Packers XLV

How 'Bout Them Cowboys!!

Posted October 7th, 2019 @ 01:10pm

There was so much to like about the Packers' 34-24 beatdown of the Cowboys in the house that Jerry built on Sunday.

The two biggest takeaways for me: the resurgence of Aaron Jones and the confidence, swagger and physicality of Mike Pettine's defense. Both were on full display on a day the Pack made a statement to the rest of the NFC. This is a new team. There's a new vibe. Last year, this team was lucky to win one road game and one division game all season. Five weeks in, they've eclipsed both of those marks and if they can stop losing guys to injury, the sky's the limit.

The offense was short-handed, missing Davante Adams and Jamaal Williams and I figured it would be a receiver-by-committee approach. While Rodgers completed passes to nine different players, non-running backs caught a total of 11 passes on the day. Jimmy Graham caught three, Geronimo Allison two and nobody else had more than one reception.

This was a game won on the ground, with Aaron Jones reprising his role from his 2017 appearance at AT&T Stadium, when he rushed for 125 yards. His whole family was in the house and he provided a game for the ages, tying the Pack's franchise record with four touchdowns and befuddling the Cowboys' defense all afternoon. Most impressive was his inside running, where he and the offensive linemen dominated, gashing the defense all day, especially late, when the Cowboys made a run to make things a little too interesting.

Just as impressive was the defense pitching a shutout into the third quarter, helped by a couple of interceptions that stalled Dallas drives. Pettine's unit had ten days to hear about how overrated they were, after the Eagles torched them at Lambeau. They responded by taking advantage of the loss of Tyron Smith and making sure Zeke didn't run wild. My only concern is the lack of discipline at times. Za'Darius Smith, battling a sore knee, had a great day getting after Dak Prescott, but his three penalties were unnecessary and could have caused big problems. I didn't like seeing him trash talking Dak on one occasion. He's the defensive captain; he needs to lead by example.

Jaire Alexander had a tough time with Amari Cooper, but he's not alone there. He also made some big plays and we have to salute Kevin King, who was listed as doubtful on Friday but played the whole game, though he aggravated that groin injury late. The Pack even got solid play from Will Redmond, who replaced Darnell Savage, when he exited with an ankle injury.

The injuries are piling up. Corey Linsley's ironman snap streak ended when he left with a concussion, but it looked like Lucas Patrick did a nice job in his place, other than a couple of wide snaps that fortunately went right to Aaron Jones. Add in Savage, King, Za'Darius, Robert Tonyan and BJ Goodson and the Pack have some issues as they get ready to face a healthy Lions team, coming off a bye, next Monday night.

Big picture: the Pack corrected much of went wrong in their loss to the Eagles: they won the turnover battle, were much better on special teams and were more productive in the red zone. They proved they could go on the road in a tough environment, without their best (and some would say only) receiver and take care of business.

Gone are the days that the Packers will go only as far as Rodgers can carry them. He's still an elite QB who can put the team on his shoulders--and he'll likely be called upon to do that once or twice this season. But with a talent like Aaron Jones and with an opportunistic, nasty defense to complement his elite play, the Packers appear poised to be a contender in a wide open NFC.

With a first-time rookie head coach, they've managed to get past NFC powers Chicago, Minnesota, Philly and Dallas and come out with a 4-1 record. If they can take care of business these next two weeks at home, they'll likely be sitting on top of the NFC at 6-1, with seven of their final nine on the road, including a four out of five stretch to start. Impressive road wins in Chicago and Dallas have given us reason to dream that this team will be able to handle a grueling back half of the schedule.

