GREEN BAY, Wis.
A 10-day break and a hard look in the mirror weren’t enough for the Dallas Cowboys, even in a “rivalry” primetime game that should have given every reason for Dallas to bring its A-game. Instead, the plane ride home to DFW will reek of cheese and missed opportunities.
The Green Bay Packers led wire-to-wire on their way to a 23-13 victory in front of their home faithful in a result that has gotten all too familiar between these two teams over the past 15 years.
The Cowboys fall to 2-4, and will once again be looking for answers ahead of a Monday night matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles next week.
Here are the five takeaways from the loss.
Everyone is going backward
I initially said on social media at halftime that the Cowboys were on a train going nowhere fast. But I was wrong.
The Cowboys are going somewhere: the complete opposite direction with a full head of steam. Their offense has regressed to averaging 14.5 points over two weeks against the 14th- and 16th-ranked scoring defenses in the league. Their first-round picks have gone from reasons for optimism to liabilities. Their defensive overhaul has turned into a complete mess despite a new coordinator and seven new starters.
“The effort is right, the fight is right,” head coach Brian Schottenheimer said postgame. “The mistakes are killing us. Repeating mistakes is not what we’re about, but we have to protect the football. Five turnovers in two games, we have to find a running game. We have to get off the field on third down on defense. We got to clean it up. Lost two games in a row, haven’t played well, and we have to take a hard look at it.”
It seems as though every move the Cowboys make sets them back further (except maybe cornerback Joey Porter Jr., that guy might be all right). However, in a division that has the three other teams going the same direction, the Cowboys might actually win that race back to the starting line.
Grossest Offense There Is
Maybe that’s a little harsh. But considering the offense’s performance over the past two weeks, anything is acceptable to describe that side of the ball at this point.
It has a top-three receiver (at least), another receiver that is top-10, a top-10 quarterback, a top-3 guard, a rising talent at left tackle, a running back fresh off a career year and an entire unit that paced the NFL last year in multiple categories. It’s inexcusable for this offense to not be great, much less as putrid as it’s been over the last two weeks.
“We got to figure that out, I wish I could give you the answer at this time,” quarterback Dak Prescott said. “Watch the film, see what wasn’t done or executed. I know I had a few plays out there that I want back that I know directly correlated to a turnover or getting off the field. I don’t have the answer for the whole team, but I believe in who we are.”
It’s even worse that the Cowboys had 10 days to prepare for this primetime matchup. They came out flat, never found consistency and finished with two turnovers, 13 points and 303 total yards — a chunk of those yards and a touchdown coming in garbage time — against one of the league’s middling defenses that was already down three starters.
Third-and-doesn’t matter
Third-and-five. Third-and-13. Third-and-six. Third-and-13 again. Third-and-eight. All of those converted by the Packers, and that was just in the first quarter. On third down attempts of nine yards or longer, the Cowboys are giving up over half of the attempts from opposing offenses. And that’s just on long attempts. The Cowboys are in dead last by a significant margin in overall third down conversion rate after six weeks.
On the night, the Green Bay offense converted 11 of its 18 third down attempts. To make matters worse, the Packers were last in the NFL in third down conversions coming into the night.
“We were better in the second half,” Schottenheimer said. “We have to look at the coverages. We have to look at the calls, the locations of some of our dropped players. That first drive, I thought we did a good job of getting ahead of the sticks, and then they were able to convert. We got to figure out why.”
“We have to execute our fundamentals,” cornerback DaRon Bland said. “We got to look back at it.”
As it has been for two years, the Cowboys’ defense continues to be the get-right game for offenses needing to work out dents and dings.
Personnel changes do come after all
If you were tracking the promised personnel changes for the Cowboys coming out of the weekend break last week, there were some notable differences.
Rookie first-round pick Malachi Lawrence got the start over Donovan Ezeiruaku at outside linebacker and was featured more on early downs. Brevyn Spann-Ford started over Jake Ferguson at tight end, played significantly more snaps and hauled in four receptions. Safety Juanyeh Thomas, linebacker Justin Barron and defensive tackle Elijah Garcia saw increased work.
“There were some really positive plays,” Schottenheimer said. “I want to watch the film.”
Obviously, there are probably changes that need to happen that aren’t even possible at this juncture. But if you’re a sicko who wants to track every move on this sinking ship, these were the notable ones.
On that note, welcome Brevyn Spann-Ford
It seems as though Jake Ferguson has lost his job for good. Not only did he lose his starting spot to Spann-Ford on Sunday night, but Spann-Ford excelled with his opportunities and Ferguson got in the way of a snap that almost resulted in a catastrophic turnover.
Head coach Brian Schottenheimer talked during the week about Spann-Ford being ready for more opportunities in the pass game, and that resulted in four receptions for 35 yards. Pair that with the upside he provides as a blocker in the run game, and it’s his job until further notice.
This story was originally published October 18, 2026 at 10:47 PM.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Nick Harris is the Dallas Cowboys beat reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He has experience working on the beat for DallasCowboys.com and previous work experience at Yahoo Sports/Rivals and 247Sports.