Three Reasons Why Packers Will Lose to Cowboys

The Green Bay Packers are coming off a dismal loss to the Cleveland Browns. The Dallas Cowboys are coming off a dismal loss to the Chicago Bears.

While the Packers are big favorites, here are three reasons why the Cowboys will spoil Micah Parsons’ return to Dallas and hand the Packers their second consecutive upset loss.

1. No Room for Josh Jacobs

Last year, Josh Jacobs was the dynamo that powered Green Bay’s offense. With Jacobs topping 1,300 rushing yards, the Packers finished fifth in the league in rushing yards per game and sixth in rushing yards per attempt.

This year, opposing defenses have made a point to keep Jacobs under wraps. Green Bay enters Sunday’s game ranked 21st in rushing yards per game and a woeful 28th in rushing yards per attempt.

Dallas’ defense overall is poor, but its run defense, which is led by longtime Packers standout Kenny Clark, is strong. The Cowboys rank ninth with 3.74 yards allowed per carry. According to Next Gen Stats, the Cowboys are allowing just 0.4 yards per carry before contact this season, sixth-best in the league. 

“Man, I’m so excited to play,” Clark said in a conference call. “It’s been a great week of practice. I’ve been having a great week of prep. I know all the guys. I’m just excited to play, honestly, just excited to get out there and see everybody in live action, see the physicality and do all those things. 

“I want to be as physical as possible, be as violent as possible, play my game I know how to play it and I’m excited to just establish that when we get out there on Sunday. I’m just excited to play, honestly. I’m ready to go.”

Led by Clark, the ball-carrier has been hit behind the line of scrimmage on 60.6 percent of the rushing attempts, which is second only to the Browns.

That’s the potential issue for this game. Against the Browns, Green Bay’s offense spun its wheels because Jacobs was limited to 30 yards on 16 carries. He had 38 yards after contact, meaning Jacobs averaged minus-0.5 yards before contact. Through three weeks, 91.7 percent of Jacobs rushing yards have come after contact. That’s the highest percentage of the 20 running backs with more than 155 rushing yards.

“It’s weird,” Jacobs said. “Obviously, it’s weird for me, but just trying to do what I can. I feel like some plays, I broke a couple tackles and the next guy was there. I tried to strain as much as possible, but sometimes the game is going to be like that. We knew that that team was going to load the box, we knew they were going to bring the safety down. It just is what it is, you’ve still got to find ways to still produce and do your job.”

With no running game whatsoever, the Browns destroyed the Packers’ passing game. The Cowboys’ pass defense is one of the worst in the league but the premier cornerback tandem of Trevon Diggs and DaRon Bland will be in the lineup after playing only 27 snaps together to start the season. So, if Green Bay can’t run the ball, it won’t be able to count on Jordan Love to save the day.