Three Overreactions From Packers’ Playoff Victory Over Cowboys
GREEN BAY, Wis. – In 1995, the Green Bay Packers were in Year 4 of the Mike Holmgren and Brett Favre era. After losing in the divisional round at Dallas in the 1993 and 1994 playoffs, the Packers played a divisional-round game at the defending Super Bowl champion San Francisco 49ers.
The 49ers, who finished 11-5 despite 1994 NFL MVP Steve Young missing five midseason games, were 9.5-point favorites against the Packers.
After Green Bay's drive to an opeing field goal was blocked came one of the most memorable plays in Packers playoff history. Steve Young threw a pass into the flat to Adam Walker. He was hit almost immediately by linebacker Wayne Simmons. Cornerback Craig Newsome scooped up the loose ball and raced 31 yards for a touchdown.
Game over. Packers 27, 49ers 17.
It was a similar story of domination on Sunday. In his first playoff start, Jordan Love was impeccable. Aaron Jones and Romeo Doubs were unstoppable. The defense even scored a touchdown on Darnell Savage’s pick-six.
Up next: a divisional-round game at the 49ers.
Here are our weekly Overreactions.
1. Packers Will Win a Super Bowl
That win at San Francisco in 1995 served notice that the Packers were on their way to a championship. They didn’t get it done in 1995 – they lost at Dallas in the NFC Championship Game – but they won it all in 1996.
Who knows if the Packers will win a Super Bowl next year. Or next month, for that matter. But they are on their way.
In a conversation about Love last week, a team executive from an NFC team was in awe of how quickly Love has blossomed into a star. Like everyone else, he had doubts about Love when he looked unsure and threw inaccurately through the first half of the season. The second half of the season, however, has been a quarterbacking clinic of throwing with anticipation and accuracy.
The executive predicted Love would be the Packers’ next MVP quarterback. More importantly, he also predicted “at least” two Super Bowls.
“He’s so calm,” the executive said. “Nothing bothers him. Aaron (Rodgers) wanted to win a second Super Bowl so badly that I think he got tight in big games and he didn’t trust anyone but his favorite guys to make a play. I don’t see any of that in Jordan. Not to talk anything away from Aaron, but you’d almost rather have Jordan just playing and not overanalyzing everything. He’s the real deal.”
The 49ers’ physicality and abundance of weapons is going to be a problem on Saturday. But just like the Packers in 1995 with Favre winning his first MVP, only a fool would bet against these Packers who, interestingly enough from a historical perspective, are 9.5-point underdogs.
2. The Fine Line
Led by indomitable Micah Parsons, the Cowboys finished eighth in sack percentage. Parsons had 14 sacks and led the NFL with 103 pressures, according to Pro Football Focus.
Parsons against Packers left tackle Rasheed Walker – they were teammates at Penn State – looked like a colossal mismatch. No knock on Walker, who had delivered a bunch of strong performances down the stretch, but Parsons had made much better offensive linemen and offensive lines look silly.
The Packers, however, kept Parsons under wraps. As usual, Dallas moved him here, there and everywhere. There were no holes to be found, though. Not against Walker. Not against right tackle Zach Tom. Not against the interior. Even Aaron Jones did yeoman’s work a couple times.
The Packers not only didn’t give up a sack, but they hardly allowed any pressure. According to the official stats, Parsons had one of the team’s three quarterback hits.
According to PFF, Parsons had three of the team’s eight pressures. The Cowboys for the season had averaged 21.1 pressures per game. This was their only game of single-digits all season.
Credit goes to the blockers, of course, but it goes to the coaches, too. Imagine going into a playoff game against an elite pass rush with a backup left tackle and a rotation at right guard. But Luke Butkus’ group dominated a matchup in which the Cowboys probably expected to do the dominating.
Jaire Alexander, Darnell Savage and Packers’ Defense at Cowboys
3. Packers Have Right Defensive Coordinator
Matt LaFleur could have fired defensive coordinator Joe Barry after his unit was wrecked by Tommy DeVito and the Giants, Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneers and Bryce Young and the Panthers in consecutive games in December.
If the 34-20 loss to Tampa Bay was the bottom, then the 33-30 win over Carolina came with a shovel to dig deeper. The Panthers in Weeks 14 and 15 scored a total of 15 points. In Weeks 17 and 18, they scored zero points. In Week 16 against Green Bay, they scored 30. Against Green Bay, Young threw for 312 yards. In the other four games, he averaged 127.5.
But LaFleur, inexplicably, it seemed, at the time, stuck with Barry. The last three games, the Packers allowed 10 points against Minnesota, nine points against Chicago and seven points when it mattered against Dallas.
“I couldn’t be happier,” LaFleur said on Monday. “I know what Joe Barry is all about in terms of the resiliency. There’s tough moments, and there’s tough moments in every season. I felt like I know what we have in him, and was confident that if anybody could kind of right the ship, so to speak, it was him.”
That’s not to say Barry needs to be the coordinator in 2024, even though Green Bay turned in only its top-10 finish in points allowed since finishing second in 2010. Fresh ideas and a fresh voice are needed for the Packers to take the next step. But for this team, LaFleur’s decision to not make a move was the best move.
