Dallas Cowboys Game Preview: Week 4 vs. Green Bay Packers

Cover photo: Dallas Cowboys’ quarterback Dak Prescott against the Green Bay Packers in the 2023 NFC Wild Card game from AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The Cowboys lost the game 48-32 and have not defeated the Packers since 2016. Photo credit: Matthew Emmons, USA Today Sports.

Photo: Defensive end Micah Parsons of the Green Bay Packers sacks Detroit Lions’ quarterback Jared Goff during Week 1 from Lambeau Field. On Sunday night, Parsons makes his return to AT&T Stadium just 31 days after being traded from the Dallas Cowboys to the Green Bay Packers on August 28.

The Dallas Cowboys (1-2) will look to reset and recover from last week’s embarrassing 31-14 defeat at the Chicago Bears when they face another NFC North team, the Green Bay Packers, on Sunday Night Football on September 28 from AT&T Stadium in Arlington at 8:20 p.m. eastern time.

The two legendary lynchpin franchises go back to the earlier days of the NFL. The 1967 NFL Championship, dubbed The Ice Bowl, was the coldest game ever played at thirteen degrees below zero. The Packers won that game 21-17 and lead the all-time head-to-head 22-17. 

Green Bay comes into the game with a 2-1 record after being upset in Cleveland in Week 3, a game in which Browns’ kicker Andre Szmyt knocked in a 55 yard field-goal as time expired. The Packers soundly defeated the Detroit Lions 27-13 in Week 1 and the Washington Commanders 27-18 in Week 2. Both games were at Lambeau Field. 

So for the second consecutive week, the Packers will be on the road. Against the Browns, quarterback Jordan Love completed 18-of-25 passes for 183 yards and one touchdown and one interception. Rookie Packer receiver Matthew Golden, who will have a homecoming of sorts on Sunday as a University of Texas alum (Houston native), was Love’s primary target against the Browns with four catches for 52 yards. Josh Jacobs, meanwhile, was stonewalled by the Browns in the run game, held to just 30 yards on 16 carries. Love was sacked five times by the Browns, while the Cowboy pass rush yielded zero against the Bears. 

Jadeveon Clowney will make his debut for the Cowboys on Sunday and will receive 15-25 snaps. He will be key to the home team’s pass rush as it will be imperative that the Cowboys get to the quarterback - Week 3’s loss at Chicago marked the first time in the career of quarterback Caleb Williams that he was not sacked. Love’s completion percentage when pressured is below 50%.  

Packer defensive end Rashan Gary registered two sacks in Week 3, and with 4.5 sacks this season, he and of course Micah Parsons (1.5 sacks as a Packer and second in the NFL in pressures) will be of primo importance to the Cowboys’ offense line. The duo, which has registered 31 pressures so far in 2025, faces a Cowboy offensive front that just three weeks into the season has seen some reshuffling due to injuries, opening the door for potential Packer success on Sunday night. 

Cowboy center Cooper Beebe was injured against the New York Giants (6-8 week foot injury) and rookie Tyler Booker suffered a high-ankle sprain against the Bears and will miss 4-6 weeks. Brock Hoffman took the reins from Beebe against the Bears and played well. Hoffman plays with an edge and plays physical. T.J. Bass will take over for Booker going forward. Both losses are devastating blows to a Cowboy unit that has had the 10th best rushing attack (125.0 yards per game) through three weeks. Javonte Williams, a $3 million free agent signing in the offseason, is proving to be a great bargain at running back. He is averaging 5.3 yards per carry. 

The Packers though have allowed 64.3 yards on the ground on average in their first three games - third in the league - while the Cowboys have allowed 109.7 (17th). The 2025 Cowboy run D has been a major improvement from 2024’s unit that allowed 137.1 per game - last week the unit held Bears’ running back D’Andre Swift to 33 yards on 13 rushes, and in Week 1 they held Saquon Barkley to 60 yards on 18 carries, just 3.3 yards per tote. Going back about ten years, the Cowboys have been consistently soft on run defense. This year seems and is different. 

