The Green Bay Packers welcome the Dallas Cowboys into Lambeau Field for Sunday Night Football. The Cowboys are coming off of a heartbreaking Thursday Night Football loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Meanwhile, the Packers finally found their stride against the Chicago Bears last Sunday afternoon. Both of these teams are seemingly moving in different directions.
But honestly, when the Cowboys and Packers face off against one another, it’s probably a good idea to throw out records, because anything can happen. Last year’s game proved that completely, when the two teams tied at 40 apiece.
Anything can happen. But if the Packers want to win, this is what they will need to do.
Packers Defense
For the first time this year, I’m not going to start on the offensive side of the ball. Let’s start with defense, because it will be tested in this one. The Cowboys wide receivers, George Pickens and CeeDee Lamb are quite the duo and are capable of making plays against this Packers cornerback room. Not really a good time for Keisean Nixon to start to feel some groin pain, but it does sound like Nixon will play.
That’s a good thing, because Nixon has arguably been having his best season. Nixon, when targeted, has allowed a 76.4 passer rating to the opposing quarterback this season. He also hasn’t allowed a touchdown pass yet. In comparison to 2025, Nixon allowed a 105.1 passer rating to the opposing quarterback while giving up seven touchdowns. Nixon will need to continue to play well against the Cowboys.
Defensive Line
There are some question marks surrounding the Packers defensive line and its depth. Last week, Green Bay lost Javon Hargrave for the season due to a torn achilles. Including Hargrave, there are five defensive tackles listed on the injury report. Hargrave and Jonathan Ford were put on injured reserve on Saturday. How does a limited and injured defensive line affect this game? That remains to be seen but is a point of concern in this one.
Being able to get some stops in this game is important, but not nearly as important as getting turn overs. This Cowboys offense is explosive. The Buccaneers were able to win because they were able to get two Dak Prescott interceptions. Dallas was still explosive but turned the ball over. Can the Packers do the same? Green Bay leads the league in interceptions. Can they keep it up? Prescott will be the best quarterback they will have faced this season, so hopefully so.
Packers Offense
The Green Bay offense has started to turn it around. The offensive line has been holding up much better and Kevin Zeitler hasn’t even started a game. Jordan Love has been able to stay more in rhythm and has had time to throw the deep ball, which is what killed the Bears and is the key to beating the Cowboys as well. The weak spot on this offense is still the running game. It has gotten better but has still a ton of room to grow.
The Packers don’t necessarily need to run the ball effectively. They just need to do it often enough to setup the play action. Green Bay has been effective in doing that. If Love can have enough to time to attack deep down the field, then the Packers will be able to put up a ton of points. Just need the defense to give the ball back to the offense.
Special Teams
Green Bay can’t have everything working nicely. Last week, the defense did well, the offense did well, but for the first time this year, the special teams didn’t do well. Trey Smack missed three total kicks costing the Packers seven points. He is still just a rookie so one should expect games like this early on, but he can’t keep having these types of problems. The Packers will be without Skyy Moore, who was put on the injured reserve on Saturday which will hurt the return game. However, Savion Williams has come off of injured reserve and could replace Moore in the return game. Only time will tell.
Because of the two early losses for the Packers, this game matters a lot. If Green Bay falls to 3-3 in an ultra competitive NFC North, it could spell an early end for competing for the NFC North title. This is even truer considering Green Bay will face Detroit next Sunday followed by having a Thursday Night game against a very competitive Panthers. This game against the Cowboys is extremely important.
Ultimately, just win.
But no matter what,
Go Pack Go!
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Damon is a diehard, fully-immersed cheesehead who currently lives in southern Missouri. He teaches at a local high school and has a family YouTube channel about all things Packers. You can follow him on twitter at @packersfamily and on YouTube at The Packers Family.
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