Jordan Love threw a touchdown pass on Green Bay's opening score to give the Packers a 7-0 lead over the Cowboys on Sunday Night Football. Pro Football Talk's Myles Simmons wrote that Dallas' defense "still looks porous to start" the game. Yahoo Sports ran the same item. Our box score for the game, which was still live with 2:00 left in the second quarter, shows Green Bay up 10-0 after a Trey Smack 25-yard field goal. It credits the touchdown to Matthew Golden, who has three catches for 50 yards. The reporting we have doesn't name the receiver or describe the play.
The early numbers back up Simmons' read. Green Bay has 186 yards to Dallas' 105 and is converting 7 of 8 third downs. The Packers have held the ball for 15:33 against 12:27. Love is 11 of 16 for 158 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He has also been sacked twice. Dak Prescott is 10 of 13 for 80 yards with an interception, caught by Dee Winters, and has not thrown a touchdown. Dallas is 3 of 6 on third down and has only 25 rushing yards.
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Green Bay played without several linemen. Acme Packing Company's Justis Mosqueda reported that Jager Burton, Aaron Banks and Donovan Jennings were scratched, and that the team had already ruled out cornerback Benjamin St-Juste with an injury. Mosqueda wrote that the three line scratches were expected, because the Packers needed to scratch three more players. Yahoo's inactives item adds that cornerback Brandon Cisse will play. Cisse has 21 tackles and 1.5 sacks in five games this season, so he is a regular in the secondary, and that matters with St-Juste out.
The Packers came in at 3-2 and fourth in the NFC North, on a two-game winning streak. They beat Chicago 31-7 and Tampa Bay 17-14 after a 35-14 loss to Atlanta on Sept. 24. Love had his best game of the year against the Bears, going 25 of 31 for 367 yards and two touchdowns. A fast start here keeps that going.
Dallas is 2-3 and second in the NFC East, coming off a 24-16 loss to Tampa Bay. Before that came a 34-30 win at Houston and a 34-31 loss to Baltimore. Those scores show a defense that has been giving up points. Prescott had 1,381 passing yards on a 67.2 completion rate entering the night, and he now has to work from behind.
Acme Packing Company's Evan Western noted that this is the first of Green Bay's two Sunday night games in 2026. He asked whether it could match last year's meeting, a 40-40 tie at AT&T Stadium. Nothing in the early going suggests a repeat. Both teams have a short turnaround. Green Bay plays at Detroit on Sunday, Oct. 25, and Dallas is at Philadelphia on Monday, Oct. 26.
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