My Thoughts from the Green Bay Packers vs. the Dallas Cowboys (10/18/2026)

 Here are my thoughts from last night's 23-13 Green Bay Packers win over the Dallas Cowboys:

Welcome back Savion Williams. I honestly wasn't expecting him to have that much of a role in his first game back from injury, but he had two big clutch catches on the first drive and finished with four catches and 2 runs. With Jayden Reed out for the season, I think he will be the one they choose to replace him in the offense.

Green Bay needs to get their run game fixed. As I told my cat, who was waiting to be fed last night, this game would have been over a lot quicker if the Packers didn't need to pass the ball so much. Head Coach Matt LaFleur didn't give up on the run game but their three running backs only netted 36 yards on 20 carries.

Pierre Strong Jr. is making the case as the strongest of the group behind Josh Jacobs. Not so much running the ball because he was equally inconsistent with that, but other than a drop late in the game, he seemed to be a valuable asset as a receiving threat out of the backfield. It makes me wonder how he started the season on the practice squad.

It's still early but Jordan Love should be the MVP front runner. See above about the lack of a run game, which allowed the defense to focus solely on the pass and get pressure on him on nearly half his 41 pass attempts. Yet he threw for 276 yards and a touchdown plus scored on a quarterback sneak. His numbers would have been even more impressive if his receivers hadn't dropped multiple passes.

Speaking of that, some of the ugliness from early in the season reared its head again. In addition to the drops, the Packers defense couldn't get off the field late in the game because of numerous penalties that gave the Cowboys a fresh set of downs. Some of those calls were questionable but, once again, there was no reason to put themselves in a position to draw a personal foul, including one that negated an interception.

On the subject of penalties, I wish the NFL would revisit and revise the illegal contact foul. A 5-yard penalty should not be an automatic first down. Pass interference, yes. Holding, sure. Brushing against a receiver 6 yards down field instead of 5. No. 

I think people owe the Packers' secondary an apology. There were a lot of questions about that unit, and many experts considered it the defense's weakness, but the Green Bay defensive backfield came away with two more interceptions (probably should have been three) and kept the Cowboys' two best receivers from taking over the game, even after Brandon Cisse was injured.

This was a good bounce-back game for Trey Smack. The rookie kicker had his struggles against the Chicago Bears last week but was perfect on his field goal tries and extra points in this game.