Green Bay sends Dallas packing
Edge Cowboys in 34-31 thriller on final snap
• Three made field goals in the final 1: 33 from beyond 50 yards, and another Aaron Rodgers throw for the ages.
Talk about an all- time classic.
In a riveting NFC divisional playoff game, the Green Bay Packers edged the Dallas Cowboys 34- 31 on the final snap, when Mason Crosby boomed his second field goal from beyond 50 yards, only minutes of real time apart.
His first, from 56 yards out with 1: 33 left, nullified an incredible Dallas comeback engineered by rookie quarterback Dak Prescott, who t hrew t hree t ouchdown passes after Green Bay jumped out to a 21- 3 lead midway through the second quarter. Prescott’s quarterback draw on a two- point conversion attempt tied the game, 28- 28 with 4: 08 remaining.
Undaunted again after Crosby’s 56- yarder, Prescott completed passes of 24, 11 and seven yards in succession to set up Dan Bailey for a 52- yard field goal attempt with 35 seconds left, which Bailey made to tie the game again, 31-31.
Overtime seemed imminent.
Packers head coach Mike McCarthy, though, wisely decided to go for the win in the final half- minute. His defence could no longer stop Prescott, running back Zeke Elliott and the smokin’ Cowboys offence. If the Packers had lost the coin toss in overtime, they seemed likely to lose.
“They were moving the ball for sure, but we didn’t adjust our game plan there late,” Rodgers told me at his post-game news conference. “We just said, hey, we’ve got a lot of time on the clock, we’ve got two timeouts, if we get a couple of chunk plays we’re going to get in the position for Mason to win this thing.” Which is what happened. Only Rodgers did it with Rodgers flair, something he now routinely does. He l aunched and completed another clutch, long, laser-accurate pass that basically defied conventional football physics and all but decided matters.
After shaking off a couple of incompletions and a wicked, blind-side sack moments before, on this latest scrapbook throw — on 3rd-and-20 from the Green Bay 32 with 12 seconds remaining — Rodgers ripped an insane 35- yard dart down the left sideline, as he scrambled to his left, away from sackers.
Afterward he said tight end Jared Cook was initially his second option; but, after the pocket broke down, his fourth option.
Cook made an incredible grab, barely getting both toes in bounds as he fell forwards out of bounds, a split-second before his shins and knees touched white.
Video replay confirmed the improbable reception.
“Jared Cook, just hugging him in the locker-room after the game — the guy’s never been in the playoffs until this year,” Rodgers said of the eighth-year NFLer.
“He had a big smile on his face. It was fun to see him obviously play so well and then come up with the catch that put us in position.”
With three seconds left, Crosby drilled his second long field goal, this one from 51 yards out, well over the crossbar, to win it as time expired.
“It’s kind of a blur right now. It’s unreal,” said Crosby, a Lubbock native who now has made his last 23 postseason field goals, over 12 games dating back to 2010.
“We got the win. That’s pretty special. In my home state of Texas. Had family and friends around. It’s big time. “I’m pretty happy.” Jubilant Packers teammates mobbed Crosby nearly at the sideline of the gutted Cowboys, who never led and who refused to lose until the game clock and bad fortune demanded it.
“I thought that we were a team that was capable of taking this thing all the way,” Cowboys owner/ GM Jerry Jones said. “I know we are now, after that second half. We have a team and we have players that can win these big games.”
With another spectacular playoff performance by Rodgers, the Packers have won their eighth consecutive game since late November and eliminated the NFC’s top seed, the Cowboys, before 93,396 at AT&T Stadium.
Rodgers had been on a tear during Green Bay’s win streak, throwing 19 touchdown passes without an interception before kickoff here at the massive stadium that Jerry had built.
Thanks to clutch, pinpoint passing from Rodgers, the Packers scored touchdowns on each of their first three possessions to take a 21-3 lead with 7:37 left until halftime.
From t here i t was all catchup for the Cowboys.
But behind their dynamic duo of rookie offensive playmakers, Prescott and Elliott, Dallas did anything but fold in such an awful circumstance and nearly pulled off the unlikely rally.
Rodgers finished 28-of- 43 for 356 yards and two touchdowns.