Both teams could not be more different defending the pass, with the Packers third (232.3) and the Cowboys 30th (397.7) against opposing quarterbacks. The Cowboys allowed 450 yards from the New York Giants’ Russell Wilson in Week 3. Wilson was benched earlier this week after a poor outing against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday Night Football. That is very telling of how bad this Cowboy secondary is. 

In Jordan Love’s only career game against the Cowboys in the Wild Card round on January 14, 2024, the quarterback completed 16-of-21 passes for 272 yards and three touchdowns. One of his top targets, tight end Tucker Kraft (6 catches, 124 yards in Week 2 against the Commanders), will be a difficult cover for Cowboy linebackers Jack Sanborn and Kenneth Murray. Both are not great in coverage, and safety Donovan Wilson will be challenged in that area, too. The Cowboys will get cornerback DaRon Bland back, who missed the last two games with a foot injury. He and Trevon Diggs were full participants in practice and will need to be at their best in dealing with Love and receivers Golden, Romeo Doubs, and Dontayvion Wicks, all of whom will challenge the Cowboy secondary. It will be crucial that the likes of Clowney and defensive ends Kenny Clark and Osa Odighizuwa put pressure on Love and not allow him time to survey, which each quarterback the Cowboys have faced in three weeks has had time to do and done subsequent damage. Helping the Cowboys is the fact that Packer tackles Zach Tom and Anthony Belton are out for Sunday night, while guard Aaron Banks is doubtful with a groin injury. Aiding the offensive side would be if Packer safety Javon Bullard, who is questionable for the game, does not play.

The Cowboys do have the fourth best passing attack in the NFL (393.7) while the Packers are 21st at an even 300 yards per game. The Cowboy offensive line will be tested against the Packers’ front, and the Cowboy passing attack without CeeDee Lamb will be tested as well. With George Pickens now the focal point, the likes of Jalen Tolbert and KaVonte Turpin will be relied on more. Tight end Jake Ferguson caught 13 balls for 82 yards in Week 3, but a lot of the catches were meaningless late in the game when nothing else was available. The Cowboy offense needs to attempt more shots down the field. They figure to run the ball well, but they will also need to get chunks of yards through the air for big plays and get production outside of Pickens. The former Steeler has the ability to get down the field - in 2023 his 18.1 yards per catch was tops in the league - but with the Cowboy offense it is a matter of taking those shots downfield.

The biggest storyline on Sunday night obviously is the return of Parsons to Dallas just four weeks and change since the Cowboys dealt him after failing to come to an agreement on a long-term contract. The 26-year-old has been an All-World player in his first four full NFL seasons - four Pro Bowls, Defensive Rookie of the Year, and two 1st team All-Pro nods. He and Reggie White are the only guys in history to have at least 12 sacks in each of their first four seasons. Parsons can rush from the outside and inside and also line up at linebacker. He will give the Cowboy front major trouble as tackles Tyler Guyton and Terence Steele are not equipped to deal with a player like him. Guyton and Steele have allowed thirteen and eleven pressures this season. Gary will also be troubling for the offensive line. 

The major issue is facing a motivated Micah, who will be playing with extra juice to prove that the front office made a mistake in not giving him the contract that he wanted. Playing at AT&T Stadium, too, he’ll want to rub it in the home crowd.

The game may be closer than expected, especially with the Cowboys wanting to recover from Week 3 and also wanting to avenge the 48-32 home drubbing in 2023’s Wild Card, a win that gave the Packers the distinction of being the only No. 7 to defeat a No. 2 since the extra playoff team format was implemented in 2020. The Cowboys will need to run the ball effectively to chew up clock and take downfield opportunities. They are looking for just their second victory over the Packers in the last eleven meetings - the team is 1-9 against the Packers over their last ten contests. Both in 2015 and 2016, the Cowboys lost in the Divisional Round to the Packers. The last Cowboy victory against the Packers was 30-16 at Lambeau Field on October 16, 2016. Yikes. 

Prediction: Packers 31 Cowboys 24