Aaron Jones rushed for 118 yards and three touchdowns and the Green Bay Packers stormed to a 48-32 win over the Dallas Cowboys in an NFC wild-card playoff game on Sunday afternoon in Arlington, Texas.
Jordan Love completed 16 of 21 passes for 272 yards and three touchdowns to win his first career playoff start for Green Bay. Romeo Doubs caught six passes for 151 yards and a touchdown, and Darnell Savage had a 64-yard interception return for a touchdown.
“Man, Jordan Love, wow, that’s about all I can say, is wow,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said.
Dak Prescott completed 41 of 60 passes for 403 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions for Dallas. Jake Ferguson caught all three touchdown passes for the Cowboys, who were bounced out of the wild-card round for the second time in the past three seasons.
Green Bay tied a team record for most points scored in a playoff game. The Packers also scored 48 against the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC divisional round in the 2010 season.
The Packers jumped to a 27-0 lead to stun a Dallas crowd that included Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who shook his head as he watched from his private suite.
“We’re very disappointed. I don’t think anybody saw this coming,” Dallas coach Mike McCarthy said. “You got to give Green Bay credit. They came in here hot. And this, you just saw on film over the past month. You know, they executed, and we didn’t. So, we didn’t get it done in any of the phases.”
Aaron Jones opened the scoring with a 3-yard touchdown run midway through the first quarter.
In the first minute of the second quarter, Aaron Jones scored again, this time on a 1-yard run.
Love connected with Dontayvion Wicks for a 20-yard touchdown with 3:23 to go in the first half.
With Dallas down by 20, Prescott tried to force a pass to CeeDee Lamb to give the Cowboys a spark. Savage followed Prescott’s eyes and stepped in front of Lamb for a pick-6 to make it 27-0.
Dallas got on the scoreboard on the final play of the first half. Prescott rolled right and hit Ferguson for a 1-yard touchdown.
The Cowboys pulled within 27-10 on the opening drive of the second half when Brandon Aubrey made a 34-yard field goal.
The Packers quickly responded with Aaron Jones’ third rushing touchdown of the game. His 9-yard run increased the Packers’ lead to 34-10.
Tony Pollard pulled the Cowboys within 34-16 on a 1-yard touchdown run with 3:03 left in the third quarter.
Green Bay needed only 96 seconds to answer. Love found a wide-open Luke Musgrave, who powered into the end zone for a 38-yard touchdown.
Doubs caught a 3-yard touchdown pass — Love’s third — early in the fourth quarter.
Ferguson had a 7-yard touchdown reception with 5:54 remaining.
Prescott connected with Ferguson from 14 yards out for a third and final touchdown reception with 3:25 to go.
“We’ve been counted out a lot of the season, but everybody keeps battling, keeps competing,” Love said. “I think it’s just noise on the outside. We’re not worried about it. We keep coming out here and showing what we’re about, and that’s what we’re going to do.”
–Field Level Media
