The second-guesses seem silly, when your tormentor is the NFL’s best quarterback not named Tom Brady.
Should Dak Prescott have taken a knee at the one instead of scoring on a 11-yard read-option with 1:13 left in the fourth quarter? Should the Cowboys have run the ball on second-and-2 instead of throwing a pass in the fourth quarter to make sure the clock kept running?
Maybe, defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli should’ve given Jourdan Lewis some help on Davante Adams’ game-winning touchdown catch? Or perhaps Marinelli should’ve rushed three, when he rushed four or four when he rushed three?
Stop it. Right now.
All you’re doing is driving yourself crazy.
Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers is the truth, one of the best to ever play. He keeps proving it against Dallas.
The Cowboys, once again, proved they have no idea how to stop him as he rallied the Packers to a victory in a game the Cowboys seemed destined to win.
He followed the same script in the playoffs at Lambeau Field in 2014. And again in the playoffs at AT&T Stadium last season.
And Rodgers delivered yet another soul-crushing defeat to the Cowboys on Sunday afternoon that had defensive end Tyron Crawford twice refer to Rodgers as a magician in a brief interview.
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Green Bay 35, Dallas 31.
Rodgers completed 19 of 29 passes for 221 yards and three touchdowns with a passer rating of 122.9. It’s the sixth time he’s had a passer rating of more than 100.0 and the sixth time he’s thrown at least three touchdown passes against a Marinelli-coached defense.
Just so you know, Rodgers is 14-2 against Marinelli’s defenses.
Rodgers was at his best in the final 73 seconds, when he led the Packers on a game-winning nine-play, 75-yard drive that culminated with a 12-yard touchdown to Adams with 11 seconds left.
He was 3-of-6 for 40 yards on the final drive, but his most significant play was a 15-yard scramble on third-and-8 from the Dallas 30. He was flushed left out of the pocket, outran David Irving to the edge and headed down the sideline and out of bounds after an 18-yard scramble with 21 second let.
Then he threw consecutive back-shoulder fades to Adams. Lewis broke up the first one; the second one was perfect.
“They ran the same play,” Lewis said. “He just put it in a perfect spot. I might have been able to do something, if I had turned my head a little faster, but I don’t know.
“He wasn’t going after me. He just wanted No.17 to get the ball. They were targeting him quite a bit.”
Now, your Cowboys have problems.
They are 2-3 after the alleged soft part of their schedule, they have lost consecutive home games — blowing leads of 11 and 15 in the process — and they could find out next week that Ezekiel Elliott is going to miss the next six games if the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals does not rule in his favor.
Then there’s the Cowboys’ raggedy rooty-poot defense. There’s really no other word for a unit that has allowed points on 14 of its last 18 possessions and has not forced a turnover in 13 quarters.
Green Bay scored on four touchdowns and a field goal on its seven possessions. The Packers had drives of eight, nine, nine, 13 and 14 plays during the game, and some dude named Aaron Jones rushed 19 times for 125 yards.
Dallas has given up three 100-yard rushers this season, and the Cowboys are 0-3 in those games.
The lead changed five times in the fourth quarter, but the Cowboys couldn’t make a play at winning time to secure a victory.
Now, they’ve already lost as many games before Texas-OU weekend than they did all of last season.
Prescott passed for 251 yards and three touchdowns. Elliott rushed for 116 yards and the Cowboys scored more than 30 points for the second consecutive week but it wasn’t enough.
They still talk about brotherhood and family and belief, but the Cowboys already find themselves at a crossroads. They’re two games behind the Philadelphia Eagles in the standings and time already feels like it’s running out on the season.
The good news? They won’t see Rodgers again in the regular season.
