Packers Beat Cowboys 23-13 on Sunday Night Football as Love and the Defense Control Lambeau

The Green Bay Packers scored on the first possession of the night, spent the rest of the first half taking the ball away from the Dallas Cowboys, and never let the game get back to one score again. Green Bay beat Dallas 23-13 on Sunday Night Football at Lambeau Field, a win built early — a 14-play, 90-yard opening touchdown drive and a 17-0 halftime lead — and protected late by a defense that intercepted Dak Prescott twice in scoring position and turned the Cowboys away on downs twice more in the fourth quarter. Packers.com reported that Green Bay won its third straight game to improve to 4-2, while Dallas fell to 2-4.

Jordan Love finished 23-of-41 for 276 yards with one touchdown pass and one interception, and he ran for a touchdown as well, according to Reuters. Matthew Golden caught six passes for 104 yards and a touchdown, Christian Watson added three catches for 64 yards, and Trey Smack made all three of his field goals, from 25, 44 and 29 yards. Prescott completed 34 of 54 passes for 258 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions, with CeeDee Lamb catching nine passes for 70 yards and George Pickens six for 73 — volume that kept producing yards between the 20s and kept dying where it mattered.

A first half that decided the night

Green Bay set the terms immediately. The Packers took their opening possession 90 yards in 14 plays, converting four third downs along the way, and Love capped it with a 9-yard touchdown pass to Golden with 4 minutes, 43 seconds left in the first quarter, Packers.com reported. Dallas briefly flipped the script on Green Bay's next possession, when linebacker Dee Winters undercut a Love throw late in the first quarter for an interception — Dallas' first interception of the season, according to USA Today. Winters appeared to return it for a touchdown, but replay review ruled him down at the Green Bay 42, and the break bought the Cowboys only a trip into the red zone.

That is where the night turned for good. With Dallas inside the Green Bay 20, Evan Williams came over the top and intercepted a Prescott pass intended for Lamb at the Green Bay 3, Reuters reported, and returned it to the 20. Green Bay answered with a 73-yard drive that ended in Smack's 25-yard field goal and a 10-0 lead with just under six minutes left in the half. Dallas drove into Green Bay territory again before halftime, and again came away with nothing: rookie cornerback Brandon Cisse intercepted Prescott after Lamb slipped on the route — the first interception of Cisse's NFL career, according to Packers.com — and this time the Packers cashed the takeaway in full. Aided by a 37-yard pass interference call, Green Bay went 77 yards in nine plays, and Love finished the drive himself with a 1-yard sneak with 23 seconds left in the half for a 17-0 lead. Previously tracked the one-sided first half live in its halftime coverage from Lambeau.

Golden's breakout, and the touchdowns that got away

Golden's line — six catches, 104 yards, one touchdown — still understates how close this game was to a rout. According to the Associated Press, three potential Love touchdown passes were dropped on the night. Golden let a 43-yard touchdown slip through his hands inside the 5-yard line in the second quarter and could not finish a potential 23-yard score later in the same half; in the third quarter, a 26-yard touchdown throw to Watson went in and out of his hands in the end zone, though the AP noted that pass was deflected by Dallas' Malachi Lawrence. Green Bay scored a touchdown after one of those drops and settled for Smack field goals after the other two, which is why a game the Packers controlled for three hours still sat at two scores deep into the fourth quarter.

Love, for his part, refused to dwell on it. "I want to make every throw," he said, according to the Associated Press. "I want these guys to make every catch. That's the expectation. Stuff happens. Drops happen. Obviously, I want those guys to make those plays, and we're capable of making those plays. But for me, it's got to be the next play mindset. You've got to move on." The numbers support the shrug: even with the drops, Golden topped 100 yards for the night, tight end Tucker Kraft added five catches for 37 yards, and Love's connection with Golden produced the two biggest plays of the decisive fourth-quarter field goal drive — a 21-yard strike against a blitz and a 12-yarder on third-and-5, both with Love absorbing contact, according to Packers.com.

Dallas moved the ball — until the moments that counted

The Cowboys were shut out for a half, got on the board in the third quarter, and spent the fourth quarter chasing a game that kept slipping a play beyond their reach. Dallas forced a punt on Green Bay's first possession of the second half, then drove 46 yards for its first points, with Prescott keeping the drive alive on a 17-yard fourth-and-2 completion to Lamb before Javonte Williams scored on a 1-yard run with 9:19 left in the third to cut the lead to 17-7, according to Reuters. Smack answered with field goals on Green Bay's next two scoring possessions — the 44-yarder set up by Kraft's 14-yard conversion on fourth-and-3 — to stretch the lead to 23-7 with 10:06 to play.

From there, Dallas' night became a catalogue of almosts. The Cowboys drove to midfield and went for it on fourth down, only for Javon Bullard to break up Prescott's pass for a turnover on downs, Packers.com reported. A later possession reached the fringe of scoring range and ended the same way, with Prescott throwing the ball out of the back of the end zone on fourth-and-11. An interception by Carrington Valentine in between was wiped out by a roughing-the-passer flag on Lukas Van Ness. Dallas finally scored again when Prescott hit Ryan Flournoy for a 6-yard touchdown with 44 seconds left, but the two-point conversion try to Lamb failed, Brandon Aubrey's onside kick went out of bounds, and Love kneeled out the win. It was a penalty-filled game throughout — 22 penalties, 11 on each team, according to the Associated Press, with Dallas flagged for 108 yards and Green Bay for 96.

The one problem Green Bay still has to solve

If there is a crack in a three-game winning streak, it is the same one Green Bay carried into the night. The Packers entered the game last in the league in rushing at 60.4 yards per game, according to Reuters, and managed just 57 yards on the ground against Dallas at 2.2 yards per carry. Pierre Strong Jr. led the backfield with 11 carries for 28 yards, though he added five catches for 39 more, Packers.com reported. Help is at least scheduled to arrive: three-time Pro Bowl running back Josh Jacobs comes off the commissioner's exempt list on Monday, according to the Associated Press. Jacobs has not played at all this season, so his return timeline on the field is its own question — but a passing game producing 276 yards a night behind a defense allowing 14 or fewer will only carry a team so far into the winter if the run game stays last in the league.

What it means

The defensive streak is now a genuine trend line. Green Bay has held each of its last three opponents to 14 points or fewer during the winning streak, and the Associated Press noted it is the first time the Packers have done that to three straight opponents since 2016. The recent history of this matchup says the result was coming: according to Reuters, the Packers are now 8-1-1 in their last 10 games against Dallas, while the Associated Press put the longer view at 11-1-1 across the last 13 meetings, including last season's 40-40 tie in Arlington. Next up, Green Bay travels to Detroit next Sunday, while Dallas heads to Philadelphia on October 26, according to the Associated Press. Sunday's other primetime-worthy finish came 1,500 miles west, where the the Buffalo Bills' 33-30 win over the Las Vegas Raiders. More from the weekend is on Previously's Sports front.