Packers seek to build on their momentum as Cowboys attempt to bounce back from ugly loss

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Jordan Love and the Green Bay Packers are aiming to build off their best win of the season as they prepare to host a Dallas team attempting to bounce back from an embarrassing loss.

The Packers (3-2) are above .500 for the first time this season after a 31-7 blowout of the Chicago Bears. They’re chasing their third straight win in a Sunday night matchup with the Cowboys, who fell 24-16 at home to the previously winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Oct. 8.

“You’ve got to keep stacking,” Love said. “We talk about it in the locker room all the time and team buildings. You have a game like that, you’ve got to be able to follow it up with another great performance.”

The Cowboys (2-3) are eager to make up for their bad performance against Tampa Bay and fix their slumping defense. Dallas has allowed a league-high 6.4 yards per play.

Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer brought longtime NFL defensive coach Mike Pettine out of retirement this week to work as a senior assistant to beleaguered defensive coordinator Christian Parker. Pettine was the Packers’ defensive coordinator from 2018-20.

“We have to coach better,” Schottenheimer said. “We’ve got to play better. I think our players will be the first ones to say there’s things that they need to do better. There’s things I need to do better. And so no one is sitting here pointing the fingers at Christian Parker. But as the head coach, you have to make decisions that you think helps you win games. And that’s in all three phases.”

These teams met last year at Arlington, Texas, and tied 40-40 in a shootout that ended with nine straight scoring drives. It was the most consecutive scoring drives to end a game since at least 1933.

Last year’s matchup also marked the return of Micah Parsons to AT&T Stadium, a month after the Cowboys traded the superstar edge rusher to the Packers. Parsons won’t be playing Sunday as he continues his recovery from a torn ACL that ended his 2025 season, but this game features two former Packers first-round picks coming to Lambeau Field as visiting players for the first time.

Defensive tackle Kenny Clark earned three Pro Bowl selections in nine seasons with the Packers before heading to Dallas in the Parsons trade. Linebacker Rashan Gary went to Dallas in a separate trade earlier this year after collecting 46 1/2 sacks for the Packers from 2019-25.

“It’s going to be awesome to get to go back to Lambeau, play a game and go up there to go get a win,” Clark said. “I’m really excited.”

Need to know

Dallas (2-3) at Green Bay (3-2).

When/where to watch: Sunday, 8:20 p.m. EDT, NBC.

Latest odds: Packers by 1.

Against the spread: Cowboys 3-2; Packers 2-3.

Last week: Cowboys lost 24-16 at home to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers; Packers won 31-7 at home over the Chicago Bears.

Last meeting: Packers and Cowboys tied 40-40 in Arlington, Texas, on Sept. 28, 2025.

Series record: Packers lead 22-17-1.

Matchup to watch

Cowboys passing game vs. Packers pass defense: Green Bay has seven interceptions while allowing only six touchdown passes this season, but the Packers haven’t faced any quarterbacks of Dak Prescott’s caliber. Prescott has thrown for over 275 yards in each of his last four games. Dallas has one of the NFL’s top receiving duos in CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens.

Stats and stuff

— Cowboys RB Javonte Williams has six touchdown runs to rank fourth in the league, behind Buffalo’s Josh Allen (eight), Baltimore’s Derrick Henry (seven) and Detroit’s Jahmyr Gibbs (seven).

— Pickens has 1,784 yards receiving since the start of the 2025 season. The only NFL players with more during that time are Seattle’s Jaxon Smith-Njigba (2,376) and the Los Angeles Rams’ Puka Nacua (2,052).

— Green Bay has won 10 of its last 12 meetings with Dallas, including regular-season and playoff matchups. Dallas’ only win during that stretch was a 30-16 victory at Lambeau Field on Oct. 16, 2016.

— The Packers have won their last nine October games.

— Love has thrown at least two touchdown passes in each of the Packers’ first five games. He has passed for more than 300 yards three times this season.

— Christian Watson and Matthew Golden make Green Bay the only team with two players ranked among the top 10 in the NFL in yards receiving. Watson is fifth with 474 and Golden is ninth with 397.

— Packers S Xavier McKinney has three interceptions to tie Minnesota’s Byron Murphy Jr. for the NFL lead. McKinney picked off two passes in the Bears game.

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AP Pro Football Writer Schuyler Dixon in Frisco, Texas, contributed to this report.

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