Winners and Losers: Jonathan Gannon Leads Packers’ Victory Over Cowboys

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers entered their Week 6 matchup on Sunday Night Football against the Dallas Cowboys in a situation that could swing their season.

A win would give them a three-game winning streak and helped build on last week’s win over the Chicago Bears. A 4-2 record in their first six games, considering how the season started, could not be considered anything other than a significant achievement for the team.

A loss would drop them to 3-3 with a date against a Detroit Lions team that will be well rested off their bye week.

They started with a bang, riding a 17-0 lead to a 23-13 victory. There was a lot of meat left on the bone for the offense, but the defense was the star of this show. They lead off our list of winners and losers.

Winner: S Evan Williams

Evan Williams said earlier in the week that he was licking his chops facing an offense like Dallas, which wants to put the ball in the air as much as it can.

Williams was the first of two Packers defensive backs to get an interception in the first half. More on that in a little bit, as Williams was in perfect position to make the play.

Williams made plays at multiple levels of the defense on Sunday night. In the third quarter, he was sent on a blitz that got immediate pressure, forcing Prescott to get rid of the ball early. The pass fell incomplete and the Cowboys had to punt.

The Packers’ defense has not had its top two players for most of the season, and it appears that Williams has been weaponized by his defensive coordinator.

Winner: DC Jonathan Gannon

Jonathan Gannon may not have been the most popular choice to be the Packers’ defensive coordinator. It appeared that the most popular choice would have been former Wisconsin Badger Jim Leonhard, who ultimately landed with the Buffalo Bills.

Gannon was dealt a bad hand to start the season as his best player, Micah Parsons was out for the start of the season thanks to an ACL injury he suffered before Gannon was in town.

Just three games and one half into Gannon’s tenure, he lost his second best player when Edgerrin Cooper went down for the year with an achilles injury.

Gannon has simply soldiered on and helped captain Green Bay’s defense that has given up 20 points, which in the last two weeks against two powerful offenses

A year ago, the same Dallas offense with largely the same cast of characters scored 40 on the Packers.

They scored seven while the game was in the balance.

He weaponizes his best players. He keeps opposing quarterbacks guessing. We often talk about play sequencing for an offensive play caller, but Green Bay’s first takeaway of the night was the result of Gannon sequencing plays early in the game.

Gannon was not waiting around to allow Dak Prescott to find a rhythm. He was sending pressure early and often at Dallas’ quarterback.

With the Packers’ defense facing a third down following a Jordan Love interception nursing a seven point lead, Gannon tricked Prescott. He showed pressure with Evan Williams, but Williams dropped at the last second. Prescott never saw him as he fired the ball toward the end zone, and Williams had an interception.

Gannon, unlike some of his predecessors, does not wait around hoping for his front four to win. If they’re not getting pressure, he’s going to send more guys to try and make the quarterback uncomfortable.

Whenever the Cowboys had a chance to snatch some momentum, the Packers’ defense had an answer. More importantly, Gannon had an answer.

Winner: QB Jordan Love

One of Jordan Love’s strengths is his ability to keep an even keel even as everything else around him continues to unravel.

Limited protection? That’s fine. No run game? No big deal. Receivers dropping passes? Love keeps putting the ball where it needs to be.

Love had one touchdown pass in the first three quarters of play, but easily could have had four. Matthew Golden dropped two. Christian Watson dropped one. Love’s game on Sunday was a case where the final stat line is not going to show how well he played.

Save for one poor decision on an interception that he threw to Dee Winters, Love was excellent on a night where his team needed him to be. If he can get a little bit of help from his supporting cast, the Packers’ offense could be really dangerous down the stretch.

Winner: CB Brandon Cisse

Yes, it was a gift, but sometimes gifts are what it takes when you play cornerback. With the Cowboys’ offense driving and threatening to cut into Green Bay’s 10-0 lead, Dak Prescott tried to find his top target, CeeDee Lamb.

Lamb fell out of his break on his route and Prescott hit Cisse right in the numbers.

Charles Woodson used to always say that if a cornerback catches the passes that are thrown to him, he’ll lead the league.

Cisse may not lead the league, but he’ll never forget his first career interception.

Loser: WR Matthew Golden

Matthew Golden was so close to having a first half for the ages. He caught a touchdown pass on Green Bay’s first series of the game to open the scoring. He also converted a key third down on Green Bay’s final possession of the first half which led to a touchdown to give the Packers a 17-0 lead.

That was the good news. The bad news was the rest of the first half.

Golden was two plays away from having three touchdowns in the first half, and well over 100 yards receiving. Two separate passes from Jordan Love hit Golden in the hands, but he was unable to corral either of them.

He was also flagged for taunting on the first drive of the game. Quibble with whether the flag was weak or not, but it did happen.

His first target in the second half also resulted in a drop. It was a poor throw, but both hands touched the ball on the play.  

Maybe it was the bright lights of Sunday Night Football. Maybe it was the prospect of playing the team from his home state.

Either way, the drops are uncharacteristic from Golden, but those are the types of plays that separate a good receiver from a great one.

Loser: Edge Dani Dennis-Sutton

Dennis-Sutton had a gift of a sack when he came free on a rush at Dak Prescott in the first half, but left his feet, allowing Prescott to escape.

Later in the game, he gave the Cowboys a gift of his own. Prescott threw the ball out of bounds on third-and-6 with mere seconds remaining in the third quarter. The Packers thought they were off the field, but Dennis-Sutton had extra things to say to Tyler Guyton, which resulted in a taunting penalty.

The taunting penalty was part of an offsetting foul thanks to a holding call against Dallas, but it gave the Cowboys a mulligan. They would convert on a completion to George Pickens.

Matt LaFleur was livid with Dennis-Sutton, as he was immediately pulled off the field following the play.

The Cowboys’ drive that should have ended in a punt, resulted in a failed fourth down thanks to Javon Bullard’s heroics.  Still, it’s a play that should not have happened at all. It’s a play that will hurt them against the league’s better teams.

Loser: TE Tucker Kraft

The idea coming into the offseason was that the Packers’ passing game was going to be better because it had fewer bodies to take away targets from the likes of Matthew Golden, Christian Watson, Jayden Reed, and Tucker Kraft.

The Packers were almost stretched to their limit in the first half. Tucker Kraft caught a pass on the sideline before taking a seat there. Kraft did not return for the rest of the first half, before making his return after halftime.

The point is more in what could have happened had Kraft not been able to return to the game. The Packers’ quartet of pass catchers would have been down to just a duo with Golden and Watson the only healthy remaining targets on the field.

When Kraft was on the field, he was not impactful. His first play after halftime was a drag route that could have gotten the Packers out of a hole from a first down holding penalty. Instead, Kraft did not focus on details and only got one foot in bounds.

He did not break a tackle at the goal line in the first half that could have given them a touchdown when they had to settle for a field goal. He added another drop on a tight end screen on a third down late in the third quarter.

Those were tough plays, but those are the plays the Packers are asking Kraft to make. He has not made enough of them to start the season.

Loser: Run Game

Green Bay’s run game does nothing well. They don’t block. They don’t pick up the yards each play is blocked for. They don’t make any plays outside of structure.

Josh Jacobs could have made our list of winners tonight, and he’s technically not on the roster as things stand.

Green Bay ran for 59 yards on 24 carries before Jordan Love’s kneel downs.

It’s not as if they were facing a formidable foe. Dallas’ defense was the worst in football against the run. You’d never know it if you just watched them try to defend Green Bay’s anemic ground game.

It didn’t matter against Dallas. It will matter at some point that the Packers cannot even keep defenses honest with their run game.

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