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That'll do it. The Packers advance to the divisional round with a 48-32 victory. It was not that close.
Cowboys vs. Packers score, takeaways: Jordan Love, Aaron Jones lift Green Bay to blowout over Dallas
Packers become the NFL's first No. 7 seed to ever advance
In a game they dominated from start to finish, the Green Bay Packers sent the Dallas Cowboys home for the season with a 48-32 road victory, advancing to the divisional round in the process. The Packers, the No. 7 seed in the NFC, will head to San Francisco to take on the top-seeded 49ers next week.
Green Bay won the coin toss and took the ball rather than deferring to the second half, and immediately set the tone with a 12-play, 75-yard drive that took 7:52 off the clock and ended with Aaron Jones (21 carries for 118 yards) scoring the first of his three touchdowns on the evening. Jordan Love was surgical both on that drive and throughout the game, completing passes both from a clean pocket and when under pressure, expertly navigating any and every challenge Dan Quinn's defense threw at him -- not that there were all that many such challenges.
The Cowboys, on the other hand, were off their game from the jump. They took a penalty on the second play of the game, left a receiver wide open down the field on the third, saw their first drive end on a CeeDee Lamb drop, gifted the Packers field position with a kick-catch interference, repeatedly ran the ball into the line with little success, and could not get their receivers open.
Dak Prescott played as poorly as he has in his entire career, forcing throws into windows that were not just not open, but actively closed. He was picked off twice (once for a touchdown) and should have had at least one more of his throws caught by Green Bay. He took several inopportune sacks, missed multiple open receivers, and just generally did not manage the game well on any level.
This all made for Dallas' third consecutive utterly embarrassing postseason loss, the second of them in AT&T Stadium. The Packers, meanwhile, are wildly ahead of schedule in the post-Aaron Rodgers era. Love's first season as the started went about as well as could be expected, and he is playing at as high a level as any quarterback in football at the moment. The marriage of him and Matt LaFleur appears perfect, and regardless of what happens against San Francisco, Green Bay should contend for years to come.
Here are a few more things to know about this game.
Why the Packers won
Jordan Love was the best player on the field, Matt LaFleur took Dan Quinn to school, and the defense played arguably its best game of the season until the Cowboys got some stuff going in garbage time. Love went 16 of 21 for 272 yards and three touchdowns, repeatedly dicing the Cowboys both underneath and down the field. His young pass-catchers were running in wide-open space all game long, thanks to LaFleur repeatedly scheming up massive throwing lanes. The much-maligned Packers defense boxed Tony Pollard and Rico Dowdle in all afternoon, and came away with two massive interceptions on Prescott -- including a pick-six by Darnell Savage. The Packers didn't need to do all that much considering the Cowboys apparently weren't in the mood to compete, but they came out and played really well anyway.
Why the Cowboys lost
They showed up to the stadium and apparently thought that was all they needed to do to advance. They were wrong.
Turning point
Let's go with the third play of the game. After the Cowboys stuffed Aaron Jones on a pair of runs for a combined -3 yards, Jordan Love dropped back to pass off play-action and had all the time in the world to find an open receiver. A Cowboys defender broke through the line late, but Love ripped a throw over the middle just before he got hit. Romeo Doubs could not have been more wide open if the Dallas defense had been trying to let him get a chunk gain.
That 22-yard pass set the Packers off on a march down the field. They didn't face a third down until getting into third-and-5 from the 6-yard line, but Demarcus Lawrence jumped offside, and on the next play, Aaron Jones dashed into the end zone. The Packers grabbed an early lead on their first possession of the game -- no doubt the strategy behind taking the ball first after winning the coin toss -- and did not look back from there.
Highlight play
Love's best throw of the night put the Packers up 20-0 late in the second quarter. After Dallas punted rather than attempt a long field goal on the previous drive, Love went 6 of 6 for 79 yards and a touchdown, which came on this fadeaway jumper of a throw to Dontayvion Wicks.
The motion on this play was key, as Jayden Reed motioning inside of Wicks changed the leverage on the route. Wicks was aligned inside of Stephon Gilmore, ran right at him and gave a fake to the outside, then snapped off his route toward the post. Gilmore had no chance on the play, and Love made a picture-perfect throw.
