Dallas will travel to Green after the bye week to face a team that is undoubtedly in crisis. Competing on the road at Lambeau Field is never easy, although in this case the offense may have the toughest matchup. The Packers have a good defense, so it will be important for the Cowboys to repeat their pre-bye week performance.
Ground attack vs. ground defense
In this case, here is the route that the offense should use to get yards. While it helped a lot in the last game that the Chicago Bears’ defense was one of the worst rushers in the entire league, the performance was very solid. In that win in which the unit worked so well, there were 200 rushing yards.
The presence of Tony Pollard gave the offense some much-needed explosiveness. His 131 yards on just 14 carries was an incredible 9.3 per attempt. That production had a 54-yard run that rounded out a perfect afternoon for him. It will be very interesting now to see what Kellen Moore will do with Ezekiel Elliott’s return from his injury.
That should be the priority because there is a weakness in the rival defense there. Green Bay comes from a good showing on that side of the ball, conceding very little, but in front of it was an attack that lost a lot of efficiency like Detroit’s. However, there is a fragile point in what they did in the first half of the season.
Statistics show that they are the eighth team that allows more yards per carry with 4.8. In total rushing yards they actually rank 26th conceding 138.6 per game, so logically this should be the element to exploit. Especially since on the other facet they are much more reliable.
This man cannot be stopped! @Tp__5 gets his 3rd TD of the day!
????: #CHIvsDAL on FOX
????: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/QMxVpZl61r pic.twitter.com/KHOE8E8j7J— NFL (@NFL) October 30, 2022
Air attack vs. aerial defense
The offense left a very good image in its last presentation due to an adjustment made in the plan. Dallas took the field determined to strike early with a passing game that consisted of Dak Prescott getting rid of the ball fast. Another issue they changed is not taking as much time between plays to complicate the defense.
Those issues helped each of the first four series be touchdowns. A lot of that will be needed in this case because the Packers have a solid pass rusher along with an excellent cornerback. When these elements are combined, the attack through the air can be greatly limited. Green Bay ranks second in the NFL in yards allowed per game at just 170.6, a number that verifies its potential.
For that reason, Moore’s creativity will be important in helping Prescott. An excellent pairing to watch is CeeDee Lamb with cornerback Jaire Alexander. Although for the Cowboys it won’t be as good because Alexander could completely contain Lamb. In this context, the appearances of Michael Gallup or Dalton Schultz will be very relevant to not allow the offense to stagnate too much.
The other factor to consider would have been defensive back Rashan Gary because of his great ability to pressure the quarterback. That can be verified in his six sacks, but last Sunday he had a serious injury. His absence will be essential because there are no other level options to make it easy for him. For that reason they are the fourth team in blitz percentage with 31.2%. There will surely be an element for the staff to consider in order to have a productive offense in Green Bay.
Initial belief is #Packers pass rusher Rashan Gary suffered a torn ACL on Sunday vs. Detroit but the player is undergoing MRI to determine full scope of injury, per source. If confirmed, injury would end the season for Gary, who has 6.0 sacks on the year. Team holding out hope.
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) November 7, 2022
