World’s Best Preview: Inside the Cowboys

Situational football, Dak Prescott, Amari Cooper and the player who perhaps will be the key to the game.

Quarterback Aaron Rodgers couldn’t have been more blunt.

“We were terrible in the red zone,” he said on Wednesday.

Through the first three games, the red zone was the one strong point of Green Bay’s sputtering offense. Against Philadelphia, it was the one weak spot. The Packers scored three touchdowns in seven possessions inside the Eagles’ 20-yard line, one of the most telling stats of last week’s 34-27 loss.

Situational football will always be critical. The Packers enter Sunday’s game against the Dallas Cowboys ranked a feeble 27th on third down with a 31.9 percent conversion rate and 10th with a 64.3 percent touchdown rate in the red zone. The Cowboys will provide a serious test in both areas. Dallas is second in the league on third down with a conversion rate of just 26.5 percent and is tied for third with a red-zone touchdown rate of a meager 35.7 percent.

“Just the constant work and emphasis on it” has been the key, according to Cowboys coach Jason Garrett. “We have good players, and a good front, good linebackers and good back-end guys. We strive to be good in all aspects of the game – first and second down, certainly you want to be a great third-down defense, great red-zone defense, great at the end of the game. So, those are situations you’re always working on, and I think our guys understand the importance of them. We’ve done a good job at the outset of the season being good in those areas, and it certainly makes a big difference.”

The Packers were dreadful on third down to start the season, going a combined 9-for-36 (25.0 percent) in the first three games, but were 6-of-11 vs. Philadelphia. Unfortunately, their third-down success went the other direction. Green Bay went 6-of-7 in its first three games, with its only “failure” coming as it ran out the final seconds at Chicago, but bumbled and stumbled vs. Philadelphia.

“Last week, we needed to outscore them, and we didn’t get the job done,” said Rodgers, who had thrown 64 touchdowns vs. zero interceptions from the opponent’s 3-yard line or closer in his career before last week’s game-killing pickoff. “So it’s on the offense to be a lot better situationally. We still aren’t doing great at third down, although we were better last week. Up until last week, we were great in the red zone and then we went 3-for-7, so we’ve got to be strong situationally.”

Mr. Accuracy: Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott has been the most accurate passer in the league through the first quarter of the season. Among quarterbacks with at least 30 attempts, his catchable ball rate of 86.6 percent is by far the best in the league, according to Sports Info Solutions. Atlanta’s Matt Ryan is a distant second at 81.8 percent.

It’s easy to complete passes if you’re a dink-and-dunk passer that doesn’t seriously threaten a defense, but that’s not Prescott. He’s third in the league with 9.00 yards per attempt and seventh with 9.58 air yards per attempt, according to Pro Football Focus. With Ezekiel Elliott in the backfield to occupy defenses, Prescott has made defenses pay with a 132.4 rating on play-action passes, according to PFF.

For his career, the Cowboys are a resounding 25-1 when Prescott has a rating of at least 100.

On his weekly radio show on Dallas radio station 105.3 The Fan, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was asked to compare Prescott to past Cowboys stars Troy Aikman and Tony Romo. Said Jones: “Oh, I think he’s neither. I think he’s more like [Tom] Brady. Now, we know Tom Brady and he’s no Tom Brady; I didn’t say that. But the point is he will evolve and is evolving into a guy that will beat you. He will beat you with different circumstances and different players and different type teams. He will be on teams that have better defense than others. He will be on teams that have better protection than others. I think we got us one in Dak.”

His No. 1 target: When the Cowboys traded for Amari Cooper last season, they were just 3-4. Including this year’s 3-1 start, they are 10-3 since the trade. In those 13 games, Cooper has caught 74 passes for 1,011 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Cooper is a big-play target. Since his arrival in Dallas, he’s tied with Antonio Brown for the most touchdown catches of 20-plus yards with five. On the other hand, his 363 yards after the catch during that span ranks fifth among receivers.

“He’s a very smart guy and a very smart football guy and he picked things up, formations and movements and splits and what we’re asking him to do on different routes and different adjustments,” Garrett said. “He picked it up very quickly and was able to transition really that first week. Certainly as the year went on, he got better and better. He had a chance to be with us in the offseason and that was really good for him, as well. He’s a really good football player, and he and Dak have a great feel for each other.”

The Packers probably will elect to put their top cornerback, Jaire Alexander, on Cooper. If he wants some insight, he could consult teammate Tony Brown. During Cooper’s final season at Alabama, Brown was a freshman.

“Amari Cooper, he was a great gauge for what college was going to be,” Brown said. “I didn’t know he was going to be third pick in the draft but it was great getting all those moves off the line, the hesitation, learning how to play a different technique, learning how to see different things. He helped me mature faster. He’s a strong guy, he gets out of his breaks really well and he has a change of speed that he does well. He’s a very polished receiver.”

The other weapon: While Cooper rightly gets the headlines, Michael Gallup’s availability might be the key to the game.

In victories the first two weeks over the Giants and Redskins, Gallup caught 13-of-15 passes for 226 yards (17.4 average). He suffered a knee injury against Washington and had surgery. The difference without him the past two weeks has been stark.

Week 1: Dallas 35, New York 17. Gallup: 7 receptions, 7 targets, 158 yards. Prescott: 78.1 percent, 405 yards, 4 TDs, 0 INTs, 158.3 rating.

Week 2: Dallas 31, Washington 21. Gallup: 6 receptions, 8 targets, 68 yards. Prescott: 86.7 percent, 269 yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT, 123.5 rating.

Week 3: Dallas 31, Miami 6. Gallup: Inactive. Prescott: 59.4 percent, 246 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT, 91.4 rating.

Week 4: New Orleans 12, Dallas 10. Gallup: Inactive. Prescott: 66.7 percent, 223 yards, 0 TDs, 1 INT, 73.2 rating.

Among receivers with at least 15 targets, Gallup leads the NFL with 4.35 yards per target – far ahead of the Chargers’ Keenan Allen (2.95) and Green Bay’s Davante Adams (2.74). He returned to practice this week and is questionable.

“He’s a very big piece of our offense. He’s a big piece of what we try to do,” Cowboys receiver Randall Cobb said. “He’s a big-time playmaker. He stretches the field really well and opens up things for everybody.”