Packers Embarrass Struggling Cowboys

The Green Bay Packers (6-3) demolished the Dallas Cowboys (1-7) on Sunday night. The 45-7 final score marks the second worst road loss in Cowboy history, and Dallas' 1-7 start is their worst 8 game start since 1989. The poor start prompted the firing of head Coach Wade Phillips on Monday afternoon. Defensive coordinator Jason Garrett is taking control of the team from this point on.

The Packers and Cowboys went scoreless in the first quarter before Aaron Rodgers and the Pack exploded for 28 points in the second quarter. The Cowboys scored their only touchdown of the game with 16 seconds left in the first half.

The depleted Packer defense stepped up once again to dominate the Cowboy offense. The Cowboy offense was held to just 205 total yards. The Packers forced four turnovers, including two that resulted directly in touchdowns. Dallas quarterback Jon Kitna started in place of the injured Tony Romo, and was held to 183 yards passing. Kitna threw two interceptions and had a quarterback rating of just 63.6.

Clay Matthews added several stats to his Defensive Player of the Year resume. Matthews had a sack, two tackles for losses, 2 deflected passes, and an interception returned 62 yards for a touchdown. Matthews joked after the game that his Lambeau Leap wasn't acceptable...

"I think I might actually hang back and work on my Lambeau Leap skills," he said.






Charles Woodson added five solo tackles, a sack, and a forced fumble, and Sam Shields recorded his first NFL interception.

Just before halftime Nick Collins recovered a fumble after a Packer kickoff and returned it for a touchdown. Even though the runner was likely down by contact, Dallas could not challenge the play because they wasted all their timeouts earlier in the half.

The Packers played just as well on offense. Aaron Rodgers was stellar, and threw for 289 yards and three touchdowns on 27 of 34 attempts for a quarterback rating of 131.5. Rodgers also ran the ball 5 times for 41 yards. John Kuhn added 13 carries for 50 yards, and Brandon Jackson carried the ball 13 times for 42 yards and a touchdown. Jackson caught an eight yard touchdown pass as well.

Greg Jennings and James Jones had big games with Donald Driver out with a quad injury. Jennings caught seven passes for 80 yards and a touchdown, and Jones caught eight passes for 123 yards and a touchdown. Seven different Packers caught at least one pass.

The Packers didn't take the struggling Cowboys lightly, and were able to humiliate them by controlling the ball, forcing turnovers, and limiting penalties.

"This is a big win for us, regardless of the record and regardless of who came in here tonight," said Charles Woodson. "It's a positive for us to go into the bye week like that. It will be good for us to reflect on this game and know what we're capable of as a whole team. If we play the whole game, all three phases of the game, we can have dominant performances like this."

The Packer win keeps them on top of the division going into a much needed bye week. The Packers will have an extra week to get healthy before heading to Minnesota for the second matchup with the Vikings.