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Comments (25):

How is the confidence in GB now that Philly was blown out and the winless Jets beat Big D? May need to eat some humble pie and know this is a grind. Everyone seem too confident in GB after the win against Big D when many of us knew that their start was based on playing a few crappy teams.

on October 13th, 2019 at 06:30pm

Packer troll queens finally beat a team with a winning record,talk about over confident and one of the crappy teams you mentioned was the queens,don’t worry cousins will show his true colors again and you queens fans will disappear again,it is a grind,you are right

on October 13th, 2019 at 06:53pm

Please call a fair game in Lambeau tomorrow night. Just one dam time! Just one dam time!

on October 13th, 2019 at 08:12pm

Greg the idiot is back,packers don’t hire the officials moron,we got a lot of calls today Greg,or is the officiating always perfect at purple pussy stadium,lots of people on this site say you need help,have mom up your medication!!!

on October 13th, 2019 at 08:34pm

No packer troll,l know what cousins will do!! And so do you

on October 14th, 2019 at 02:02pm

Elroy - I didn't mention anything about MN in my comment but apparently MN's win is on your mind.

on October 14th, 2019 at 10:16am

Paul Allen starts out his show this morning crowing about the Queens Defense. Wow, they beat a rookie QB with S. Barkley on the bench. Impressive... As my Bears friend says, "I'd rather listen to a dog bark than Paul Allen." Pack has now beat the Bears, Queens, and Dallas for impressive wins. Who have the Queens beat? Now does Dallas give a contract to Dak similar to Cousins? Ouch. With the O-line of the Queens, they'll likely end up at the bottom of the Division this year.

on October 7th, 2019 at 04:29pm

The vikings will easily take out the Packers in Minneapolis. There will be no offensive pass interferences three times, or Diggs touchdowns taken away. I have both teams at 4-2 based on this. It's fun to watch delusional Dave think his team is great.

on October 7th, 2019 at 05:50pm

How can they both be 4-2 Greg,they’ve only played 5 games,little trouble with math? Keep Whining!!!

on October 7th, 2019 at 06:42pm

Great win for the packers,dominating football for 3quarters,Rodgers is so smart and heads and shoulders above Cousins!! Queens will be out of it by the time they play at princes purple palace,here comes a pass rush Sunday Kirk!!

on October 7th, 2019 at 06:57pm

Enough said about Pack, boys, and qnoweens. What we need going forward when Adams comes back is a true no#2 reliable receiver. I know our guys other than Adams are young but we need a reliable #2 that Rodgers trusts to take some of the pressure off Adams. Gutey: Dont be like the Twins brain trust who refused or could not get a reliable starting pitcher go out and get Sanders, C Davis, or if he can stay healthy AJ Green. Give Rodgers some help at wideout. GO PACK GO !!

on October 7th, 2019 at 07:02pm

LOL @ your "nasty defense" that allowed close to 600 yards of offense yesterday. This is even bad for you, THC.......

on October 7th, 2019 at 09:25am

Lol, Cowboys are completely overrated and so are the "pack". The Pack D still sucks - your golden boy Jairy or whatever his name is got roasted repeatedly by Cooper. A shit leopard can't change its spots so keep up the delusions that this defense is above average. I hope this team goes 15-1 so they can be the second team with that record to not win a playoff game. G-ma Death out.

on October 7th, 2019 at 10:41am

Cane and grandma death,Don’t understand,defense was good enough to beat you’re overrated clubs!!! Keep up you’re delusions morons!!!

on October 7th, 2019 at 10:50am

Well put Elroy,some homers can’t admit there own teams faults,Cane,Grandma Death,Greg,some even blame the officiating!!!

on October 7th, 2019 at 11:14am

Holy cow, Elroy. There's a lot to unpack here. Step 1: Learn when to use you're/your. Step 2: Learn when to use there/their/they're. Step 3: Learn how to use punctuation. We'll fast forward a bit... Step 70: Learn how to watch and evaluate football. You've got a long way to go, buddy.

on October 7th, 2019 at 11:15am

You're right. Your grammar is better, and so is your team. I'm sorry. SKOL Vikes!

on October 7th, 2019 at 11:46am

Sorry I was educated in St Paul,you truly need to learn how to evaluate football,you and your team have a long way to go!!

