Sunday nights in Green Bay have not been kind to the Dallas Cowboys, and Dak Prescott knows a 2-3 team cannot afford another one. Dallas has the offense to change the equation at Green Bay. The question is whether its defense can hold up long enough.
These six players will go a long way toward deciding it at 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC.
Make players for the Cowboys
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Dak Prescott, QB
Prescott has 1,381 passing yards, nine touchdown passes and three interceptions through five games, and he has topped 300 yards in back-to-back weeks. Both of his picks against Tampa Bay bounced off a receiver’s hands, and he still drove Dallas 99 yards for a fourth-quarter touchdown, per the team’s recap.
He has also gone three straight games without multiple touchdown passes, which is the part that has to change. Sports Illustrated’s Matt Verderame still moved him up to No. 7 in his quarterback rankings this week. Dallas needs that version of Prescott for four quarters, especially against a Packers defense that just forced five turnovers. He was nearly perfect in last year’s tie, going 31 of 40 for 319 yards and three touchdown passes.
CeeDee Lamb, WR
Lamb practiced fully Wednesday and Thursday after the thigh injury that limited him to just 34 snaps against Tampa Bay. He still leads the team with 39 catches for 507 yards and four touchdowns, and two weeks ago he caught 17 passes for 189 yards in Houston.
Lamb and Pickens have combined for 299 yards and two touchdowns on in-breaking routes this season, per DallasCowboys.com, and the middle of the field is where Green Bay’s linebackers are thinnest. “I feel like he’ll bounce back next week,” George Pickens said of Lamb after the Bucs game.
Javonte Williams, RB
Williams has six rushing touchdowns, making him only the third player in franchise history to reach that number through five games, joining Emmitt Smith and Calvin Hill. The problem is efficiency, with 276 yards on 74 carries and just 45 yards against the Bucs.
Green Bay just lost Edgerrin Cooper and Javon Hargrave to torn Achilles tendons in back-to-back weeks, and the Packers have allowed nine touchdowns to running backs. If Williams can keep Prescott in manageable downs, Dallas controls the clock and keeps Love on the sideline. He ran 20 times for 85 yards and a touchdown in last year’s meeting, and a similar workload would be a win.
Break players for the Packers
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Jordan Love, QB
Love posted a 95.1 PFF grade against Chicago, the best by any quarterback in a single game this season, as we noted in our Week 5 grade breakdown. He completed six deep passes of 20-plus air yards for 258 yards in that game.
He is second in the league with 1,408 passing yards, and Dallas opponents own a league-worst 120.5 passer rating. Love has also been climbing the QB rankings as his line improves. A Cowboys defense with five sacks all season cannot give him clean pockets, and Kenny Clark, who spent nine seasons in Green Bay, knows exactly how to make him uncomfortable.
Matthew Golden, WR
Golden grew up in Houston, starred at Klein Cain High School and played at Texas, so plenty of Cowboys fans already know the name. He has 24 catches for 397 yards and two touchdowns, including a career-high 123 yards against the Bears.
His 173 deep-pass yards entering Week 6 ranked second in the NFL. “Me and Christian, we can get really anywhere, underneath, over the top. It’s a lot of things we can do,” Golden told the Packers’ website. With Cobie Durant out, Dallas will be stretched thin trying to cover both him and Watson.
Brenton Cox Jr., OLB
Cox was Green Bay’s second-highest graded defender against Chicago at 88.7, according to PFF grades, with six pressures made up of five hurries and a quarterback hit. He played at Georgia alongside Pickens, so there will be some familiarity on the field.
Dallas ruled out tackle Drew Shelton, and left tackle Tyler Guyton practiced fully this week after a positive injury update on his back. If Cox beats a patched-up edge and forces Prescott off his spot, Jonathan Gannon’s blitz packages get much more dangerous.
Dallas has a quarterback, a healthy No. 1 receiver and a short-yardage back who can beat anyone. A clean night from the three Cowboys above, and quieter ones from the three Packers, would reward the experts picking Dallas this week in a game with a 1.5-point spread.
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