Dallas Cowboys Good, Bad, and Ugly From Week 5 Against the Packers

In what was described as the “game of the week” ended up being a tale of two halves. Once again the Dallas Cowboys got off to a slow start which allowed the Green Bay Packers to jump out to a big lead. This is becoming a trend for the Cowboys and it’s something that can’t continue to happen. They absolutely need to figure out some way to get things going earlier in the game from here on out.

There were just too many things the Dallas Cowboys couldn’t overcome yesterday afternoon. Right now they are their own worst enemy and continue to shoot themselves in the foot. There is plenty of blame to go around after the 34-24 loss at the hands of the Packers and each player may need to look in the mirror to figure out what they need to do in order to get this team back on track.

Overall it was a very disappointing performance as far as the Cowboys were concerned. But they have a chance to get things back on track next week against the New York Jets. Sadly, the Jets could give them some problems as well if they continue to play the way they played the last couple of weeks.

Before I go on a rant about yesterday’s performance, I better get to this week’s edition of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. Deciding what to put in each category for this Week 5 matchup was definitely more difficult than it has been in weeks past.

The Good

Dallas Cowboys WR Michael Gallup

I thought, and thought, about what I wanted to go with here in the good category. But, as you can imagine, I had a hard time pinpointing something positive from the Dallas Cowboys game against the Green Bay Packers Sunday afternoon. The offense and defense had their moments, however I don’t think either did enough to fit in this category. Ultimately I decided the good from yesterday’s game was the Cowboys’ ability to fight to the bitter end.

Despite the Packers jumping out to a huge lead over the Cowboys, Dallas continued to scratch and claw their way within striking distance in the end. It would’ve been really easy for the team to just roll over and die, but they didn’t give up and continued to fight till the final seconds ran out on the clock. As much as I was disgusted by the way they played yesterday, I do admire the fact they didn’t go down easily. To me, that’s really just about the only clear positive I can put my finger on.

The Bad

Green Bay Packers RB Aaron Jones (Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports)

Unlike struggling to decide what to put in the good category, I had no problem deciding what I wanted to go with here in the bad category. For me, the Dallas Cowboys run defense was the bad for the Cowboys yesterday against the Packers. They didn’t have an answer for Running Back Aaron Jones, which allowed him to pretty much single-handedly hand Dallas their second loss in a row.

Aaron Jones absolutely went off yesterday, which to be honest I was surprised to see. With WR Davante Adams out with a toe injury I thought the Cowboys defense would focus in on stopping the Packers second-best playmaker, Jones. I really thought the game plan would be to play man coverage and stack the box to shut down the running game and also to apply pressure to QB Aaron Rogers. Unfortunately that didn’t happen, which resulted in a career game for the Packers RB1.

The Ugly

In what is starting to become a regular in this category, I thought the ugly in yesterday’s matchup between the Cowboys and Packers was all of Dallas’ penalties and turnovers. This is the second week in a row the turnover differential hasn’t gone the Dallas Cowboys way and the consecutive time penalties have dramatically impacted the outcome of the game. This team is playing undisciplined football and that needs to be rectified as soon as possible.

As a fan we all want to sit back and blame the officiating with several calls that didn’t go the Cowboys way, and for the most part we wouldn’t be wrong. There were a lot of questionable calls Sunday, but they’re even more boneheaded and absent-minded penalties that could’ve been avoided. Players need to be held accountable and I don’t know if Dallas’ coaching staff is doing enough right now to make sure that’s being done. Something needs to be tweaked because this can’t continue to happen.

What is your Good, Bad, and Ugly from the Cowboys game against the Packers?