Wild Card Sunday: Love, Packers stun Cowboys; Lions hold off Rams

For the second NFL playoff game in as many days, a young gunslinger outdueled a veteran quarterback in the Lone Star state, as Jordan Love and Green Bay stunned Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys, 48-32.

Later in the day, Detroit edged the Rams, 24-23, in an NFC Wild Card matchup. Matthew Stafford returned to the Motor City, seeking to beat his former team, the Lions. But it was the other quarterback in the Stafford-Jared Goff trade who got revenge on his old employer.

With so much quarterback-driven intrigue going on, let’s break down how this Wild Card doubleheader played out. 

Green Bay 48, Dallas 32

Green Bay’s Jordan Love threw three TDs, and Aaron Jones ran for another three scores as the Packers blasted the Cowboys, a result that could very well unleash major changes within the Dallas organization over the next few days.

The Packers absolutely walloped a favored Dallas team that had won 16 consecutive home games. So thorough was the beatdown — Green Bay held a 48-16 lead before a too-late Dallas point surge — that regular Hall of Football reader Portland Dave quipped, “It seems unfair that a No. 7 seed gets a bye week.”

Dallas came into the game 7.5-point favorites, but the Pack announced its intentions for a Texas-sized upset from the get-go.

Green Bay won the toss and, going against modern conventional wisdom, took the opening kickoff. The thinking being that the Packers wanted to play from ahead to neutralize Micah Parsons and the Dallas pass rush.

That thinking paid off like a gushing Panhandle strike.

Green Bay took the opening kickoff and marched with authority to a 7-0 lead. Jones scored his first TD, punching it in from three yards out. Then, with the ball deep in his own territory, Prescott made the first of two huge first-half mistakes. Packers corner Jaire Alexander picked off a pass intended for receiver Brandin Cooks at the Cowboys’ 19-yard line. Jones scored his second TD one play after WR Romeo Doubs took a Love throw 15 yards to the Dallas 1. Later, in the second quarter, the Pack would score its third touchdown in four possessions when a backpedaling Love floated a 20-yard post throw to Dontayvion Wicks in the Dallas end zone.

Before the shock had even fully kicked in, Green Bay was up 20-0. It would only get worse for Jerry Jones, squirming in the Cowboys’ owner’s box.

The Cowboys put together their first serious scoring threat, moving the ball to the Green Boy 40. But Packers safety Darnell Savage jumped a Prescott pass and raced 64 yards with a pick-six.

At that point, near the end of the first half, while some Dallas fans were calling for an in-game head coaching change, the Cowboys finally mounted their first scoring drive. On 4th-and-goal from the 1, Prescott found tight end Jake Ferguson to make it 27-7. The Cowboys opened the second half with the ball and drove for a Brandon Aubrey field goal, cutting the deficit to 27-10, encouraging hope among Dallas fans that their team was poised to climb back in the game.

But hope is a fragile thing, especially when entrusted to the Dallas defense.

Dallas defensive coordinator Dan Quinn came into Wild Card Weekend a candidate for multiple vacant head coaching positions. But those prospects were dealt a rude blow by his unit’s performance in the second half.

Needing a stand following Aubrey’s field goal, the Dallas defense caved instead.

Doubs got behind a Dallas secondary that cluelessly dropped coverage all day for a 46-yard gain. Two Jones runs covered the final 17 yards, and Green Bay was up, 34-10. On a Packers’ possession late in the third, Luke Musgrave broke so wide open on a 38-yard score it looked as if the rookie tight end appeared via a trap door from under the field. 

Much credit, of course, must be given to Matt LeFleur’s game plan for getting receivers so open. And the Green Bay offensive line both limited Parsons, giving Love the time to wait for his receivers to break free, and repeatedly opened lanes for Jones to run through. Jones ended up with 118 yards rushing. Doubs was a monster, catching six passes for 151 yards.

And the trigger man for that production, QB Love, shone brilliantly all day. His poise and patience belied his postseason inexperience. The third-year signal-caller, making his first postseason start, made plays both in and outside the pocket and delivered accurately even under duress, no throw more impressive than his TD pass to Wicks. Love finished 16-of-21 for 272 yards, the three TDs and a 157.2 rating — numbers that but for a couple of yards duplicated those posted by CJ Stroud in Houston's home win over Cleveland the day before (16-of-21, 274 yards, three TDs, a 157.2 rating).

Dallas more or less mocked its fans in the fourth quarter by simulating a rally. In the game’s waning minutes, the Cowboys’ offense scooped up garbage-time yardage as if a weeks-long sanitation strike had just ended. Somehow, the Cowboys finished with over 500 yards of total offense — Prescott a postseason-best 403 yards — but the bubble-like numbers in no way reflected how out of sorts the Dallas passing game was in the first half, when the game was still being decided. 

