Morning II, longtime reader, first-time asker. I am a proponent of the adage that actions speak louder than words, and thus find myself bemused by Jordan Love‘s post-game comments that it was weird to tie the game, when the final drive by the offense showed a distinct lack of urgency to, you know, win the game. It was particularly egregious the play before the FG. Should we be worried about Love’s ability to lead an efficient offense? That the team lacked hustle when the victory was there for taking?

For all this, I’ll direct you to my Rapid Reaction column. I tried to lay out everything that happened in a couple of key sequences, including the end, based on how LaFleur and Love described it.

Cody from Thunder Bay, Canada

It bothers me how the Packers handled OT once they got the ball. The defense struggled but they held the Cowboys to a FG at the end and the Packers basically played themselves out of a chance to win because they ran out of time. The Cowboys hadn’t stopped them either. They played trying to leave no time but if you go score a TD it doesn’t matter. I just felt they could’ve managed the clock better to maximize their chance to win, and after the last play they were lucky to tie.

That’s covered in my Rapid Reaction as well, which includes LaFleur absolutely playing for the win. From first down on the 12, a block was missed on the Matthew Golden screen so he lost 3. Trying to catch the Cowboys playing tight to the line again, LaFleur called a shot to the end zone, but Dallas morphed into cover-2, so Love smartly took the checkdown (to Emanuel Wilson). The lack of urgency showed up on third down, and they almost botched it entirely. But I get how LaFleur was playing the clock. Yes, if you score a TD you win, and that’s what he wanted. But if you have to kick a field goal and leave any time on the clock, Aubrey might beat you from 70 yards or whatever.

So, I guess “receiver in the vicinity” now means they happened to be in the stadium somewhere when the ball was thrown. In a close game where both defenses were struggling, I can’t help but think that was a crucial botched call in the Cowboys’ favor. I think the officials had a rough night all around.

Indeed. That and the no-call on the deep ball to Dontayvion Wicks in OT were head-scratchers. Though on replay, I thought maybe Prescott was trying to stop his throwing motion so the ball came out at a bad angle. There was a receiver he was initially aiming for, if that’s the case.

In the past I know a lot of Packers play-callers got flack for conservative play-calling. These last few weeks it seems the aggressive approach of some questionable passing plays have really hurt the team. What’s your opinion on strategy in those situations?

Every situation is different. Most often, LaFleur and Love are going to be aggressive. But you have to be willing to live with the results. I’m sure Dallas getting the ball coming out of halftime after scoring two TDs in the last minute of the first half influenced the mindset that blew up on them there.

Everything pivoted on that first down with 21 seconds remaining in the first half. Everything went downhill from there.

The collapse at the end of the first half was reminiscent of last week in Cleveland. A catastrophic mistake at a horrible time. The difference in this case was they still had a half of football to try to overcome it, and they almost did, as well as almost didn’t.

After the dust has settled from that crazy game I was really impressed with Jordan Love’s performance. Playing with a makeshift offensive line he made clutch throws, showed poise and was so calm in the huddle before third and fourth downs. Too bad our defense didn’t show up. Offense didn’t show up last week against Browns, defense didn’t show up for Cowboys. Let’s get healthy during the bye week!

The Packers were 10-of-14 on third downs. That’s incredible. Love might’ve missed a throw or two but not many. For the duress he was under from the Dallas pass rush, he really balled out.

Three cheers for a scorigami?

Wow, had no idea. That couldn’t have been further from my mind in all the chaos, honestly.

I’m confused about the Turpin touch back after the Packers third TD. It looked like he caught it in the landing zone and retreated to the end zone. If that is what happened, why isn’t that a safety?

I could be wrong here, but I believe if a player’s natural momentum carries him into the end zone as he makes the catch, he’s allowed to down it. That’s all I can figure they ruled.

Preston from Tallahassee, FL

Well, Mike, my bye week evaluation says our O-line must get healthy. We need another CB to go opposite Keisean Nixon, leave Nate Hobbs in the slot. Special teams need to be much more special. It can be argued it has cost us two games. Our end of half/game management must improve. And the D-line got neutralized, need to figure out why. Penalties are at an unacceptable level. What do you think?

The D-line’s lack of pressure for a good portion of the game was certainly disappointing. Once Prescott got into a rhythm they couldn’t knock him out of it. I’m going to reserve judgment on Hobbs for the moment, because he wasn’t playing well and then all of a sudden we heard he was being evaluated for a concussion. The Cowboys’ penalties were actually worse than the Packers’ in this case, for once. The special teams have now put two blocked kicks on tape, so every single opponent is going to attack that vulnerability until they prove they’ve shored it up. They’re getting no gimmes in the kicking game probably the rest of the year with what’s out there.