Live Updates: Packers Beat Cowboys 48-32
GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys are playing in an NFC wild-card game on Sunday in Arlington, Texas. Will the Packers win and advance to a divisional-round game at the San Francisco 49ers next weekend?
Follow along all day for updates.
Final Score: Packers 48, Cowboys 32
Finally, the game is over. Here is the story on an epic victory by Jordan Love, Aaron Jones and the Packers.
Fourth Quarter
Packers 48, Cowboys 32 (2:22 remaining)
Jordan Love incomplete to Tucker Kraft on third down. Not only do the Packers have to punt, but Love’s passer rating fell to 157.2; he had been at the max 158.3.
The Packers will play the 49ers in the divisional round on Saturday.
Packers 48, Cowboys 32 (3:24 remaining)
The Cowboys scored again, back-to-back touchdowns against a Packers defense manned mostly by backups. With the two-point conversion, it’s a two-score game so the Packers will put their starters on offense back into the game.
Packers 48, Cowboys 24 (5:54 remaining)
Dak Prescott’s 7-yard touchdown pass to Jake Ferguson a two-point run cut the scoring margin to 24 points. As if it matters. It will be Green Bay at No. 1-seeded San Francisco in the divisional round. The 49ers were Aaron Rodgers’ kryptonite. Can Jordan Love flip the script?
Packers 48, Cowboys 16 (10:23 remaining)
On fourth-and-2 from the 3, the Packers delivered a playoff dagger. Romeo Doubs shimmied his way into a clearing for the clinching touchdown. Jordan Love is 16-of-20 passing for 272 yards with three touchdowns and a perfect 158.3 rating. Aaron Jones has 115 rushing yards. Doubs, who hadn’t had a 100-yard game in his two-year career, is up to six catches for 151 yards and the touchdown.
Third Quarter
Packers 41, Cowboys 16 (0:00 remaining)
Is the game over? On fourth-and-5, defensive coordinator Joe Barry sent a six-man pressure. With two green jerseys in his face, Dak Prescott chucked one up to Jalen Tolbert, who never saw the ball. So, the Packers will start the fourth quarter at the Cowboys’ 41.
Packers 41, Cowboys 16 (1:27 remaining)
Aaron Jones ran right for 10 yards. Then, Jones ran right for 27 yards. So, coach Matt LaFleur dialed up the perfect call. Jordan Love faked the handoff to Jones and Luke Musgrave, who motioned across the formation to the left, ran wide open through the Dallas secondary. Love’s pass hung in the air forever, not that it mattered. Musgrave caught the ball around the 13 and ran through a tackle attempt at the 2 for a 38-yard touchdown.
Packers 34, Cowboys 16 (3:03 remaining)
The Cowboys aren’t going down without a fight. A 42-yard catch-and-run from Dak Prescott to Brandin Cooks was the big play and set up Tony Pollard’s 1-yard touchdown run. A couple penalties eliminated a successful two-point play, and Brandon Aubrey drilled the right upright on the 43-yard extra point. The drive took only 3 1/2 minutes. So, the Packers will need another answer.
Injury updates: CB Jaire Alexander (ankle) and LB Isaiah McDuffie (stinger) are questionable.
Packers 34, Cowboys 10 (6:38 remaining)
How would the Packers respond to the Cowboys’ back-to-back scores? Perfectly. After two runs by Aaron Jones for a first down, Jordan Love turned a busted play into a 46-yard completion to Romeo Doubs. Doubs didn’t have a 100-yard game in his career but is up to five catches for 148 yards. Micah Parsons blasted Love but Love got the ball off, with Doubs making a nice grab on a low ball. After an 8-yard run by Jones, Jones cut back behind Zach Tom for a 9-yard touchdown.
Packers 27, Cowboys 10 (9:23 remaining)
The Cowboys got the coveted Mike McCarthy double-up. Fortunately for the Packers, Preston Smith batted down Dak Prescott’s pass on third-and-10 to limit the damage to Brandon Aubrey’s 34-yard field goal. The big play came at the start of the drive. On third-and-2, Kenny Clark stopped Prescott’s run short of the marker but he was flagged for a facemask.
Halftime
Packers 27, Cowboys 7
In his wildest dreams, coach Matt LaFleur couldn’t have imagined the halftime score. An interception by Jaire Alexander set up one touchdown and a pick-six by Darnell Savage gave the Packers another touchdown.
Jordan Love was 13-of-16 passing for 185 yards, led by Romeo Doubs’ four grabs for 102 yards. Seven players have at least one catch. Aaron Jones has only 30 yards on 12 carries but scored the first two touchdowns.
