Blogging The Boys
Coming into week four, a game that’s been circled for both the Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers for a while now, the Cowboys are home underdogs looking to avoid their first losing streak of the season. A loss on Sunday night would also be the first time new head coach Brian Schottenheimer drops consecutive games. All head coaches in this league will go through this at some point naturally, but having three losses through his first four games – two of which in primetime and both against rivals in different ways – would create a real panic around the direction of the team and remaining goals for 2025. The Cowboys actually came out of their first primetime loss in the season opener at the Eagles with some positives, as they’re still the only opponent this reeling Cowboys defense has held below 30 points. Coming off a 31-14 loss at the Bears, the matchup for the Cowboys defense is not any more favorable going against the Packers.
Green Bay has scored 27 points in both of their wins this season, and will be looking to bounce back offensively after scoring just ten points in a loss to the Browns last week. The Cowboys are a good opponent for them to have this bounce back against, not just because of their struggling defense, but because the Packers have won five straight against the Cowboys scoring at least 30 points in all of them. The most recent Packers win against the Cowboys came at the site of this Sunday night’s meeting, when Matt LaFleur’s team came to AT&T Stadium and won 48-32 in the Wild Card playoffs of 2023. That offensive outburst stands at the most points the Packers have ever scored under LaFleur, making it the last game that Dan Quinn ever coached as defensive coordinator in Dallas.
Three of the other Packers wins over the Cowboys in their active five game streak also came on the road for the current NFC North leaders. The Packers won 34-24 in week five of 2019, a game they led 24-0 by the third quarter. They also won in week five of 2017, this time in come from behind fashion as the Cowboys led 21-6 in the first half but lost 35-31. The other relevant game here is another playoff meeting, the Divisional playoffs in 2016 where a Mason Crosby last-second field goal ended the rookie campaign for Dak Prescott. That loss saw Dallas positioned as the number one seed in the NFC a home win away from the ever-elusive Championship game. The Packers won 34-31 to end this hope for the Cowboys, which still stands as likely their best chance to advance past the Divisional round to this day, now under their third head coach since then.
This Sunday night is not quite a now-or-never game for the Cowboys, but if they are going to prove that this season has even a glimmer of hope to break “The Drought”, a win against a...
