Aaron Jones, Jordan Love and a dominant Green Bay Packers defence annihilated the Dallas Cowboys 48-32, advancing to the NFC Divisional Round and eliminating the NFC East Champions from the playoffs.
Quarterback Jordan Love, in his first career playoff game, looked like a veteran on the field, completing 16 of 21 pass attempts for 272 passing yards and three passing touchdowns.
“We came in here with the mindset that we were going to dominate,” said Love in a postgame interview. “A lot of people counted us out and we didn’t care about that. We knew the opportunity that we had in front of us, and we made the most of it tonight.”
Aaron Jones, the Packers’ star running back, also made the most of his opportunity, playing a pivotal role in the Green Bay offence right from the opening drive.
The Texas native established the run early, rushing for seven carries on the game’s first drive, none bigger than his three-yard rushing touchdown to put the visitors up 7-0 before Dallas even touched the ball.
After the teams traded punts, Jaire Alexander, whose status was questionable before the game with an ankle injury, intercepted Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott – who threw for zero passing yards in the first quarter for the first time in his career – setting his team up with excellent field position to add to their lead.
It took only five plays for Jones to rush for another touchdown to double their lead, shocking Cowboy fans at AT&T Stadium.
Following another depleted Cowboys possession, the Packers got the ball again and continued their obliteration of the heavily favourited Cowboys.
Love found Dontayvion Wicks in the end zone for a 20-yard touchdown pass before Prescott threw another interception, his second of the half, to Darnell Savage who ran it back 64 yards putting the Packers up 27-0.
The Cowboys finally got on the board on the last play of the first half courtesy of Jake Ferguson’s one-yard touchdown reception which cut the Packers’ lead to 27-7 but it was still Dallas’ largest halftime playoff deficit in franchise history.
Dallas, who received the ball to start the second half, lessened Green Bay’s lead by three more after kicker Brendan Aubrey’s field goal, but the 17-point deficit was the closest that the Cowboys got to taming the staggering Packers offence.
Green Bay’s offence remained blistering in the second half as Jones picked up his third rushing touchdown of the game – his ninth touchdown in four career games versus the Cowboys – extending the lead to 34-10, finishing the game with 21 carries for 118 yards and three rushing touchdowns.
Tony Pollard responded for the Cowboys with a touchdown of his own, before Love found a wide-open Luke Musgrave to continue their bombardment, going up 25. The Packers added another touchdown to their tally on their next possession, their seventh touchdown of the game, before the Cowboys added two touchdowns of their own. Unfortunately for the Cowboys, by then it was too little, too late.
The Green Bay Packers staved off a late gallop by the Cowboys winning 48-32, setting up a huge clash next week against the San Francisco 49ers (12-5) for the right to advance to the NFC Championship game the following weekend.
For more information on the NFL Playoffs, head to nfl.com.
