past 32 games the Cowboys have scored no more than 16 points in consecutive games. That will get you beat in this NFL nine out of 10 times.
And how did that happen once again? Tell you why in no uncertain terms:
They got blitzed right outta Lambeau Field, short-circuiting this once-thought-to-be high-powered offense just the way Tampa did in the Buccaneers' 24-16 beating of the Cowboys 10 days ago. The Packers, now 4-2 and having won three consecutive games, came with five guys. They came with six guys. At times they came with seven guys, overwhelming the Cowboys' offensive line and beating quarterback Dak Prescott unmercifully to a near pulp.
You know how the NFL at season's end pays guys postseason performance bonus pay? Well, Prescott deserves combat pay.
While Dak was only sacked one time for a mere three yards, he was officially hit seven times, but guarantee you, upon further video review that number will double. Plus, while these don't count for hits, the Packers were assessed three roughing the quarterback penalties, and although the Cowboys earned 15 extra yards for those personal fouls, that sure does not justly compensate for the beating he was taking.
Why, on one shot when attempting to throw, Dak was hit so hard, knocked the breath out of him. Then on the very next play, he had his pass intercepted.
The good soldier he is, Dak afterward scoffed off any sort of injury or needing some sort of precautionary scan, simply saying he was "bruised."
Yeah, right, bruised my (ahem). He was abused.
No way Dak should ever finish two consecutive games with QB ratings of 69.1 and then 65.2 Sunday night before 77,383, with those seven QB hits and two interceptions. Of course, the second one was a Packers gift when CeeDee Lamb slipped to the ground on a perfectly thrown pass.
What works the previous week is going to become improvised the next, and guaran-darn-tee you Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio already is drawing up blitzes to welcome Dak to the Linc next Monday night, as if he isn't already an aggressive enough defensive coordinator.
A bunch of copycats.
As been pointing out, getting to Dak, making him uncomfortable, getting him off his spot, forcing him to roll out on drop backs, hurry throws, and of the shorter variety, is the best way to control Pro Bowl receivers Lamb and George Pickens, who combined in this game for 15 catches but just 110 yards, coming to an anemic 7.33 yards a catch, and one touchdown.
That certainly was the plan, Packers head coach Matt LaFleur said this when asked what his defense did so well, as if the question was even needed.
"I thought JG was aggressive, getting pressure on the quarterback," he said of his defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon. "It's hard to throw when you got stuff in your face. I thought the coverage was outstanding. Our guys challenged them. They did a great job."
They sure did, more than the Cowboys can say of their offensive line picking up the relentless blitzes or the wide receivers understanding when needing to cut off their routes.
And when falling behind 17-0 by halftime and finishing with a 3.2-yard average per carry running the ball, what's left to do but throw, throw, throw. And Dak did 54 times in this one, Schottenheimer knowing full well that is no way to run a successful offense, a winning team.
"I mean, we're in a hole," Schottenheimer said of the humbling 2-4 start. "We put ourselves there, and there's one way out of it. That's what I told the guys. I said you've got to work, got to find solutions, can't repeat mistakes. And they understand that."
We'll find out how well at 7:15 next Monday night in Philly when the equally 2-4 Eagles come blitzing right at 'em.