The Pack now travel to Santa Clara, Calif. to take on the No. 1 seed San Francisco 49ers, who boast a defense that may be as overrated as the Dallas squad that Love and Co. so ruthlessly picked apart. The Packers are young but as dangerous right now as any team remaining in the postseason. Rest assured they caught the Niners’ attention.

As for Dallas, Mike McCarthy’s seat just became scorching and rumors of 4:00 a.m. hoodie sitings at the team's facilities will likely make the rounds on various NFL Network morning shows.

Detroit 24, Los Angeles 23

In the best game so far of Wild Card Weekend, Detroit scored touchdowns on its first three possessions and held off the Rams in the fourth quarter to the get the franchise’s first playoff win since 1991.

Trailing by a point midway through the fourth, the Rams were marching towards go-ahead field goal position. But the Lions defense stiffened, forcing a Rams punt with just over four minutes remaining. Los Angeles needed a stop to get the ball back, but the Lions picked up two first downs and ran out the clock.

Though points would come more at a premium as it progressed, the game started out as if both teams bet the over.

As their NFC North brethren Packers did in the earlier game, the Lions took the opening kickoff and orchestrated a commanding 10-play drive, capped with a short TD run by RB David Montgomery. The Rams answered with a Brett Maher field goal, set up by a 21-yard pass from Matthew Stafford to rookie wideout Puka Nacua, who would bedevil the Lions’ secondary all night. 

Then both offenses got blazing hot.

The two teams traded touchdowns on four straight drives. Goff hit Josh Reynolds on a 33-yard strike that put Detroit in the LA red zone. On the next play, rookie back Jahmyr Gibbs scored his first-ever postseason TD with a 10-yard burst up the middle. Back came the Rams. On 3rd-an-1 from midfield, Stafford found Nacua deep down the left sideline for a 50-yard score. 

Mixing run and pass masterfully, as they’ve done most of this season, the Lions marched 75 yards in 11 plays. On 4th-and-2 from from inside the LA 5-yard line, Goff threw a scoring dart to rookie Sam LaPorta, who was questionable this week with a knee injury. Trailing now 21-10, Stafford converted a 4th-and-5 to Cooper Kupp, then on the next play threaded a pass to receiver Tutu Atwell, who broke free for a 38-yard touchdown. That made the score 21-17 at the half.

After intermission, the Rams kept the pressure on, their defense holding the Lions to just the three points Detroit scored on its first possession of the second half. But while Detroit’s offense stalled, the Rams couldn’t cash in on two long drives, 66 and 79 yards respectively, settling for Maher field goals on both. 

In his much-anticipated return to the Motor City, Stafford played outstanding, throwing for 379 yards and the two TDs and continually showcasing his passing talent, delivering accurate throws from an array of arm angles. As he did, for the most part, during the Rams tremendous stretch run to the postseason, the veteran avoided the brain-dead throws that have pockmarked his career. Nacua was simply remarkable, posting nine catches for 181 yards and repeatedly coming up with big plays. Three of his grabs converted third downs. 

But, on what turned out to be the Rams’ final offensive play of the year, a 3rd-and-14 Stafford pass intended for Nacua grazed off the receiver’s hands. A completion would have put the Rams in Maher’s range for a go-ahead field goal attempt.

As for the other quarterback in that newsworthy 2021 trade between the two teams, Jared Goff went toe-to-toe with Stafford. The 2016 No. 1 overall pick completed 22-of-27 passes for 277 yards along with the TD pass to LaPorta. The usually ground-oriented Lions did not run the ball (79 yards) as well as expected. Neither did the Rams, though, who rushed for just 68 yards. Both teams finished 3-of-9 on third downs and each ran 55 plays; Los Angeles’ control of the ball in the second half helped LA outgain Detroit by a significant margin (425 yards to 324). 

In a well-played game from start to finish, neither team turned the ball over.

We have taken shots at Lions coach Dan Campbell’s risk-taking, but his and OC Ben Johnson’s handling of Detroit’s final, game-sealing drive is worth noting. Faced with a 2nd-and-9 on their own 32, Campbell had Goff throwing to pick up the first down, which he did on an 11-yard slant to Amon-Ra St. Brown. We can envision less aggressive coaches running the ball, forcing the Rams to use their timeouts, but ultimately giving the ball back to Stafford with just enough time to carve out a victory. That Campbell went for the win is commendable. 

It is unlikely that Lions fans will spend an offseason bemoaning their coach playing too conservative in big moments. Detroit now waits to host the winner of Monday’s Philadelphia-Tampa Bay game.