Second Quarter
Packers 27, Cowboys 7 (0:00 remaining)
The Cowboys scored on the final play of the half, and with the ball coming out of halftime, the game is far from over. With 2 seconds to go from the 1-yard line, Dak Prescott faked the handoff to Tony Pollard and booted out to the right. With a run-pass option, Prescott flipped it to tight end Jake Ferguson for an easy touchdown.
It all was set up by KaVontae Turpin’s 47-yard kickoff return to the 45. Prescott converted three third downs, including a third-and-10 to CeeDee Lamb to give the Cowboys a first-and-goal from the 1 with 6 seconds remaining.
If only De'Vondre Campbell hadn't dropped an interception.
Packers 27, Cowboys 0 (1:50 remaining)
Just like everyone expected, it’s 27-0. Yes, it’s 27-0. With Dallas in scoring position at the 2-minute warning, Dak Prescott fired a slant to his favorite receiver, CeeDee Lamb, who was covered by Keisean Nixon. But safety Darnell Savage got under the route for the interception and 64-yard touchdown.
Savage had only one pass defensed this season. It was his first interception since late last season, when he had a 75-yard pick-six against Minnesota.
Packers 20, Cowboys 0 (3:23 remaining)
Starting at their 7, the Packers needed at least a first down to get out of the shadow of their goalposts. They did a lot better than that. On third-and-1, Jordan Love faked the handoff to Emanuel Wilson, booted to his left and hit Tucker Kraft for 10 big yards for the initial first down. On the next play, with Micah Parsons beating right tackle Zach Tom, Aaron Jones got between Parsons and Love, which allowed Love to float one to Romeo Doubs, who broke one tackle for a gain of 39 that included 26 yards after the catch. Next, on third-and-4, rookie tight end Luke Musgrave used every inch of his 6-foot-6 frame to make a leaping catch along the sideline.
Finally, on third-and-7, Love stood in the pocket vs. a six-man rush and lofted one to Dontayvion Wicks vs. veteran cornerback Stephon Gilmore for a 20-yard touchdown. Wicks beat Gilmore on a brilliant post-corner route. Anders Carlson hit the right upright.
Packers 14, Cowboys 0 (9:07 remaining)
The Cowboys got past midfield and into scoring position, thanks to Dak Prescott’s incredible pass to tight end Jake Ferguson between Quay Walker and Jonathan Owens, but Kenny Clark stuffed Tony Pollard on second-and-4 and Prescott was sacked by Keisean Nixon on third-and-5. Prescott’s early reads weren’t open, so he extended the play to his right but couldn’t get past Nixon.
Packers 14, Cowboys 0 (14:15 remaining)
Starting at the 19 following Jaire Alexander’s interception, a screen to running back Aaron Jones moved the ball to the 6. Jones flanked out to the left along with Jayden Reed, Dontayvion Wicks and Luke Musgrave. Jones motioned right and then back to the left. Wicks had the big block to the 6. Holding by Tucker Kraft moved the ball back to the 16 but that only meant more yards for Jordan Love, who hit Romeo Doubs against All-Pro corner DaRon Bland for 15 to the 1. Jones did the rest. Stacked up on a run behind left guard Elgton Jenkins, he used his vision to stumble into a crease to the left and into the end zone.
First Quarter
Packers 7, Cowboys 0 (43 seconds remaining)
On third-and-5, Dak Prescott fired a ball to his left to veteran receiver Brandin Cooks. Jaire Alexander, who went through a pregame workout to test his ankle injury, played with physicality before making a brilliant interception at Dallas’ 19.
Packers 7, Cowboys 0 (1:26 remaining)
Score one for Micah Parsons, who was tackled by left guard Elgton Jenkins on Jordan Love’s third-and-8 throwaway. A play earlier, Love had Jayden Reed open on a crossing route but threw it behind him. A 26-yard completion to Romeo Doubs on an early third-and-9 flipped the field and will force the Cowboys to start at their 8.
Packers 7, Cowboys 0 (3:55 remaining)
Dak Prescott ran for 18 on third-and-3 but that would be it. A big-time stop by Isaiah McDuffie on a completion to Jake Ferguson helped create a third-and-8. Prescott’s pass was just too inches too far for CeeDee Lamb. The Packers will start at their 24 after Jayden Reed’s acting skill coaxed a kick-catch interference penalty.
Packers 7, Cowboys 0 (7:08 remaining)
The Packers won the toss and took the ball, with coach Matt LaFleur opting for his team to set the opening tone. The tone’s been set. On second-and-13, Jordan Love hung in there in the face of late pressure and found Romeo Doubs, who made a leaping catch for a gain of 22 near midfield. From there, Aaron Jones took over with runs of 3, 3, 13 and 5 on consecutive plays. On third-and-5 from the 6, Love coaxed DeMarcus Lawrence offside. On third-and-2 from the 3, Jones ran behind Elgton Jenkins for the touchdown.
