ARLINGTON – The ending of 70 minutes of football, the second overtime of the season for the Cowboys, left many unfulfilled.
The Cowboys were much more competitive than some who picked against them would have thought in Micah Parsons’ return.
There was a late fourth-quarter lead. There were big plays from Dak Prescott, George Pickens and Javonte Williams. It seemed as if the lineup changes and defensive signal calls this Cowboys team promised were working.
But ultimately it wasn’t enough. Maybe you could say what the Packers did or didn’t do on Sunday night wasn’t enough.
Cowboys
The Cowboys and Packers finished in a 40-40 tie. It was the second-highest-scoring tie in NFL history. The game ended with Packers quarterback Jordan Love throwing a desperation pass into the back of the end zone that hit Cowboys linebacker Jack Sanborn on the backside with one second remaining. As Sanborn turned around with the ball on the ground he put both hands on his head in disbelief.
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This game, in the last minute of overtime, was stunning. The Cowboys took a 40-37 lead on a Brandon Aubrey 22-yard field goal with 4:42 left. But the Packers would drive the length of the field and tie the score, seemingly playing for the tie, when kicker Brandon McManus converted a 34-yard field goal as time expired after the incomplete pass with a second remaining.
There was just one shot at the end zone when Love tried to connect to Matthew Golden.
“He’s the carry player, trying to run down the middle of the field,” coach Brian Schottenheimer said. “It’s tough, we’re trying to get speed on there I wish it would have bounce around for another half second or so. It’s hard because you have to match speed with a guy that’s faster than you and it’s hard to play defense with your back turned.”
The Packers entered the game with a five-game winning streak over the Cowboys. But the streak is over.
It doesn’t feel like it.
“Look, we got to learn how to win,” Schottenheimer said. “This is year one of our program, when you have the fight that these guys do, you’re willing to battle and just fight for 70 minutes plus two weeks in a row at home, we’re building something special here. No one in that locker room is happy. No one in that locker room is fulfilled. We didn’t win. There’s definitely things to clean up. I’d be remiss if I didn’t say how proud of I was of their fight.”
If there’s one positive from this game, it’s a loss would have placed the Cowboys into a tie for last place in the NFC East with the New York Giants.
Now, it’s hard to figure out just what type of team this is.
“There’s nobody in here obviously that I’m going to let in any way I can put the loss or the tie on them,” team owner Jerry Jones said. “I’m proud of this bunch they competed their tails off in here 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 guys, sick for these players, sick for these coaches, mostly sick to our fans. We didn’t bring home a win. But I am proud of the way we compete tonight.”
It was a game where Pickens caught eight passes for 134 yards with two touchdowns. Prescott threw for 319 yards and three scores and Williams rushed for 85 yards on 20 carries with a touchdown. Parsons, whom the Packers acquired in a trade, was credited with a sack late in the game as he chased down Prescott.
The teams combined for 925 yards of total offense, the Packers went 10-for-14 on third downs and the Cowboys blocked a point-after attempt and returned it for two points.
As exciting as the game was, it was still, well, not fulfilling.
“You don’t play the game for ties,” Prescott said. “I told you before I don’t care about the stats I don’t care about the ups and downs the ebbs and flows, I just cared about the result and the wins.