All the talk ahead of Packers-Cowboys was of an impending shootout, following the 40-40 tie between the teams in Dallas a year ago.
After undoubtedly hearing about Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens all week, Evan Williams seemed like he’d had enough and was uncharacteristically short with a reporter who asked how “remarkable” Lamb is during a media scrum after practice. It was one question too many.
Williams replied with a smile: “Yeah. I’m saying a lot of good things about (the Cowboys), but yeah."
Green Bay’s defensive backs were probably sick of being told they would need to hang on for dear life against Dallas, and on Sunday night, they led an incredible defensive performance in the 23-13 victory.
Jonathan Gannon was not afraid to
let his DBs compete against Lamb and Pickens, running man coverage 19.6% of the time, which was their second-highest rate of the year after the Buccaneers game. Gannon’s confidence in his guys was rewarded.
Two crucial ingredients in the recipe for success on the back end were pressure and disguise. Gannon sent six or more pass rushers on 10.7% of plays, the highest rate since Week 1, and rotated safeties 41.1% of the time, which was the second highest rate of the season.
Williams talked about this idea earlier in the week, saying: “If they see one on one (coverage), Dak has no hesitation of going up and just letting them try to make a play.
“So I feel like for the back end, especially from the safety perspective, it just puts a lot more importance and pressure on disguise, trying to show him something else so that he doesn’t know he has one on one on the outside before the ball’s snapped."
Gannon kept Prescott off balance all night, but this was not just a win for coaching. Each member of the Packers’ secondary brought their A-game against the Cowboys’ pass catchers and combined to produce a dominant performance.
Brandon Cisse’s interception may have come after Lamb slipped, but overall he allowed 30 yards on eight targets and a passer rating of 9.4. He looks to be growing in confidence, lowering his passer rating in coverage every week and not allowing a touchdown since Week 2.
Keisean Nixon also stood up tall to the task of facing Dallas. He gave up nine receptions but only for a total of 55 yards. Nixon is playing winning football through six weeks.
Both of Green Bay’s outside corners contributed against the run as well, as Nixon led the team with eight tackles and Cisse had his best game as a tackler with two stops (tackles resulting in a failure for the offense) and zero misses.
Javon Bullard has become one of the most valuable slot defenders in the league, not only for what he provides in coverage, but also run support. PFF credited him two pass-break-ups against Dallas, while head coach Matt LaFleur said it was three.
When Cisse left with a stinger and was replaced by Carrington Valentine, NBC announcer Cris Collinsworth said there was no way Gannon would leave him on an island, as he often had done with Cisse and Nixon.
Valentine intercepted Prescott immediately, which would have served as the dagger if not for an incredibly soft roughing the passer penalty on Lukas Van Ness.
He has always been a good cover corner, and against a team chasing points, this was an ideal situation for Valentine to remind everyone what he can do without having to worry about run defense, and boy did he. PFF gave him a 91.5 coverage grade, which was best on the team.
At safety, Williams brought his words to life, fooling Prescott with a disguised coverage and picking him off in the red zone. Williams is playing like an All-Pro, ranking as PFF's highest graded safety after six games and allowing a passer rating of 49.5 in coverage.
The trio of Williams, Bullard and Xavier McKinney is the straw that stirs the drink on defense right now, and Gannon is weaponizing them to great effect.
As a unit, it has been astounding how effective the Packers have been at preventing explosive pass plays.
They were tied for first in the NFL with only a 2.4% explosive rate entering the Cowboys contest, but after not exactly facing a murderers row of opponents, there was justified reason for caution as to whether they could keep the Dallas offense quiet.
They allowed just one reception of over 20 yards (a 21-yarder by Pickens against Valentine) and just 4.78 yards per attempt (YPA), bettering their previous best of 4.88 against Tyson Bagent last week. The Cowboys had not been below 5.15 YPA before Sunday and were averaging 7.19.
Gannon’s defense passed a big test with flying colors on Sunday night, and it looks like the sky is the limit for this group, especially once Micah Parsons returns.
This article originally appeared on Packers Wire: Evan Williams and Packers secondary dominate Cowboys in statement win
