The Green Bay Packers picked up a season-defining victory over the Dallas Cowboys in Week 10, pushing their record to 4-6 on the year. Green Bay had trailed by 14 heading into the fourth quarter, giving the Cowboys their first loss in franchise history when leading by at least 14 heading into the final stanza.
While it ended up working in the Packers’ favor, they did need some breaks to get to that point. It looked like they blew the chance to win the game inside the two-minute warning in the fourth quarter when head coach Matt LaFleur had a head-scratching sequence of play calls.
It was something that quarterback Aaron Rodgers admitted after the game that he was frustrated by. Cameras picked him ripping into LaFleur on the sideline after an incomplete pass on third down forced Green Bay to punt the ball back to Dallas.
“Just every single play call, probably,” Rodgers said of the source of his frustration, via a postgame transcript from the team. “I felt like we were like 30 yards from ending the game in regulation, and also felt like it was two minutes, so I was going to be calling those, and I was in a pretty good rhythm. Obviously, I didn’t have a ton of attempts, but felt like I was in a pretty good rhythm. I felt like I threw the ball just about exactly where I wanted to, so I wanted a chance to go win the game.”
Only 22 seconds were remaining when the Packers punted the ball, but not having a legitimate chance to get the team into field goal range was what bothered Rodgers the most. As he stated, while the pass attempts for him were low in the game, he was hitting his targets throughout the afternoon and making the right reads.
It was a decision that LaFleur admitted wasn’t his best moment. Some indecision based on Dallas having three timeouts remaining played a part in how he called the plays on that final drive in regulation.
“It didn’t work out, at least in that moment, but it did work out obviously for us to be able to come out on top,” LaFleur said. “A lot of times when we get in those situations, we give Aaron a ton of freedom to kind of run the show. I’d say typically, he does such a great job with it. So, hindsight is 20/20, but that was on me, totally.”
The Packers lost the coin toss for overtime as well, as the Cowboys took the ball to start the extra frame. They turned the ball over on downs as Dallas head coach Mike McCarthy made a questionable decision on the fourth down of their drive to go for it instead of attempting a field goal or punting.
Green Bay took full advantage as Rodgers hit Allen Lazard on a slant for a huge gain to put the team in position for the game-winning kick by Mason Crosby. They will now get ready for a quick turnaround as they host the Tennessee Titans on Thursday Night Football to start Week 11.