What's next
The Packers head to the divisional round, where they will face the San Francisco 49ers -- the NFC's No. 1 seed -- with a trip to the conference championship game on the line. The 2021 Packers lost to the Niners in the divisional round, although that game was played at Lambeau Field and featured Aaron Rodgers under center for Green Bay and Jimmy Garoppolo at the helm for San Francisco. The Niners were arguably the best team in football for much of the season, but will now have to contend with a Packers squad playing as well as any team in the league at the moment.
The Cowboys are once again going home after being eliminated from the playoffs in embarrassing fashion. It would frankly be surprising if Mike McCarthy were still the coach of this team on Tuesday, let alone next season. Jerry Jones loves nothing more than chasing big names to solve all his problems, so he will likely conduct a sham interview to satisfy the Rooney Rule and then throw all the money in the world at Bill Belichick. (Notably, this is also how he handled the last coaching search, designed all along to land on McCarthy. That worked out really well, so it makes sense to run back the same strategy.) They will rope some believers in again next year, and things will likely end the exact same way.
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The Cowboys have to go 74 yards, convert the two-point try, recover an onside kick, go 65-ish yards to the end zone again, and convert another two-point try, all in two minutes, with no timeouts -- just to get the game to overtime.
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Extremely weird that Love and Jones are back in this game. Even weirder to throw a pass there instead of running it to ensure the clock ran down to the two-minute warning.
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That's Jake Ferguson's third touchdown of the game. 8 catches for 75 yards and three scores on 10 targets. Quite a performance from him. The Cowboys are now technically within two scores, but they'll need to recover at least two onside kicks to make this interesting.
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I suppose this all helps people playing playoff fantasy football. Congrats to that of you who have Dak and CeeDee in your lineups for that big play. The Cowboys could have used some of that much earlier in the game.
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The Packers brought Sean Clifford in the game and just ran the ball into the line a few times. They'll punt here. Maybe the Cowboys put another drive together, but it won't much matter. This is over and has been for quite a while.
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Quarterback Dak Prescott hits tight end Jake Ferguson for a seven-yard touchdown to put lipstick on the pig of what will be a season-ending defeat. Packers up 48-24 with 5:54 to go. Backup running back Rico Dowdle runs in for a two-point conversion that could only be described as too little, too late.
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Have a day Jordan Love and Romeo Doubs. Following their three-yard touchdown, the Packers lead 48-16. Love now has a perfect passer rating (158.3) with 272 passing yards and three touchdowns on 16 of 20 passing. Doubs has caught all six of his targets for 151 yards and the three-yard score. 10:23 left in the game.
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The "Go Pack Go" chants here at AT&T Stadium are the loudest crowd noise that can be heard right now, unsurprisingly.
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That last Cowboys possession was puzzling to say the least. Facing fourth down and five, Dak Prescott hurled a deep shot to Jalen Tolbert, a prayer that fell harmlessly to the turf. Prescott looked like he was trying to score the entire deficit back on the throw. Packers ball up 41-16 with just about the entire fourth quarter remaining.
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Green Bay Packers GM Brian Gutekunst and team president Mark Murphy subtly chuckling in the press box after Jordan Love hits his tight end Luke Musgrave wide open for a 38-yard touchdown. Packers lead 41-16 in a subdued AT&T Stadium. The Packers ran this exact play in Week 1 at the Chicago Bears, and Musgrave fell down, preventing a touchdown. This time the play succeeds and Musgrave stays upright for the score. 41-16 Packers with 1:27 left in the third quarter.
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Packers cornerback Jaire Alexander (ankle) and linebacker Isaiah McDuffie (stinger) are questionable to return to the game.
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The Cowboys cap an 11-play, 88-yard drive with a one-yard rushing touchdown by running back Tony Pollard, but their extra point efforts went awry like the majority of this game. They got called for an offensive pass interference penalty on a play that spring tight end Jake Ferguson free a two-point conversion. Mike McCarthy then opted to kick the extra point from the 25, and First-Team All-Pro kicker BRandon Aubrey doinked it off the right upright. Packers lead 34-16 with 3:03 left in the third quarter.
