1) Packers head coach Mike McCarthy had a plan in mind when he took over the play-calling duties from offensive coordinator Tom Clements this week. McCarthy was clear that if Eddie Lacy carried the ball 30 to 35 times in this game, it was going to be a good thing for the Packers. McCarthy was able to get Lacy going by handing him the ball 25 times and giving James Starks another 11. Defensively, the Cowboys had no answer. The entire night it appeared that the Packers were in second-and-5, which left the playbook wide open for McCarthy, and he took full advantage of the favorable down and distance situations to put this game away.
2) I have never seen Dez Bryant fight the football like he did tonight. I am willing to give him a pass for the interception due to where Cassel put the ball, but the ball down the middle that was reviewed and the out on first down in space are receptions he makes in his sleep. He just didn't look like a confident player at all and that's troubling.
3) The numbers say that both Sean Lee and Rolando McCain were among the top three in final tackles. But, it just looked like they played a step slow in this game. Don't know if it was the wet conditions or coming off the Monday night game, but on some of those Green Bay runs, they just weren't there
4) The way to beat the Packers is to cover their receivers. On Green Bay's opening drive of the game, it appeared that Brandon Carr was doing just that when he knocked the ball away from James Jones. The game plan to me would have been to play them tight and take your chances, but that wasn't the case. There were too many plays where these receivers had space and they were able to convert on key downs.
5) I had a feeling that Cowboys defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli was not going to blitz in this game. Aaron Rodgers is a veteran quarterback, as is their offensive line, and he likely expected that combination would prove too dangerous. The lack of some long down and distances in the game I also believe had something to do with his decision as well. The Packers did a great job of staying ahead of the chains all night, which put pressure on Marinelli and his calls.
6) Would liked to have seen Dallas take a similar approach to Green Bay and run the football. With a two score lead, the game was still within reach and maybe it would have protected the defense a little more. I came into this game believing that the Cowboys could have some success, and they were able to with Darren McFadden and Robert Turbin, but they went away from it too earlier in my opinion.
7) Thought it was a nice call to run the flip to McFadden off the fake "Jet Sweep" to Lucky Whitehead. If there was something disappointing about the use of Whitehead, though, it was that the two plays that were designed for him really did nothing. The toss sweep and screen to him were well defended and went nowhere.
8) Brandon Carr and Barry Church should be embarrassed in the job that they did on the punt return, blocking Packers wide receiver Jeff Janis. For him to consistently beat their double-team blocks and hammer Whitehead hurt any type of field position that they could have had.
9) I am interested to see on tape how defensive end Randy Gregory played. There were several snaps where I felt like that he got off the ball well and was able to put some pressure on the Packers offensive tackles. I thought Gregory did a nice job of holding in there against the run as well.
10) Another week where this Dallas offense only converted one third down. I believe it was three or four times in this game where they were 1 yard short on each attempted play. It's amazing how that happens.[embeddedad0]
11) The Packers were able to score two red-zone touchdowns off what appeared to be busted coverages. Need to look at the tape, but I thought McClain might have been responsible for the James Starks pass out of the backfield and then Byron Jones got caught peeking on the Richard Rodgers grab.
12) Speaking of Jones, he had to finish the game at right cornerback. Morris Claiborne once again came up hurt and Jones had to make the switch. I have a feeling that we will see Jones finish the season at corner instead of getting more work at safety.
