The Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers enter their Week 6 contest at Lambeau Field on Sunday night coming off very different Week 5 showings.
The Cowboys fell victim to the trap game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Dallas was heavily favored, and rightly so, as Tampa Bay was 0-4 and starting an undrafted rookie quarterback. But Dallas failed to so much as show up and fell to 2-3 on the year.
The Packers, on the other hand, absolutely throttled the Chicago Bears in what was far and away Green Bay's best game on both sides of the ball. Now, all of the talk of the Packers' demise has been shelved.
These two teams squared off last season and battled to a 40-40 tie. Before that, Green Bay had beaten Dallas in eight of their last nine meetings.
Will the Packers continue their dominance over the Cowboys? Or will Dallas flip the script and pull out a win? Here's what experts from different media outlets think.
Sports Illustrated
- Albert Breer: Packers
- Eva Geitheim: Packers
- Mitch Goldich: Packers
- Mike Kadlick: Packers
- Gilberto Manzano: Packers
- Conor Orr: Packers
- John Pluym: Packers
- Matt Verderame: Packers
- Iain MacMillan: Packers
- Peter Dewey: Packers
ESPN
- Matt Bowen: Packers
- Mike Clay: Packers
- Jeremy Fowler: Cowboys
- Dan Graziano: Packers
- Kalyn Kahler: Packers
- Pamela Maldonado: Cowboys
- Eric Moody: Packers
- Jason Reid: Cowboys
- Ben Solak: Cowboys
- Lindsey Thiry: Packers
- Seth Wickersham: Packers
CBS Sports
- Pete Prisco: Packers
- Jared Dubin: Packers
- Ryan Wilson: Packers
- John Breech: Cowboys
- Tyler Sullivan: Cowboys
- Dave Richard: Packers
- Jamey Eisenberg: Packers
NFL.com
- Jeremy Bergman: Packers
- Brooke Cersosimo: Packers
- Gennaro Filice: Packers
- Bobby Kownack: Cowboys
- Dan Parr: Packers
Final expert tally and my prediction
- Packers: 26
- Cowboys: 5
The biggest problem for the Cowboys in this game is Green Bay's ability to move the ball through the air.
The Packers had struggled offensively over the first four contests, but they found their rhythm in Week 5 by torching the Bears with the deep ball.
Defending the pass has been a major issue for the Cowboys this season, with Dallas ranking 21st. That doesn't even do justice for how bad it has really been. The Cowboys' ranking would be even worse if teams weren't abusing Christian Parker's unit on the ground.
The good news for the Cowboys is the Packers haven't been able to run the football with any semblance of success, although Dallas presents a perfect get-right opportunity with their league-worst showing against the run this season.
Green Bay has also struggled to stop the run, ranking 24th, but the Cowboys aren't running the ball like they did last season and it remains to be seen if they can capitalize on Green Bay's woes.
Another problem for the Cowboys is the Packers are giving up the fifth-fewest yards per game through the air and if that holds true this week and the run game doesn't get on track, it's going to be tough sledding for Dallas' offense.
Joey Porter Jr.'s return is going to make a dent in Dallas' passing game struggles, but the Cowboys still have the other side of the field to defend and DaRon Bland has proven incapable of doing that. The slot is a another concern if Caleb Downs is still playing most or all of his snaps at safety like he has amid the Cowboys' slew of injuries at safety.
The Cowboys will get their points to keep this game close, but we're highly skeptical Dallas' secondary and pass-rush will do enough to keep Green Bay's passing attack at bay enough to emerge victorious.
Final score prediction: Packers 30, Cowboys 27
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