The Dallas Cowboys defense wasn’t the reason the team lost to the Packers on Sunday night. But they still weren’t good enough.
Team stats allowed
The Cowboys allowed 23 points to the Packers, 17 of which came in the first half. They tightened up after halftime, surrendering just six points on five qualifying drives.
Jordan Love threw for 276 yards with one touchdown and one interception
In the first half, the Packers went nine-of-ten on 3rd down.
Green Bay held the ball for nearly 15 minutes on two drives in the first
half, resulting in 10 points.
Individual stat leaders on defense
Caleb Downs led the team in tackles with 12, six of which were solo. But many came after giving up a pass reception.
Kenny Clark, Quinnen Williams, and Elijah Garcia each finished the game with a sack.
Dee Winters secured the Cowboys’ first interception of the season, initially finishing with a pick-six that would eventually be called back and ruled down by contact.
Advanced analytics
According to SumerSports, the Cowboys finished with their best EPA/play allowed rating of the season at -0.02. This was the first time this season they forced an opponent into a negative EPA per play.
Dee Winters, Quinnen Williams, and Justin Barron were the three highest-rated players on the Cowboys defense, per Pro Football Focus.
Jordan Love was pressured on 45.5% of his drop backs per Next Gen Stats. Rashan Gary was credited with a career-high 10 pressures against his former team.
How’d the rookies look?
Caleb Downs finished with a team-leading 12 tackles, but many came after giving up a completion. He was placed in the slot throughout the night and covered Matthew Golden often. Downs is not a pure cover corner and the Packers were unafraid to throw his direction when he was matched up one-on-one in the slot. The first year safety allowed six catches on six targets on the night.
Malachi Lawrence had his first career start, replacing second-year edge Donovan Ezeiruaku on the depth chart. He finished with zero tackles and zero sacks, but did record a pass breakup over 20 yards downfield in the endzone. He was part of a unit that recorded three sacks on the night and dealt pressure on the quarterback, but did not show up on the stat sheet.
Jaishawn Barham finished the game with four solo tackles. The linebacker missed a key tackle on third-and-twelve on the Packers first drive, resulting in a first down. That was a four-point play, as the Packers would go on to score a touchdown instead of a field goal.
LT Overton played 22 defensive snaps but did not show up in the box score.
Final grade: C
The first half was brutal for the defense, specifically on third down. Because of the continuous barrage of third-down conversions, the Packers had two scoring drives chewing up nearly 15 minutes combined. It didn’t matter how far the first-down marker was, every Green Bay third down was converted until the 6:46 mark in the second quarter.
The Cowboys defense did record an interception during that time but unfortunately the pick-six was ruled down by contact and led to zero points.
If that first half performance continued into the second half, the grade would have been an F for this week. Maybe even an F- (or lower if possible). But this defense flipped the script in the second half.
After the break, the Cowboys defense allowed only two field goals for the remainder of the game. They battened down the hatches on third down, allowing just two conversions. And the Packers gained a total of 83 yards. For comparison’s sake, the Packers gained 90 yards on their first drive of the game.
Now maybe you could say the Packers were content with taking their foot off the gas in the second half. There were also some key drops by Packers receivers in or around the endzone. But at the end of the day, the second half performance was night and day compared to the first half.
The defense did not lose this game for the Cowboys. They tightened up and got right, allowing the offense multiple opportunities to make a comeback. They recorded three sacks, one interception, and for the first time this season, forced an opponent into a negative EPA/play. For those reasons, they receive a ‘C’ on their report card this week.
