When two teams tie with a score like 40-40, as the Cowboys and Packers did on Sunday night, it’s much easier to find fault with the defenses than the offenses. But Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott said after the game he was looking mostly at his own failure to get into the end zone in overtime.
The Cowboys’ offense had a good first possession in overtime but ultimately had to settle for a 22-yard field goal, and Prescott said he wishes he had scored a touchdown, rather than giving the Packers the opportunity to drive into range for their game-tying field goal, which they lined up for with one second left on the clock.
“I believe in my defense,” Prescott said. “This game, yeah I can be mad about the one second on the clock, I can be mad that they drove the ball, but at the end of the day I’m pissed that we didn’t score in the red zone. We had an opportunity to score in the red zone. . . . Not for one second am I looking at the defense. I’m a guy that looks inward first, looks at what we need to do and what I need to do to help this team, and if we score in the red zone or start faster, who knows if we’re in this position.”
Prescott said he considers the tie disappointing because he knows the Cowboys had opportunities to win it. And when he thinks about missed opportunities, he’s thinking about the offense.
Cowboys owner and General Manager Jerry Jones said his team deserved to win for how well it played on Sunday night against the Packers.
Instead, the Cowboys and Packers tied 40-40, and Jones was disappointed to end up with a 1-2-1 record through four games, rather than 2-2.
“I’m proud of this bunch,” Jones said after the game. “They competed their tails off tonight. They competed out there at the end when they were tired. I’m proud of them. I thought we played well enough to win the game. I’m sick for these players, sick for these coaches and mostly sick for our fans that we didn’t bring home a win. But I am proud of the way we competed tonight.”
Jones particularly wanted Dak Prescott to get a win, saying he out-played Packers quarterback Jordan Love.
“To not come out with a W for that one is unbelievable for him,” Jones said of Prescott. “I thought he was the better quarterback tonight.”
The Cowboys played better than most people thought they would, but the Packers’ field goal as time expired took away the win Jones thought they deserved.
The Packers botched the clock management in overtime, costing themselves a chance at a win and nearly costing them a tie.
As it was, they left unsatisfied after settling for a red-zone field goal by Brandon McManus on the final play of overtime in a 40-40 tie with the Cowboys. It was the highest-scoring tie since the merger in 1970.
“It’s just one of those situations where the operation right there just too long,” Packers quarterback Jordan Love said. “We were wasting too much time right there. That’s really it.”
The Packers trailed by a field goal in overtime and were looking for a touchdown to win it. They reached the Dallas 25 with 1:15 left in overtime, the Dallas 19 with 52 seconds left, the Dallas 12 with 32 seconds left and called a timeout.
They got only two plays off after that, before the field goal, and had only one shot into the end zone, and it was not a good shot.
“We moved the ball well,” Love said. “Obviously, the sad part is we didn’t get to take any shots to the end zone until that last play. I think we had a good play called, and they didn’t play the way they were going to play, like they had defended the play before that.
“I think there’s a lot of stuff we still have to clean up. Just throwing the ball in bounds in a running-clock situation right there. There is stuff that we’ve got to figure out and be better at right there in those situations.”
The Packers called their only overtime timeout with 28 seconds left after Trevon Diggs tackled Matthew Golden for a 3-yard loss.
“Obviously the play call sucked,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said.
After the timeout, on second-and-13 from the 15, Love checked the ball down to Emanuel Wilson after the Cowboys didn’t give them the same look they did on the previous play and instead played Cover 2. Wilson lost a yard, and the Packers were slow getting back to the line.
They snapped the ball with six seconds left, had no real shot at a touchdown and left only one second on the clock after the incompletion landed. It was nearly a disaster.
“The operation was just way too slow,” LaFleur said. “I don’t know if our guys didn’t know we were in two-minute or what. But ultimately, the communication has got to get better. . . . That’s the bottom line.”
It was not the homecoming Micah Parsons envisioned when he returned to AT&T Stadium on Sunday night.
“Shit, I’m not even lying, I’m pissed off,” Parsons said after the 40-40 tie with the Cowboys. “I’m very disappointed overall with how we performed. I took Jordan [Love] to the side and told him, ‘Thank you for having our back today.’ . . . Today, Jordan played like the player he was, and we let him down.”
Parsons credited Dak Prescott for playing better than he and the Packers defense played, and he told the Cowboys quarterback just that afterward.
“Dak played a hell of a game, and I give him kudos for that,” Parsons said.
Parsons spent four seasons in Dallas before the Cowboys traded him to the Packers on Aug. 28. He exchanged pleasantries with some of his former teammates and traded jerseys with Cowboys cornerback Trevon Diggs after the game.
Parsons’ feelings about Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, though, haven’t changed.
“The emotions for me, being in Dallas, went away the moment they traded me,” Parsons said. “When [Packers General Manager Brian Gutekunst] said he was trading for me, he said, ‘Let me call [defensive tackle Kenny Clark] before [the news] breaks.
