Jordan Love, Packers D Beat Cowboys 23-13 on SNF

Jordan Love needed one drive to set the tone on Sunday Night Football. His 9-yard touchdown pass to Matthew Golden capped a 14-play, 90-yard opening march, and the Green Bay Packers never trailed again in a 23-13 win over the Dallas Cowboys at Lambeau Field.

That makes three straight wins for Green Bay, which is 4-2 after a 1-2 start and tied with the Bears for second in the NFC North behind the unbeaten Vikings. Dallas falls to 2-4.

Love Wins Through the Drops

Love finished 23 of 41 for 276 yards with a touchdown and an interception, and he added a 1-yard keeper with 23 seconds left in the first half to make it 17-0 at the break. His line should have been a lot louder. Golden dropped what would have been a 43-yard score and could not finish a potential 23-yarder, and a 26-yard throw went in and out of Christian Watson's hands after Malachi Lawrence got a piece of it in the end zone.

Golden still led everybody with six catches for 104 yards, and Love said his receiver came back to him at one point with a simple message: "Just keep trusting me, just keep coming to me." If you started Golden, the box score was fine. The replay was painful.

The offense also flipped its worst number. Green Bay came in converting a league-low 27.6 percent on third down, then hit its first seven straight, a team high to start a game going back to at least 1978, and went 9 of 10 on third down in the first half.

Gannon's Defense Shuts Down Dak

Jonathan Gannon's defense came after Dak Prescott all night, even with Micah Parsons and Edgerrin Cooper on reserve lists. Dallas got inside the Green Bay 30 on back-to-back second-quarter drives and came away empty both times, as safety Evan Williams and rookie cornerback Brandon Cisse picked off Prescott. It was the first career interception for Cisse. The Packers also stopped two fourth downs in scoring territory.

Prescott went 34 of 54 for 258 yards and did not reach the end zone until a 6-yard throw to Ryan Flournoy with 44 seconds left, and the 2-point try to CeeDee Lamb failed. It was the first time the Cowboys were held scoreless in a first half since Nov. 7, 2021. Green Bay has now held three straight opponents to 14 points or fewer for the first time since 2016, and it is 11-1-1 in its last 13 meetings with Dallas.

It was not pretty. The teams combined for 22 penalties, 11 apiece, and Love was sacked three times. Cisse left in the second half with a stinger. Dallas lost receiver KaVontae Turpin to a rib injury and linebacker Dee Winters to a strained Achilles, a rough night for Winters after he grabbed the Cowboys' first interception of the season late in the first quarter.

Up Next

The Cowboys visit Philadelphia on Monday, Oct. 26. "We're in a hole," Brian Schottenheimer said. The Packers head to Detroit next Sunday at 4:25 p.m. ET on FOX, and the way this defense is playing, the Lions should be a little nervous.