Micah Parsons' arrival had masked some of the Green Bay Packers' biggest problems, but with the pass rush failing to deliver on Sunday Night Football, the primetime lights exposed a glaring weakness.
Brian Gutekunst spent two offseasons telling us how much the Packers believed in their cornerback room. The problems surfaced throughout last season, and a familiar issue returned against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 4.
It's far easier to cover receivers when the pass rush is swarming to the quarterback. Dallas blunted Green Bay's pass rush on Sunday, exposing a significant concern in the secondary.
Packers' secondary lived up to the fans' biggest fears with disastrous Week 4 display
Parsons did his thing in this game — PFF credited him with eight pressures, one sack, and a 34.5 percent pass rush win rate. The Cowboys threw everything at him and, unlike in previous weeks, the other pass-rushers failed to take advantage of the attention Parsons received.
Losing Devonte Wyatt to a knee injury didn't help.
With the pass rush struggling to give Dak Prescott any real problems, he could sit back and take aim at a suddenly exposed secondary. Without the fierce pass rush to make them look good, the Packers' cornerbacks had a torrid time trying to resist the Cowboys' receivers, even without All-Pro CeeDee Lamb.
Free-agent addition Nate Hobbs gave two touchdowns. He looked all at sea. Carrington Valentine, who had previously made a case for more playing time, was just as lost when he entered the game. He whiffed on a tackle on George Pickens' 28-yard catch-and-run touchdown late in the fourth quarter.
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Pickens had eight catches for 134 yards and two touchdowns. Jalen Tolbert caught four for 61, and Jake Ferguson hauled in seven passes for 40 yards and a score. Imagine if CeeDee Lamb had played.
The Packers learned a harsh lesson in this game, and one we all feared before the season. If the pass rush can't get home, don't count on the secondary. They folded early and often. If the game plan was to remain in a different zip code to every Cowboys receiver, they succeeded.
But if the plan was to play like real NFL cornerbacks, I'm afraid I've got some bad news.
Help isn't on the way. The Packers will need their pass rush to deliver. When it fails, good offenses will expose this secondary.