The NFL adopted new rules for overtime this year, which guarantees both teams a chance to possess the ball. It appears the Cowboys are trying to test the limits of the new rule. When they reached overtime against the Giants in Week 2, they took it down to the last second before kicking the game-winning field goal. This time, the Packers threw incomplete with one second left on the clock, giving them a chance to tie the game with a field goal.
And that’s exactly what happened: a tie.
After all the drama
and lead-up to this game – billed as the Micah Parsons revenge game by many, and even featuring an odd Parsons=focused promo with Jerry Jones that NBC aired before kickoff – it ends with a tie. No winners, no losers, just something that happened that we all must move past. Perhaps this will reflexively become a poignant metaphor for the Parsons trade itself, but for now, fans of both teams are left wondering why they just wasted four hours watching a game while simultaneously setting new highs for heart rate.
Of course, there are some positives to be gleaned from it. Remember how this game started for the Cowboys, which was about as poorly as anyone could’ve drawn it up. The Packers started with the ball and promptly marched down the field, with Jordan Love connecting on all five of his passes, including a 46-yard bomb and a touchdown.
The Cowboys then went three-and-out in a hurry, with three straight runs that went nowhere. Their next drive ended in a punt, too, and that was followed up with another Packers touchdown drive. Ironically, though, that touchdown led directly into the first positive of the night for Dallas: a blocked extra point returned for a two-point score.
The play felt like a wake-up call moment for the Cowboys, but their offense went three-and-out on the very next drive, killing any potential boost they may have had from the special teams score. However, Green Bay punted on their next drive, and then things started to click.
Dak Prescott settled into a groove without CeeDee Lamb, hitting passes to George Pickens, Ryan Flournoy, and both of his running backs to keep moving the chains. In fact, Dallas didn’t face a single third down on their 11-play drive that went 95 yards and ended with Prescott running in for a touchdown. Suddenly, the Cowboys were only down 13-9.
That score from the offense seemingly woke up the defense, who had forced several punts but otherwise not made any real plays. James Houston once again made his presence felt, whipping around the left tackle to knock the ball right out of Love’s hand.
That sent the offense back onto the field with nine seconds left in the first half and needing just 15 yards to get a touchdown. Prescott didn’t even need those nine seconds, hitting a wide open Pickens in the endzone on the very next play and putting the Cowboys up 16-13 at halftime.
That end to the first half turned out to be the catalyst for an offensive explosion on both sides, as the second half primarily featured both teams trading touchdowns. Josh Jacobs ran in for a score, and then Prescott hit Jake Ferguson for a touchdown to retake the lead at the end of the third quarter.
Jacobs ran in another touchdown, and Javonte Williams returned the favor on a direct snap out of the Wildcat formation. Then, Love led the Packers down the field and hit Romeo Doubs for his third touchdown of the night, taking the lead and leaving the Cowboys just 1:45 left in the game with no timeouts.
It didn’t matter.
KaVontae Turpin got things started with an electric 45-yard kick return, setting the drive up at Dallas’ own 46. Prescott hit Jalen Tolbert for a crucial 19-yard gain on third down before finding Pickens on a short pass that the physical receiver turned into gold.
That big-time play put the Cowboys back on top by three, but with 43 seconds remaining and all three timeouts sitting in Packers head coach Matt LaFleur’s back pocket. The next drive was all too predictable: the Packers got just in range for a 53-yard field goal, which Brandon McManus drilled right down the middle, sending the game to overtime.
Dallas started with the ball, and they were moving it efficiently, with some strong running from Williams. Prescott once again found Pickens for a huge pickup on third down, extending the drive. Then came the highlight of the night: a fadeaway shot deep to Tolbert, who just barely dragged his toes to make the wildly impressive grab.
Unfortunately, the Cowboys could do nothing with it. Williams was stuffed on the next play, and Prescott was “sacked” by Micah Parsons – the lone solo tackle of the night for the former Cowboy – on second down. Prescott then sailed the ball out of the back of the endzone on third down when nobody was open, and the Cowboys settled for the field goal.
That resulted in the maligned Dallas defense doing what they do best: give up conversions on third and fourth down. The Packers moved at a glacial pace down the field, and LaFleur burned his final timeout early in the drive. Then, with the clock ticking under 10 seconds, Love snapped the ball and launched a shot to the endzone. It bounced off the back of Jack Sanborn and, magically, hit the turf with one second remaining.
Had that ball carried for a fraction of a second longer, the Cowboys walk out with a win. Former Texans legend J.J. Watt made a crack about the AT&T Stadium clock operator not doing their job, highlighting just how close this was to a victory for Dallas.
So there it is: a tie. There’s really not any right way to feel about this kind of outcome, but it’s at least promising that the Cowboys were able to take the Packers quite literally the distance. The offense was great, with Prescott in particular having an amazing game despite playing without Lamb and two starters on the offensive line.
The defense was far from perfect, but they did force two punts and a turnover in the first half, showing some mild signs of life after an abysmal start to the year. Against a Packers offense with so much firepower, that’s something to be encouraged by, even if a tie does nothing to advance the team towards a playoff spot.