Aaron Jones celebrates a first down at Dallas.
Photo by Kevin Jairaj/USA Today Sports Images
The Way-Back Machine
The 2023 Packers with Jordan Love are an up-and-coming team with big things perhaps in their future. The 1993 Packers with Brett Favre were an up-and-coming team, too. After dispatching Detroit in the wild-card round, Mike Holmgren led the Packers to a divisional-round game at the powerful Cowboys.
The Packers were ousted by Dallas in the 1993, 1994 and 1995 playoffs before finally breaking through with a Super Bowl win in 1996.
“I don’t think the learning takes place until after the game and in your preparation for the next season,” Holmgren said this week. “How are we going to deal with this now the next time? We went down there thinking we could win but, knowing they were a really good football team, we had to play our very best. It didn’t work out. You learn from that and build every year, as difficult as it was.”
Following the loss to Dallas in the NFC Championship Game, Holmgren got emotional in the locker room – and not just because a fourth-quarter lead slipped away.
“I remember [receivers coach] Gil Haskell getting hurt. He was not only a good coach but he was a good friend of mine. He had gone to the hospital, so my emotions were kind of high. Then I started giving the speech to the team at the end and I started bawling. I told them, we are going to do this, this isn’t the end.
“LeRoy Butler and some of the leaders came over and patted me. I felt kind of embarrassed. But I always felt we were getting there. We just got beaten by a really fine football team, but we were going to get this done and, eventually, we did.”
Packers-Cowboys Inactives
Not only are Jaire Alexander and Christian Watson active, the Packers expect them to play without issues.
Among their inactive are Malik Heath, who would have been a sixth receiver, and David Long, who was elevated from the practice squad to provide insurance in case Alexander couldn’t play.
Now, if Watson aggravates the injury, the Packers will be down to Romeo Doubs, Jayden Reed, Dontayvion Wicks and Bo Melton. If Alexander tweaks the ankle and Corey Ballentine is thrust back into action, the only other cornerback is Robert Rochell.
Joe Barry vs. Explosive Cowboys
Embattled Packers defensive coordinator Joe Barry is coming off strong back-to-back performances in wins over the Vikings and Bears, but those teams barely belong in the same sentence as the Cowboys.
Dallas finished No. 1 in the NFL in scoring at just less than 30 points per game. At home, it’s an offensive juggernaut. It averaged 37.4 points per game at home, 5.5 points more than any other team. The last team to be so explosive at home was the 2014 Packers, who averaged 38.2 points per game with Aaron Rodgers winning his second MVP.
Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott could be this year’s MVP. CeeDee Lamb led the NFL with more receptions than Green Bay’s top two players combined.
“What makes Dallas unique is that CeeDee has [a league-high181] targets,” Barry said. “Of course, he’s an elite, great receiver but I was with Brandin Cook in LA and I think Brandon’s been a great wideout in this league for a long time. The Ferguson kid [tight end Jake Ferguson] is a great target. Now, he’s got half the receptions that CeeDee has but he’s an issue and a problem to deal with.
“Michael Gallup’s been a very good player in that offense for a long time, also. I think what makes Dallas different is that CeeDee has so many targets and so many receptions. And then you add in [running back Tony] Pollard into the mix; he’s very good out of the backfield catching the ball.”
Jordan Love vs. Dominant Cowboys Defense
First-year Packers starting quarterback Jordan Love might be the hottest passer on the planet.
Love, who joined Brock Purdy as the only players with five games of three-plus touchdown passes and zero interceptions, took flight during the second half of the season. Over his final eight games, Love ranked:
- First in passing yards (2,150).
- Second in passer rating (112.7).
- Second in touchdown passes (18).
- Second in completions of 25-plus yards (19).
- Third in completion percentage (70.3).
Love will be challenged by one of the top defenses in the NFL. Led by the quarterback-sacking Micah Parsons and the pick-six-producing DaRon Bland, the Cowboys finished fourth in interception percentage, seventh in sack percentage and sixth in opponent passer rating.
Dallas is battle-tested, but so are the Packers with three consecutive must-win victories.
“The past couple weeks, that’s been the mindset of the team,” Love said. “We’ve had to win every game going forward to be able to put ourselves in this position, so I think we’ve had a couple opportunities to be in this position, have that pressure on us to win to get in, so I think that’s been a good thing for us.
“I feel like we’ve been in this position. Obviously, now the stakes are a little bit higher in the playoffs, but I think we’ve been here. We have the right mindset going forward.”
