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The Green Bay Packers entered their bye week with a 40-40 tie in Dallas, and at the center of it was what might have been the worst defensive performance of the Jeff Hafley era. It’s nothing that should be cause for alarm, but it did highlight for the first time how Hafley’s staple third-down coverages are susceptible to being beaten.
Through the first four games of 2025, the defense has surrendered just three explosive pass plays of 20+ yards. But all three of those came in the week four game.
Dak Prescott finished 12/14 for 162 yards and one touchdown under pressure. He took some hits, but was only sacked one time. Micah Parsons had six pressures and the only sack, and while the pressures were largely ineffective, it’s sort of poetic that Parsons’s sack was what preserved the tie as Prescott had an open lane to the end zone if not for Parsons. The Cowboys ended up just kicking a field goal a couple of plays later.
But beyond that, the defense might very well have played its worst game under Jeff Hafley since he took over. The defense gave up three explosive pass plays of 20+ yards or more and three explosive run plays of 10+ yards or more. They gave up another handful of pass plays in the 15-20 yard range and a handful of running plays in the 7-9 yard range as well. Today, we’re just going to look at the three explosive passes.
In the first play here, Prescott hit a 1-on-1 deep ball to George Pickens down the left sideline for a gain of 28 yards.
The Cowboys isolate Nate Hobbs to the single receiver side and align in a 4×1 formation to the right, running a 4-strong spacing concept.
This pulls the strength of the Packers’ defense to the four receiver side, but the rotation post-snap is 5-man pressure cover-3 (3-deep/3-under zone).
With Hobbs in single coverage on Pickens, Prescott confirms the coverage and throws the alert-go route down the sideline. Hobbs doesn’t get a good jam at the snap and is chasing the entire rep. Evan Williams covers the middle of the field and numbers and actually hits Pickens just after the ball arrives. Had Williams been able to align in the middle of the field, he might have broken up the pass but since the formation strength pulled him away, there was never a chance he could get there in time with how the Packers align in cover-3 versus this type of formation.
In overtime, the Cowboys moved the ball with ease on the defense, hitting two explosive pass plays. The second pass they hit was a bit of luck, catching the Packers defense gasping for air. But on the first pass, they hit, they took advantage of a common defensive call on third down.
The defense is showing cover-3 or a possible blitz/pressure with man coverage. The post snap reveals cover-2 invert, which we...
