Oh boy: Love, Packers romp in Dallas
ARLINGTON, Texas — Aaron Jones grew up idolizing Emmitt Smith and the Dallas Cowboys. The Green Bay running back found a new, and most painful, way to torment the all-time rushing leader’s former team.
Jones ran for three touchdowns, Jordan Love threw for three more in his postseason debut, Darnell Savage returned an interception 64 yards for a score, and the Packers handed the Cowboys their first home loss since the 2022 opener in a 48-32 wild-card stunner Sunday.
“This was my dad’s team,” Jones, who has 488 yards in four career games against the Cowboys, said of his late father. “You always want to be like your father, so that’s how it became my team. Dallas is a special place to me, so it’s a full-circle moment. It feels like home.”
Even against a team that had won 16 consecutive home games.
Green Bay (10-8) will visit top-seeded San Francisco in the divisional round next weekend.
Dak Prescott threw two interceptions before three mostly empty touchdown passes in another playoff flop for him and the No. 2 seed Cowboys (12-6).
The first home loss for the Cowboys since now-retired Tom Brady and Tampa Bay beat them 16 months ago was also the most points the franchise has allowed in a postseason game. The previous high was 38.
The Cowboys, who haven’t reached an NFC Championship Game since the most recent of their five Super Bowl titles 28 years ago, didn’t trail by more than 8 points at AT&T Stadium this season before falling behind, 27-0, in the first half.
The loss will raise questions about the future of Dallas coach Mike McCarthy after the Cowboys lost their playoff opener at home for the second time in three postseasons under the former Green Bay coach. Dallas is the first team to win at least 12 games in three consecutive playoff seasons without making a conference title game.
“Just shocked, honestly,” said Prescott, who finished 41 of 60 for 403 yards and three scores to tight end Jake Ferguson. “From the beginning of the game, we got beat. There’s no which way around it. There’s no way to sugar coat it.”
Romeo Doubs had a career-high 151 yards receiving a week after being hospitalized with a chest injury as the Packers rolled after finishing the regular season 6-2 to grab the NFC’s final playoff spot.
“We came in here with a mind-set of, ‘We’re going to dominate,’ ” Love said. “A lot of people were counting us out, and we didn’t care about that.”
The Packers are 6-0 in six trips to AT&T Stadium — including the Super Bowl over Pittsburgh during the 2010 season. They left little doubt Sunday, with a 48-16 fourth-quarter lead.
Facing the NFL’s fifth-best defense, Green Bay matched that 2010 team for the most points in a playoff game. Doubs, who returned to the sideline after his hospital trip before the end of last week’s 17-9 home victory over Chicago, had 102 yards at halftime.
First-half catches of 22, 26, and 39 yards helped get Love going, and the fourth-year QB finished 16 of 21 for 272 yards as the Packers scored touchdowns on six of their first seven offensive possessions in their highest-scoring game since 2014.
One of them was set up by Prescott’s first interception at the Dallas 19-yard line, from Jaire Alexander after he was questionable coming in when he sprained an ankle during the week.
A 46-yard grab by Doubs early in the second half helped finish off the Cowboys after they had scored 10 points on either side of the break. Doubs, Luke Musgrave, and Dontayvion Wicks had TD catches. Jones rushed for 118 yards.
“That was fun,” said Green Bay coach Matt LaFleur, who took over in 2019 after McCarthy was fired during the 2018 season. “To put on a performance like that. Couldn’t be happier for them.”