The Cowboys spent their mini-bye week promising changes aplenty, and several were obvious as Sunday's Week 6 contest got underway: Mike Pettine as a senior defensive assistant, Malachi Lawrence announced pregame as a starter over Donovan Ezeiruaku, Brevyn Spann-Ford getting at least the ceremonial intro-yourself-on-TV first-snap nod over Jake Ferguson.
But literally starting with the opening kick, it was just more of the same for the free-falling Cowboys... only worse. The Cowboys dropped the game by a 23-13 score that was never really that close and saw their season record sink to 2-4, a mark that on paper gives them far more respectability than they deserve.
Defense: More of the same
With Christian Parker still on the sidelines but Pettine observing from the coaches'
booth (on his sixth day on the job), the unit seemed to show a bit more hustle and fire, but the Cowboys' defensive results nevertheless looked awfully similar to their first five games.
In a dominant first half that was enough to decide the night, Green Bay handily won the time of possession battle, racked up 15 first downs, converted nine of their 10 third-down plays, didn't punt at all, and amassed 225 yards of offense, at a clip of almost six yards per snap.
The Packers held onto the ball for 6:30 on their opening possession, a 14-play drive that actually covered 105 yards and landed in the end zone. A 15-play drive going for 83 yards and eating up 8:17 would soon follow, further continuing a trend of the Dallas defense being unable to get themselves off the field. Along the way, they allowed Green Bay to convert to a pair of 3rd-and-13s, a pair of 3rd-and-8s, and a pair of 3rd-and-6s.
Were there glimmers of something resembling hope? Meh. Dee Winters snagged the Cowboys' first interception of the season, but the offense was unable to turn it into points... and then Winters was injured shortly thereafter. Quinnen Williams's sack was another of the half's rare defensive highlights, and Joey Porter Jr. looked good in coverage... although his presence on the field was somewhat inconsistent due to his ankle injury suffered during the week.
Down 17-0 at the break, it wasn't worse only because of multiple dropped touchdowns by Packers receivers. But by the halftime gun, the Cowboys' entire season seemed like maybe it had already slipped away.
In the second half, the defense kept the damage to a minimum, but the Packers were able to merely coast through the final two quarters, and the shell-shocked Cowboys offense was never in any real danger of making a game of it.
R.I.P. G.O.T.I.
Despite having their entire A-team offense in uniform and at the ready (and even swapping out the struggling Ferguson for Spann-Ford), the Cowboys offense looked nothing like the group that put up 34 points per game in Weeks 2 through 4.
Dak Prescott & Co. were unable to answer at all. They couldn't put together a drive of more than seven plays until the third quarter. Prescott threw two interceptions inside the Packers 25-yard-line, one of which came immediately after taking a punishing hit (when a timeout should have given him a breather), the other when CeeDee Lamb fell (his multi-colored cleats proving to be more for show than for go on the Lambeau turf).
They abandoned the run game early, giving Javonte Williams just 11 carries on the night. But it's not like the passing attack was working, either: Prescott's 65.2 passer rating represented one of the 20 worst games of his career and was even lower than Week 5's debacle against Tampa Bay. And CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens combined to catch just 15 balls on 29 targets, a putrid 51% catch percentage for a pair of Pro Bowlers.
Previously the league's best at converting third downs, Dallas went just 5-of-13 on the night, and their scoreless opening half was the team's first since 2021. The once-explosive group that coined the nickname "GOTI" (Greatest Offense There Is) recorded just one lone play of over 20 yards, a 21-yard completion that came in what was essentially garbage time.
What now???
Expect the calls for Brian Schottenheimer's job to grow even louder this week... or maybe there will be the hiring of a Senior Offensive Assistant to watch over him, too.
On the injury front, that brutal hit that Prescott took will be worth watching, but it is not believed that he required X-rays after the game. Winters has an Achilles strain, and return specialist KaVontae Turpin, who was injured on the opening kickoff and never returned, has a rib cartilage issue to work through now, though his X-rays were reportedly clean.
The worst part of the loss may be that, given the dumpster-fire state of the NFC East as a whole, the 2-4 Cowboys are still very much in the hunt to be the division frontrunners, even as sports-talk radio and the TV talking heads will rightfully fill the airwaves this week with exhaustive laundry lists of everything that is wrong with the team.
With their next six opponents currently sporting a combined record of 14-21 (and only one of them is better than 2-4), the Cowboys realistically could win five of those games.
But based on how they've now looked for two straight outings, they could just as easily lose every single one of them.
Todd is on X at @ToddBrock24f7. Also, follow Cowboys Wire on Facebook to join in on the conversation with fellow fans!
This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Cowboys defense still dismal, RIP GOTI after 23-13 loss at Lambeau
