ARLINGTON, Texas – The Packers didn't come away with a win from Sunday night's 40-40 tussle with the Dallas Cowboys but found the explosive plays they'd been searching for from their offense.
Running behind an offensive line down two starters, Josh Jacobs and Emanuel Wilson powered Green Bay's ground game to a season-high 164 rushing yards and two touchdowns.
Romeo Doubs caught six passes for 58 yards and a career-high three touchdowns, highlighted by a 15-yard TD that gave Green Bay a 34-30 lead with 1 minutes, 49 seconds left in regulation.
The game swung in Dallas' favor after a wild ending to the first half that saw the Cowboys score twice in a matter of seconds after a strip sack of quarterback Jordan Love.
Green Bay fought back and still had a chance to win it in overtime, but Love's third-and-14 pass to rookie Matthew Golden fell incomplete with one second left and kicker Brandon McManus made a 34-yard field goal as time expired in overtime.
"Weird. Honestly, that's the only way I can really explain it," Jacobs said. "I think the stuff before the half, we kind of shot ourselves in the foot a little bit. Came out and tried to battle, had a chance to still win it at the end of the game. Gotta find a way to pull those out."
As silver linings go, Sunday was a massive step forward for a Green Bay run game that produced only 81 yards on 31 carries (2.6 yards per attempt) in last week's 13-10 loss to Cleveland.
Jacobs carried the ball 22 times for 86 yards and scored the Packers' first two touchdowns in the second half, a critical response after a rapid swing from Green Bay leading 13-2 with less than a minute before halftime to suddenly trailing 16-13.
On his second score, an 18-yard TD run early in the fourth quarter, Jacobs sustained a cut on his knee from a cleat that required in-game stitches. He returned for the final drive of regulation, but Wilson handled all the snaps in overtime.
Both backs were factors in the passing game, too, with Jacobs catching four passes for 71 yards and Wilson adding three receptions for 31. Together, Jacobs and Wilson combined for 238 total yards.
"It felt wonderful," Wilson said. "For the past three weeks, we really didn't get it going and now we got it going. The inside zones was kinda iffy but the outside zones were there."
On the perimeter, Doubs was again a go-to target for Love and the offense. He caught the first two touchdowns of the game, both from inside two yards, to give Green Bay an early 13-2 lead after a blocked PAT that was returned for two points.
Doubs was also clutch late. With less than five minutes left in regulation, the fourth-year wideout caught a 15-yard pass on third-and-8 from Green Bay's own 22 to begin a 10-play, 80-yard scoring drive that culminated with his 15-yard TD.
In doing so, Doubs became one of three Packers players to catch three-plus touchdowns in a game against Dallas, joining Hall of Famer Sterling Sharpe (Week 13, 1994) and 2022 draft classmate Christian Watson (Week 10, 2022).
"He's a dawg. I'm glad he's getting the credit that he deserves," Jacobs said. "I feel like whenever it's a 50/50 ball, he's gonna win that opp. We love what he does for this team. He's a difference maker for this team. People have to start adjusting for him. He came up big, man, in a lot of the plays and a lot of the moments that we needed."
Golden and Dontayvion Wicks each had moments, as well. Golden opened the game with a 46-yard catch on third-and-8 that keyed the Packers' first scoring drive and snagged a critical 14-yard pass on fourth-and-6 in overtime.
That drive began with a 15-yard completion to Wicks, leading to a 13-play, 64-yard drive to match the three points the Cowboys generated from a Brandon Aubrey 22-yard field goal to start overtime.
All told, the Packers' offense posted 489 total yards and converted on 10 of 14 third downs. It wasn't perfect, but the unit didn't blink in a matchup that saw the Packers and Cowboys end with nine consecutive scoring drives.
That's the most consecutive scoring drives to end any game since at least 1993, according to NFL Research.
"In this game, there's gonna be ups and downs," Jacobs said. "I feel like we haven't found that consistency as a whole team yet. Either the offense be on, the defense be on, we gotta find ways to tie it all in together. We gotta find ways to do the little things."
