Turnovers again the difference in Packer win over the Cowboys

This week the Packers apparently returned to the Matt LaFleur “game plan,” which (I suppose) is to try to make the run game the focus of the offense. In the past the Packers’ strength was their pass attack with two HOF quarterbacks, and last week we saw that Aaron Rodgers could still throw for a lot of yards when he put his mind to it. This week the LaFleur plan worked for the most part because Aaron Jones returned to “form,” gaining 107 yards and even scoring four touchdowns, while Rodgers—outside a few nifty moves on broken plays—returned to game manager mode. But whereas last week the Packers seemed to move the ball at will, only to shoot themselves in the foot with turnovers and red zone failures, against the Cowboys they scored points whenever they were in position to do so, making up for lackluster play otherwise; the Packers had five drives of 1 yard or less (not including the kneel-down at the end), and two for 9 yards each.

On the other hand, the defense had difficulty keeping the Cowboys offense in check all day. In the first half, the Cowboys had four drives of at least 37 or more yards, and in the second half they had five drives of at least 57 yards or more. They averaged 8.3 yards per play. Statistically, this was the exact opposite of last week, when the Packers dominated on paper but turned the ball over three times with no takeaways; this week, the Cowboys dominated on paper, 563 yards to 335, but this time it was they who turned the ball over three times without a takeaway. The Cowboys were also penalized 11 times for 124 yards in losses. 

So far this season, the Packers haven’t so much “beaten” their opponents, but won the games in which they have won the turnover “battle,” regardless of how they stacked-up statistically at the end of the game. Although this game started out as a “dominant” performance on both sides of the ball—at one point the score was 31-3 in the third quarter—the combination of brief offensive drives and the defense allowing the Cowboys to finish long drives put things back in perspective, although in the end the 28-point gap was too much to overcome with the Packers ultimately winning 34-24. But then again the Packers seem to have the Cowboys’ number in their home park, and it still counts as a “big” road win on their schedule. 

A 4-1 record at this point seems almost unexpected, not because of the new “system,” but because Rodgers and the offense still do not seem completely comfortable in it. But winning early in spite of this can only be seen as a positive if the Packers put things together so that they don’t have to depend on the other team shooting themselves in the foot every week.