Packers vs. Cowboys: Tale of the tape for Week 5 matchup
Quarterbacks
Packers
Aaron Rodgers is leading the Pack in his 15th season. Last year was his worst season statistically, completing just 62.3 percent of his passes and throwing for just 25 touchdowns. All the experts and pundits were convinced that Rodgers was on the decline and not the same player. While that might be true and Father Time is undefeated, we did eventually find out that Rodgers was playing on a broken leg for most of the season.
Now all healed and in a new offense, Rodgers has gotten off to a bit of a slow start. That could be a combination of playing in an offense that is new to everyone on the team and the fact that the Packers have been playing teams that have very good defenses.
However, he seems to have figured it out and got back on track against the Eagles on Thursday night. Yes, the Eagles’ secondary was decimated with injuries, but Rodgers threw for a season-high 422 yards on 53 attempts.
He added two passing touchdowns to his stats as well and could have added another at the end of the game, missing a wide-open Darrius Shepherd and throwing a pick in the red zone to essentially end the game. Granted, there could have been a pass interference call on that play, but Shepherd would have had an easy score.
Even with the interception, I’m not worried about Rodgers. I think he is starting to feel comfortable in this offense and once they get the running game going with it, he will be hard to stop.
Cowboys
Dak Prescott has gotten another good start to his season. He’s thrown for 1,143 yards, nine touchdowns, and three interceptions. He’s also run the ball for 95 yards and a touchdown. He would prefer to sit in the pocket and pick a defense apart, but he can still run the ball as well.
He cruised against the Giants, Redskins, and Dolphins, amassing 920 yards passing, nine touchdowns and two interceptions. You could argue those stats are somewhat inflated based on the level of defense they played because as soon as he played a better team, he struggled. Against the Saints, he threw for 223 yards, no touchdowns, and an interception.
When Prescott has time to throw the ball, he’s pretty effective. The problem for him is that Tyron Smith will be out this Sunday and he has to face the Smiths. He will likely have to get the ball out quickly or he could get hit all game. This could work to the Packers’ advantage.
Looking at the stats, I feel compelled to give Prescott the advantage, but being a biased Packer fan and knowing what Rodgers has done to the Cowboys in the past on their home field, I just can’t do it. Rodgers has the advantage here.