Dallas’ Defensive Line Made Green Bay Work, Then Lost the Downs That Mattered

Kenny Clark’s night at Lambeau Field offered Dallas exactly the sort of defensive-line contribution it needed: pressure, resistance against the run and a play that helped end a Packers possession. It also illustrated why a productive front can still leave a defense short of control.

Clark, Quinnen Williams and Elijah Garcia each recorded a sack in Dallas’ 23-13 loss to Green Bay. The Cowboys held the Packers to 57 rushing yards on 26 attempts, or 2.2 yards per carry. Those are sturdy numbers, especially against an offense that finished with 318 total yards.

The problem was what happened between those winning snaps.

Green Bay converted 11 of 18 third downs, and the opening scoring drive exposed the gap between pressure and possession-ending defense. The Packers covered 90 yards in 14 plays, converting four third downs. One conversion came on third-and-5, when Jordan Love found Savion Williams for 15 yards.

After Clark committed a neutral-zone infraction and Williams later sacked Love for a 3-yard loss, Green Bay faced third-and-13 from the Dallas 27. Love found Pierre Strong Jr. for 14 yards.

That did not end the threat. Strong ran for 1 yard, MarShawn Lloyd added 3, and Love then found Matthew Golden for a 9-yard touchdown on third-and-6. Williams’ sack was a real disruption, but Green Bay recovered on the next difficult down and kept the drive alive. A defensive front can win a snap and still lose the series if the offense keeps converting afterward.

Garcia’s sack in the first quarter produced a more favorable version of the same story. On Green Bay’s possession from its own 41, he dropped Love for a 2-yard loss on first down. On the next offensive play, Dee Winters intercepted Love at the Packers’ 42. The replay ruling removed the apparent return touchdown, leaving Dallas with the ball at that spot.

That takeaway gave the Cowboys a chance to turn defensive work into points. They reached Green Bay’s 17, but Evan Williams intercepted Dak Prescott on third-and-8. The Packers then drove 73 yards for a field goal. Dallas’ front had created the kind of field-position swing a struggling offense needed; the offense could not finish it.

The same mismatch appeared in less dramatic form after halftime. Green Bay went 2 for 8 on third down in the second half and scored only six points. Clark’s sack came on third-and-2 from the Packers’ 14, after MarShawn Lloyd had run from the 6 and Tucker Kraft caught a 6-yard pass.

Clark’s 10-yard loss helped force a punt, a clean example of pressure arriving on the down that mattered.

Earlier, the Cowboys had forced a three-and-out, and Dallas answered with a nine-play, 46-yard touchdown drive. CeeDee Lamb converted fourth-and-2 from the Green Bay 38 with a 17-yard catch, and Javonte Williams supplied four runs for 15 yards on the march, including the 1-yard touchdown. That was complementary football: the defense created an opening, and the offense used it.

It was also the exception rather than the operating rhythm. Dallas converted only 5 of 13 third downs and finished 2 of 4 on fourth down. The offense had 303 yards, just 15 fewer than Green Bay, but those totals disguise the cost of stalled possessions.

The Cowboys attempted 54 passes and ran 15 times for 48 yards, while two interceptions erased promising drives. Two touchdowns in four red-zone trips were respectable in isolation; the empty possessions at Green Bay’s 17 and, later, the Packers’ 14 were much harder to overlook in a 10-point loss.

Green Bay deserves credit for surviving the pressure. Its offense converted fourth-and-3 during an 11-play third-quarter possession that ended with a field goal. On the fourth-quarter drive that produced another field goal, a 21-yard completion on second-and-12 and one third-and-5 conversion kept the series alive.

The Packers also dropped potential touchdown chances involving Golden and Christian Watson, a reminder that Dallas’ defensive numbers were helped by some unfinished Green Bay plays.

So the defensive line gave Dallas a foundation, just not a complete answer. Three sacks and 57 rushing yards created enough resistance to keep the game within reach. The sharper standard is turning victories on first and second down into stalled drives on third down, before the scoreboard has tilted too far for the offense to repair the damage.

Sources

Dallas Cowboys: team reporting

Green Bay Packers: official reporting

Dallas Cowboys: team reporting

Dallas Cowboys: team reporting

ESPN: box score and play-by-play