Current:Home > ScamsJordan Love and the Packers pull a wild-card stunner, beating Dak Prescott and the Cowboys 48-32 -TradeSphere
Jordan Love and the Packers pull a wild-card stunner, beating Dak Prescott and the Cowboys 48-32
View
Date:2025-04-17 11:28:14
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Jordan Love threw for three touchdowns, Aaron Jones ran for three more, Darnell Savage returned an interception 64 yards for a score and the Green Bay Packers handed the Dallas Cowboys their first home loss since the 2022 opener in a 48-32 wild-card stunner Sunday.
Romeo Doubs had a career-high 151 yards receiving a week after being hospitalized with a chest injury as the Packers won Love’s postseason debut after finishing the regular season 6-2 to grab the NFC’s final playoff spot.
“We came in here with a mindset of we’re going to dominate,” Love said. “A lot of people were counting us out and we didn’t care about that.”
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).
Dallas had won its previous 16 regular-season home games, but now has allowed the most points in a game in the club’s postseason history. The previous high was 38.
The Cowboys, who haven’t reached an NFC championship since the most recent of their five Super Bowl titles 28 years ago, didn’t trail by more than eight 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,” Prescott said. “From the beginning of the game, we got beat. There’s no which way around it. There’s no way to sugar coat it. Shock.”
The Packers have never lost in six trips to AT&T Stadium — including the Super Bowl over Pittsburgh during the 2010 season. They now have two playoff victories over the Cowboys after Aaron Rodgers led a 34-31 divisional win when Dallas was the NFC’s top seed in 2016, Prescott’s rookie year.
Those Packers let a 21-3 lead slip away. These Packers, with the four-time MVP’s successor, left little doubt with a 48-16 fourth-quarter lead before two late Dallas TDs.
“We knew it would take time,” Jones said. “You would hear me during the season and other players (say), we were right there, we’re right there, we’re right there. We’ve been able to get over that hump.”
Facing the NFL’s fifth-best defense, Green Bay matched its Super Bowl-winning team from 2010 for the most points in a playoff game. That was also on the road, a 48-21 victory at top-seeded Atlanta in the divisional round.
Doubs, who returned to the Green Bay sideline after his hospital trip before the end of last week’s 17-9 home victory over Chicago that secured a playoff spot, had 102 yards at halftime. It was seven more than the second-year player’s previous best.
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, putting him over the century mark in all four career games against the Cowboys with nine touchdowns.
The crowd under the retractable roof on a frigid day in the Dallas area had already been stone-cold silenced when Prescott tried to throw a slant to top receiver CeeDee Lamb.
Savage, who went without an interception in the regular season for the first time in his five-year career, stepped in front and run untouched for a 27-0 lead with 1:50 left before halftime.
Prescott finished 41 of 60 for 403 yards, with all three of his touchdowns to tight end Jake Ferguson.
___
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL
veryGood! (9481)
Related
- Sam Taylor
- Must-Have Skincare Tools for Facial Sculpting, Reducing Wrinkles, and Treating Acne
- Burton Wilde: Four Techniques for Securely Investing in Cryptocurrencies.
- Trial starts in Amsterdam for 9 suspects in the 2021 slaying of a Dutch investigative journalist
- Taylor Swift Eras Archive site launches on singer's 35th birthday. What is it?
- The Razzie nominations are out. Here's who's up for worst actor and actress.
- Strike kills Hezbollah fighter, civilian in Lebanon, amid seeming Israeli shift to targeted killings
- Cody Rhodes, Rhea Ripley and Bianca Belair featured on covers of WWE 2K24 video game
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Hi Hi!
- Proof Kylie Jenner Is Bonding With Kourtney Kardashian's Stepdaughter Atiana De La Hoya
Ranking
- How to watch the 'Blue Bloods' Season 14 finale: Final episode premiere date, cast
- This magnet heart nail hack is perfect for Valentine's Day – if you can pull it off
- A 100 mph dash for life: Minnesota state troopers race to get heart to transplant recipient
- Zendaya, Hunter Schafer have chic 'Euphoria' reunion at Schiaparelli's haute couture show
- Nearly half of US teens are online ‘constantly,’ Pew report finds
- Trinidad government inquiry into divers’ deaths suggests manslaughter charges against company
- Jason Kelce's Daughter Has Hilarious Reaction to His Shirtless NFL Moment
- Judge blocks tighter rule on same-day registration in North Carolina elections
Recommendation
Travis Hunter, the 2
Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century Turns 25: Celebrate With Facts That'll Make You Say Cetus-Lupeedus
Wall Street pushes deeper into record terrain, fueled by hopes for interest rate cuts
Ohio board stands by disqualification of transgender candidate, despite others being allowed to run
Appeals court scraps Nasdaq boardroom diversity rules in latest DEI setback
Norman Jewison, acclaimed director of ‘In the Heat of the Night’ and ‘Moonstruck,’ dead at 97
Shirtless Jason Kelce loses his mind celebrating Travis Kelce touchdown at Bills game
Shirtless Jason Kelce loses his mind celebrating Travis Kelce touchdown at Bills game