Clutch Rodgers burns Cowboys again
PACKERS 35, COWBOYS 31 Packers QB caps 75- yard drive with TD pass to Adams
ARLINGTON, Texas — Aaron Rodgers had more magic in store for the Cowboys, who can’t seem to find the mojo that carried them a year ago.
Rodgers threw a 12- yard touchdown pass to Davante Adams with 11 seconds left, lifting the Packers over Dallas 35- 31 on Sunday in another thriller nine months after their divisional playoff win on the same field.
Rodgers capped a 75- yard drive in just 1: 02, going toward the same end zone as in the playoff game. In that game, Rodgers’ long completion to Jared Cook on third- and- 20 in the final seconds set up Mason Crosby’s winning field goal as time expired in a 34- 31 win.
“It comes down to little things being executed perfectly,” Rodgers said after the Packers’ seventh win in eight games in the series. “It was important plays at the most important times by those guys.”
Adams had been in concussion protocol but was active 10 days after leaving the field on a stretcher on a helmet- to- helmet hit that resulted in a suspension for Bears linebacker Danny Trevathan. He had seven catches for 66 yards and two touchdowns.
Dak Prescott, who had touchdown passes on Dallas’ first three drives, put the Cowboys in front on an 11- yard touchdown run with 1: 13 left to cap a 17- play drive that lasted almost nine minutes.
But another defensive letdown, just like a year ago in the postseason, left Dallas ( 2- 3) already with the same number of losses from the magical rookie season when Prescott and running back Ezekiel Elliott led the Cowboys to the No. 1 seed in the NFC.
The Packers ( 4- 1) had gone ahead earlier on Damarius Randall’s 21- yard interception return for a touchdown, the third of five lead changes in the fourth quarter. Green Bay rallied from 15 points down in the first half after letting a 21- 3 lead get away in last season’s playoff victory.
Aaron Jones became the first Green Bay running back with 100 yards in his first start as a rookie since Samkon Gado in 2005. He had 19 carries for 125 yards and a touchdown. He replaced TyMontgomery, out after breaking some ribs in the victory against the Bears.
Elliott ended a three- game drought without 100 yards, matching the longest from his rookie season, finishing with 116 yards on 29 carries.
Rodgers was 19- for- 29 for 221 yards and three touchdowns, and he set up the winning scorewith an 18- yard scramble. After an incompletion to Adams, working against rookie Jourdan Lewis, Rodgers went there again. Rodgers made the grab as Lewis turned too late.
“I was going to call a different play, but [ Adams] said to call it again,” Rodgers said. “With his eyes, he said, ‘ Throw a better ball.’”
Packers wide receiver Jordy Nelson, who scored his sixth touchdown for the first Packers lead early in the fourth quarter, wasn’t on the field during the final drive. Coach Mike McCarthy said he was being evaluated for an undisclosed injury.
Prescott was 25- for- 36 for 251 yards and three first- half touchdowns, two to Cole Beasley and one to Dez Bryant, who joined Hall of Famer Bob Hayes as the only Cowboys receivers with at least 70 touchdown receptions.