(Arlington) Jordan Love threw three touchdown passes, Aaron Jones ran for three touchdowns and the Green Bay Packers stunned the Dallas Cowboys 48-32 on Sunday in a first-round NFL playoff duel.
Darnell Savage also contributed by returning an interception 64 yards to the end zone. Romeo Doubs had a career-high 151 passing yards a week after being hospitalized with a chest injury.
Love thus won his first playoff game, maintaining a 6-2 record at the end of the season to give the Packers (10-8) the last ticket to the playoffs in the National Conference. They now have a meeting with the 49ers in San Francisco.
“We came here with the belief that we were going to dominate,” Love said after the match. A lot of people had eliminated us, but we didn’t care. »
Dak Prescott had two interceptions before throwing three touchdown passes late in the game in a losing cause. The Cowboys hadn’t lost at home since their 2022 home opener; their winning streak thus ended at 16.
PHOTO SAM HODDE, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Dak Prescott gets tackled by Keisean Nixon.
The Texas team had never allowed so many points in a playoff game. His previous high was 38.
The Cowboys, who haven’t reached the National Conference finals since their last Super Bowl title 28 years ago, have never trailed by more than eight points this season at AT&T Stadium. However, the Packers led 27-0 at halftime.
The loss will raise questions about the future of head coach Mike McCarthy as the Cowboys have lost two of their last three home games in the playoffs. The team is also the first to win at least 12 games in three consecutive seasons without reaching a conference final.
“I’m in shock, honestly,” Prescott said. From the start of the match, we were beaten. There is no way to see things differently or soften the outcome. It’s a shock. »
PHOTO MICHAEL AINSWORTH, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Aaron Jones scored three touchdowns in his team’s victory.
The Packers have never lost in six games at AT&T Stadium, including the Super Bowl against the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2010. Led by Aaron Rodgers, they also won a playoff duel against the Cowboys in 2016.
“We knew it would take time,” Jones said. You could hear me during the season, and hear other players [dire] : “Here we are, we are there…” We managed to overcome the obstacles. »
Love had passes of 22, 26 and 39 yards in the first half to get going. He finished the game with 16 completions on 21 attempts for 272 yards. The Packers scored touchdowns on seven of their first eight possessions.
Prescott completed 41 of 60 passes for 403 yards and three touchdowns, all scored by tight end Jake Ferguson.