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Following the Cowboys getting on the scoreboard, Green Bay clapped right back with a touchdown drive of their own. The big play this time came from a familiar connection: Jordan Love to Romeo Doubs. Their 46-yard connection got the Packers down to the Cowboys' 17. Aaron Jones capped the drive with the final 17 yards on the ground, including a nine-yard rushing score. This is Jones' second career game with at least three rushing downs against the Cowboys. He had a career-high four, also at AT&T Stadium, in a 34-24 Week 5 win in 2019.
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The Cowboys' opening drive of the second half was cruising along until a sack by Packers inside linebacker De'Vondre Campbell threw off the rhythm. Prescott then threw consecutive incompletions, which resulted in Dallas settling for a 34-yard Brandon Aubrey field goal. 27-10 Packers in front.
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These are the largest playoff deficits overcome in NFL history. The Cowboys have a lot of work to do to join the list.
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And they get it. Green Bay played with a light box and the Cowboys faked an inside hand-off to Tony Pollard and brought Jake Ferguson across the formation on a slide route. Easy pitch and catch for a touchdown.
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Dak Prescott has gotten wild tunnel vision on this drive, forcing everything into tight coverage. With 2 seconds left the Cowboys are keeping the field goal team on the sideline to try to actually get a touchdown here.
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After Jordan Love's 20-yard laser of a touchdown to Dontayvion Wicks that put the Green Bay Packers up 20-0, Green Bay team president Mark Murphy and general manager Mark Murphy stood up high-fiving and cheering in the press box. They did so again on safety Darnell Savage's 64-yard pick-six of Dak Prescott. 27-0 Packers with 1:50 left in the first half.
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CeeDee Lamb, the NFL's receptions leader with 135, hauls in his first catch for eight yards just ahead of the two-minute warning. Packers ahead 20-0 with the Cowboys driving and out to the Green Bay 40.
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Jordan Love is shredding the Cowboys' fifth-ranked scoring defense. He lasered a throw over 2019 NFL Defensive Player of the Year cornerback Stephon Gilmore to fifth-round rookie Dontayvion Wicks for a 20-yard touchdown. Green Bay up 20-0 after rookie kicker Anders Carlson doinked the extra point.
Love has completed 13 of his first 16 passes for 185 yards and the touchdown to Wicks.
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Doubs has caught all four his targets for 102 yards. He and Love have shredded the Dallas zone defense today.
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Romeo Doubs springs free off the play-action, and Jordan Lvoe hits for a gain of 39. Packers down to the Dallas 35.
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Packers cornerback Keisean Nixon comes down on a blitz and sacks Dak Prescott for a loss of six on third down. Dallas then takes a delay of game penalty and punts it back to Green Bay. Packers ball on their own seven with 9:07 in the half up 14-0.
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Dak Prescott with an absolute missile to tight end Jake Ferguson for a 22-yard gain down to the Packers' 41. It appeared as though the throw could have been Prescott's second interception of the day throwing into a heavily congested middle of the field zone, but the football whistled past Packers linebacker Quay Walkers outstretched hands and into Ferguson's.
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A 15-yard pass from Jordan Love to Romeo Doubs offsets the effect of holding penalty on tight end Tucker Kraft to get the Packers back to one. Running back Aaron Jones cashes in from a yard for his second touchdown of the game as Green Bay fully capitalizes off of Dak Prescott's interception. Packers lead 14-0 early second quarter.
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We have the first turnover of the game. Packers Pro Bowl CB Jaire Alexander, who was a game-time decision with an ankle injury, makes a diving interception off Dak Prescott. Green Bay starts their next drive at the Cowboys' 19, inside the red zone.
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Stop the press. Dallas Cowboys All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parsons -- the NFL's leader in QB pressures, QB pressure rate and pass-rush win rate -- finally drew a holding penalty while pass-rushing. Holding on GB LG Elgton Jenkins. It's the first since Week 6 at the Los Angeles Chargers. Jordan Love getting flushed out of the pocket forces a third-and-nine incompletion and a Packers punt. 7-0 Packers with 1:26 left in the first quarter. Cowboys start the drive on their own eight.
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