Sunday night at Lambeau Field brings the Dallas Cowboys back into a primetime spotlight that feels a lot heavier for them than it does for the Green Bay Packers.
Green Bay enters at 3-2, tied with the Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears and chasing the undefeated Minnesota Vikings. Dallas, meanwhile, is trying to avoid a second straight loss that would drop it to 2-4 after a season that was supposed to look very different.
The Cowboys also can’t count on last week’s odd help from around the division. This time, they have to handle business themselves.
For Dallas, the path to a win starts on defense with one blunt requirement: make Jordan Love uncomfortable and protect the secondary by getting after him. That’s easier said than done against a Packers passing attack that has already shown how quickly it can punish mistakes.
The matchup on the back end looks rough for Dallas. Malik Hooker and Markquese Bell logged plenty of safety snaps against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers while the defense was still without P.J.
Locke or Jalen Thompson, and the Cowboys don’t appear to have the kind of deep coverage answer needed for Christian Watson and Matthew Golden. Watson and Golden both went over 120 yards in Green Bay’s 31-7 win over the Bears, with Watson scoring twice.
The Bears were beaten with simple downfield shots, and Dallas was vulnerable to that same kind of damage in the closing stretches against Tampa Bay.
That puts the pressure on the Cowboys’ pass rush to change the picture before those routes develop. This is also the first game with Mike Pettine helping Dallas’ defensive coaching alongside coordinator Christian Parker.
The immediate effect might not show up in a dramatic stat line, but Pettine’s background is tied to getting pressure from the front seven. He also arrives with relevant experience after working with the Vikings from 2022-25 alongside Brian Flores.
Dallas has hinted at personnel changes coming out of its mini-bye, and there are names to watch in that mix. Rookie edge rusher Malachi Lawrence has been trending up, while James Houston is still waiting for more chances. The Cowboys don’t necessarily need a sack binge, but they do need Love to feel heat all night instead of standing clean in the pocket.
On offense, the Cowboys’ best stabilizer remains the ground game. Green Bay has been exposed on the ground this season, though the damage has mostly come from teams with more than one back to lean on. Dallas does not have that kind of depth right now, but Javonte Williams remains the one runner who can give this offense a backbone.
That matters because a pass-heavy script has been where Dallas has invited trouble. The more the Cowboys ask Brian Schottenheimer’s offense to live through volume throws, the more the negative plays show up. The passing game still has to produce, and the Cowboys still need to finish drives with touchdowns, but a run-first foundation gives them their best chance to stay in control.
If Dallas is going to lose, third down will probably be a big reason why.
The Packers defense has allowed one of the highest third-down conversion totals in the league, while Green Bay’s offense has converted the fewest third downs of any team. At the same time, the Cowboys’ own defense has faced the fourth-most third-down attempts in the NFL, which says as much about the explosive plays they’ve given up on earlier downs as it does about their ability to get off the field.
Green Bay showed exactly how it can break a game open last week. On the first drive of the second half, the Packers turned a 14-7 lead into 21-7 with a 3rd-and-22 touchdown of 53 yards to Watson. That was enough to bury a Bears offense led by Tyson Bagent, and it also served as a clean example of how dangerous Green Bay can be when it hits in long-yardage situations.
Dallas has been shaky in those spots too. The Cowboys had defensive breakdowns on similar third-and-long plays against Tampa Bay and also punted more often on offense than they had going back to last season. Against a stronger opponent on the road, those empty possessions and blown leverage points could be costly.
Another wrinkle: the Packers have been penalized the third-most in the league this season. That should be an opening for Dallas, especially after the Cowboys came out on the short end of penalty-laden games against Houston and Tampa Bay.
Houston committed 13 penalties against Dallas, and the Cowboys still only won by four. Tampa Bay had 14 penalties and still left Jerryworld with the victory.
Dallas has a real chance to make this one look better than the last two, but only if it finally puts together a complete game. If the Cowboys can’t win the third-down battle and can’t keep Love from settling in, Lambeau could get loud in a hurry.
In Other News...
Troy Aikmans ESPN Future Suddenly Feels Much Less Certain
Troy Aikman has at least clarified one part of the picture around his ESPN future: he plans to keep broadcasting through the current season before becoming a free agent. The Hall of Fame quarterback addressed the chatter during a radio interview, where he was asked about rumors of tension with Joe Buck and the uncertainty surrounding the networks top booth.
Aikman did not get into specifics about any reported friction, and he made clear he is not sure what comes next after this season. For Cowboys fans who still follow one of the most prominent voices linked to the franchises past, the bigger story now is not what he said about the rumors so much as how open-ended his broadcasting path has become. [Read more 🡒]
Jerry Jones Is Running Out Of Time To Seize The NFC East
Five weeks into the 2026 season, the NFC East looks wide open, and that creates both opportunity and pressure for the Cowboys. With no clear class of the division emerging from Dallas, Philadelphia, New York or Washington, Jerry Jones still has room to keep shaping the roster after adding cornerback Joey Porter Jr. and bringing in coach Mike Pettine, moves that suggest the front office is not treating this stretch like a finished product.
Dallas still has salary cap space and draft picks to work with, which means there is time to make another swing if Jones decides the roster needs it. The bigger question now is whether the Cowboys can turn all that flexibility into wins before the division slips away, especially with speculation already building around Brian Schottenheimers future depending on how this season unfolds. [Read more 🡒]
Cowboys Linked To Shedeur Sanders In Trade Buzz That Raises Questions
Shedeur Sanders decision to hire Adie von Gontard of Young Money APAA Sports has only added to the chatter around the Browns quarterback as the NFL trade deadline approaches. Any move would naturally draw attention, and in this case Dallas got pulled into the conversation because it is Dallas, where every quarterback rumor seems to land with extra weight.
CBS Sports John Breech was among those to float the Cowboys as a possible fit, citing Jerry Jones long-standing connection with Deion Sanders as part of the logic. Even so, the football case for a deal is thin right now, since the Cowboys already have established backup quarterbacks and no obvious need to chase another arm, which makes the speculation interesting more for the name recognition than for the odds of an actual trade. [Read more 🡒]