“The importance for the organization in that, like I didn’t get to talk to my owner. The person that drafted me. I found out through my agent. To me, that emotion side was pointless because the same way he called me into his office as a man, he couldn’t tell me as a man. That emotion side was gone; it was more of a respect factor at this point.”
Parsons, who received more cheers than boos when he came out for pregame warmups, finished with three tackles and three quarterback hits. His only sack came in overtime with the Cowboys facing a second-and-goal from the 4, and Prescott scrambled out of the pocket and toward the end zone. Parsons caught him from behind at the line of scrimmage.
An incompletion later, the Cowboys had to settle for the field goal.
“It’s just all about not letting your teammates down,” Prescott said. “Going 100 percent every play. I owe it to every person in the organization, every person in our locker room, to give my absolute best every single time. I’m here on this podium because I’m supposed to make that play. I’m supposed to help our defense. That’s why I was brought here. Making plays is what I’m supposed to do. Taking over games is what I’m supposed to do. I don’t think I should be rewarded for that play.”
In the third quarter, Parsons appeared to hit his back and his head on the turf on a Javonte Williams run. He went into the sideline medical tent and was there when Prescott threw his second touchdown pass.
Parsons said he was required to be checked for a concussion.
“I came out for a play,” Parsons said. “The next thing I know they’re taking me to the tent. I thought it was very weird. When I came up, I grabbed my back. That was just so weird. I don’t know what was going on. . . . That was real strange.”
Everything about Sunday night was strange, with no winners after 70 minutes of football.
It remains to be seen who wins the trade.
Neither Jerry Jones nor Micah Parsons will find Sunday Night Football’s ending satisfying, as 70 minutes of entertaining football ended with a 40-40 tie.
The Packers now are 2-1-1, and the Cowboys are 1-2-1
Packers kicker Brandon McManus, who kicked a 53-yard field goal on the final play of regulation to send the game into overtime, hit a 34-yarder for the tie after Green Bay mismanaged the clock. They left one second after Jordan Love’s incompletion into the end zone with the Packers on the Dallas 16.
Neither team celebrated after a hard-fought tie.
Micah Parsons’ return to AT&T Stadium didn’t live up to the hype, but he did have a sack of Dak Prescott in overtime with the Cowboys on the 4-yard line. He had three tackles and three quarterback hits.
The Packers had won all six previous appearances in the Cowboys’ home stadium, including Super Bowl XLV. Like last week’s loss to the Browns, the Packers will leave feeling like they gave one away, having outgained the Cowboys 489 to 436.
The teams traded the lead six times in the second half in an entertaining 30 minutes of football, ending regulation tied.
The Packers won the overtime toss and elected to kick off.
On their first overtime possession, the Cowboys got a 22-yard pass from Prescott to George Pickens on third-and-5 and, two plays later, Prescott was forced out of the pocket and chunked a deep ball toward Jalen Tolbert. Tolbert managed to keep both feet in bounds at the 5-yard line.
The Cowboys, though, couldn’t get into the end zone as Parsons made his only big play of the night. He sacked Prescott for no gain on second down. Prescott threw incomplete on third, and the Cowboys settled for a 22-yard field goal by Brandon Aubrey.
The Packers faced a fourth-and-6 at their own 24, but Jordan Love hit Matthew Golden for a 14-yard pickup. They got to the Dallas 12 with 32 seconds left, but got only a completion for minus-1 yard and an incompletion before the tying field goal.
The fourth quarter was something to see as the teams traded scores three times in the final 1:45.
First, Packers receiver Romeo Doubs scored his third touchdown with 1:45 remaining, catching a 15-yard touchdown pass on third-and-10. It capped a 10-play, 80-yard drive.
Then, George Pickens scored his second touchdown of the night on a 28-yard reception from Prescott with 43 seconds left. Pickens, who is the Cowboys’ top wideout as long as CeeDee Lamb is sidelined with an ankle injury, had eight catches for 134 yards. His first touchdown covered 15 yards.
McManus’ kick then sent it to overtime.
The Cowboys looked like they were on their way to another blowout loss, down 13-0 in the second quarter with the Packers lining up for a PAT. McManus’ extra-point attempt was blocked by Juanyeh Thomas, and Markquese Bell returned it for a defensive 2-point conversion.
The Cowboys then scored two touchdowns in the final 41 seconds of the first half to take a 16-13 lead into the locker room at halftime. Dallas went 95 yards in 11 plays before the break, with Pickens catching a 28-yard pass to the Green Bay 1. Prescott scored on a 2-yard run with 41 seconds to go.
The Packers attempted to add onto their 13-9 lead, but Love was sacked by James Houston, who stripped the ball and recovered it himself at the Green Bay 15. One play later, with 9 seconds left in the half, Prescott hit Pickens for a touchdown.
Prescott was 31-of-40 for 319 yards and three touchdowns, and Love was 31-of-43 for 337 yards and three touchdowns.
