ARLINGTON, Texas – The Packers left Dallas both kicking themselves and thanking their lucky stars.
The regrets in Sunday night's 40-40 overtime tie with the Cowboys were numerous, from another placekick-protection miscue to a disastrous sequence at the end of the first half to the absence of the stout defense the Packers had played in their first three games.
All that left a lot for Green Bay to overcome to avoid leaving AT&T Stadium with a second straight loss.
And heck, if not for a clutch fourth-down completion to rookie receiver Matthew Golden in overtime, the postgame discussion would've centered around how a flag wasn't thrown on the third-down deep ball to Dontayvion Wicks, who appeared to get run over by the Dallas defender.
That was a truly baffling no-call and a "who knows" moment in the game of ifs and buts.
The Packers also have to admit, though, they got lucky amidst their own crunch-time sloppiness, as the final red-zone series in overtime nearly ran the clock out before Brandon McManus could come out to kick for the tie.
Head Coach Matt LaFleur's disappointment in his postgame press conference was so audible that an unknowing listener might've thought the Packers lost.
He clearly didn't feel good about the offensive operation not being on the same page for a third-down play from the 16-yard line with the clock running down. The apparently muddled communication left QB Jordan Love snapping the ball with just six seconds left, and his pass fell incomplete in the end zone with thankfully one tick remaining for McManus.
The Packers went from a first down at the Dallas 12-yard line with more than 30 seconds left to going backwards four yards on two sideways throws and then almost not even getting the tying field goal.
"We have a lot of things to clean up," LaFleur said.
That's a common refrain, and in this case it comes with a massive sigh of relief.
LaFleur was trying to be aggressive on the final sequence, playing for the win rather than the tie. After a missed block on a receiver screen to Golden caused a 3-yard loss, he used his last timeout with 28 seconds left.
He then called for a shot to the end zone, hoping the Cowboys' coverage would be tight to the line of scrimmage again.
It wasn't, so Love smartly took a checkdown to running back Emanuel Wilson that unfortunately lost another yard. That's when things got hairy. Wanting to fire a third-down shot for the win, the Packers weren't fully hurrying on offense and it very easily could've cost them.
Had the clock run out on the third-down throw to the back of the end zone, the Packers would've had their second straight agonizing defeat after two impressive victories out of the gate.
The aggressive mindset did prove costly in the first half, as the Packers had just 21 seconds, no timeouts, and the ball on their own 27-yard line. Looking deep, Love had the ball knocked away from behind by pass rusher James Houston, and the Cowboys scored their second TD in a span of less than a minute heading into halftime.
Love said afterward he always wants to push for a big play in that situation, but LaFleur obviously was having second thoughts.
The bottom line is the two possessions are examples of the Packers not being where they need to be on offense, in terms of smoothness and reliability.
While it may be tough to critique a unit that put 40 points on the board (37 in regulation) and the defense's failings played a bigger part in the undesirable result – which was the opposite of last week – the two sequences illustrate the lack of consistency that has been the story of the Packers' offense through four games.
In this particular contest, the offense romped its way to two relatively quick touchdowns in the first half but then gave one away by halftime. Then when the Packers seemingly couldn't be stopped in the second half, they almost stopped themselves with their own sloppiness in OT.
"It's on everybody," LaFleur said, pointing the first finger at himself as he always does. "It's on all of us. It's not just on one individual."
Added Love: "There's stuff we gotta figure out and be better there. I still think we left a lot out there."
That feels like both a blessing and a curse when there are 40 points on the board. That was somehow not enough to win, when last week the defense pitching a shutout for 56 minutes also turned out not to be enough.
The back and forth is the story on special teams as well. Last week, a strong kickoff return at crunch time to the 40-yard line was undone by the blocked field goal. Then Sunday, back-to-back clutch kicks by McManus to stave off defeat are somewhat overshadowed by a blocked PAT that produced a three-point swing on the scoreboard.
So where do the Packers go from here, post-bye? The good news is 2-1-1 is a measly half game out of first place in the NFC North. The bad news is 2-1-1 is almost worst-case scenario after the gangbusters 2-0 start.
"We've shown what we're about when we're playing very well," Love said. "We have to do that, be consistent, every day, practice games, every time we touch the field … to be the team we want to be."