on October 7th, 2019 at 12:10pm

Roscoe Lombardi here, now we're off to a hotter start than my cousins Twyla Fay and Jimmie Tate's wedding night. Their video has almost as many likes as dislikes over on that there PornHub internet site. I never should of borrowed them my 86 Bronco, the shocks can be replaced but that smell is lingering. Winter is coming and I'd like to roll up the windows. It's so bad I had forgotten I had a 5 gallon pail of roadkill back there. Anyway, it was a fine strategy to throw that Philly game, takes all the pressure off. Rodgers will be MVP, Jones will come in 2nd with his rushing title, and obviously our rookie coach will be coach of the year. It's like my old daddy, former HOF head coach of the Washington Redskins, used to say. "Son, you'll always be a winner in Green Bay, because something about the people there makes you feel really smart."

on October 7th, 2019 at 12:14pm

I guess these people don't want to talk about the WIN. It was a good win, a quality win. The Pack put together 3 quarters of good ball and sprinkled in enough competence down the stretch to win this game. The "boys" in the booth were not ready for this outcome and wanted us to believe the "boys" on the field were storming back, but it never became a one score game. Even with that Field goal, the new rules make on side kick recovery more difficult than ever and the Cowboys had no time outs left. It is fantastic that even with the wind both the defense and offense know that can and need to play better. The Lions will be no push overs, they'll have a lot of time to prepare. Than there is Oakland, beat up by Vikings, beating the Bears, after the Bears beat the Vikings. Yeah, yeah, London, blah blah. We beat the Cowboys, and not Even T. Aikman can take it away from us. HA HA. I hope the talk about adding another receiver is true. We could use one. No, it won't be Diggs. Diggs is staying put IMO. We all know those Turf toes can linger. I hope they have gotten better at treating them.

on October 7th, 2019 at 12:18pm

Well it wasn't 23-22 Davey, but good call. I said they could lose by 20 or win by 10 if they got a plus 2 on turnovers, they were 3. The difference in the game. They did do a pretty good job on zeke, but after that scoring so early , they couldn't run much. Momentum is a big thing in sports and always will be. The biggest play of game is when King picked him off, very well could have been illegal contact on that. But they missed some calls on them too. Z touched the top of dak's helmet and they got him for hit on qb, Even aikman and buck thought it was horrible call. Making it better was Bears losing. Vikes have good one coming up with eagles. Giants, were w/o all 3 of there starting LB"s, and barkley and then Gaulmann goes down early, they do seem to get some breaks on injuries. For all you guys that are still making fun of the Lions, you're wrong. They are very physical and have great w'rs, rb. and great D line. 3 first rd. picks on that Line. This will not be easy, especially with all our guys out. I wouldn't be surprised at all if we lose, and lions are coming off a bye. OSSG, they will never get Green, but there is Parker in Miami, I like, Reynolds from the Rams is 4th guy, he is good. Someone like that would really help. vikes lose 23-16, Packers win 24-20, Before I go,time to pat myself on the back again Watching Lockett the other night make that catch in endzone, look back in the archives, I said get him in 3rd round, Seattle took him, we got Montgomery. how did that work out? Go Packers.

on October 8th, 2019 at 01:23pm

Larry with the post of the year. The biggest play of game is when King picked him off, very well could have been illegal contact on that. Seriously Larry, you think that COULD have been illegal contact. You really think it could have been? LMAO

on October 8th, 2019 at 07:29pm

Greg give up the whining,do you have to attack Larry now,he knows more about football than you’ll ever know,are you some kind of sissyboy,the officials are going to miss some calls,our pussy offensive line holds on every play because they suck,my god stop whining and go to the daily Norseman and get your pat on the butt!!!

on October 8th, 2019 at 07:49pm

thanks purple troll guy, but I am a big boy. even when I say the call could have went a different way,, greg acts like a idiot. Did you notice he didn't comment on the slap on top of helmet on dak, that buck and aikman said was a joke,. I think greg is a lonely boy who lives in his moms basement and has no life. Please remember greg. this is just a sport, not life or death. I just found out today my sister has stage 4 cancer, and may not be with us much longer. this site is here to have fun and make some dumb predictions like I do. if its not for you, please find another. larry

on October 9th, 2019 at 10:10pm

Yeah Greg is an idiot Larry,sorry to hear about your sister,wishing you the best!!

on October 9th, 2019 at 11:09pm

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