The Cowboys, fresh off a 17-point beatdown by the Bears, have to face Jerry’s ‘calculated’ decision to trade Parsons in primetime. The Packers, meanwhile, are looking to rebound from a stunning collapse against the Browns. But will a shared misery be enough to bridge the chasm of talent that now yawns between these 2 squads?

A little digital whisper from analyst Peter Bukowski revealed a single data point that is a nightmare for Dallas fans. “The Packers are 1st in defensive DVOA this season with Micah Parsons. The Cowboys are 32nd in defensive DVOA this season without him.” The ghost in the machine? It’s Micah, and he’s gone. This particular primetime matchup feels less like a football game and more like a reckoning.

The American Team’s defense has been a sieve, allowing 30.7 points and 397.7 yds per game. They’re dead last in defensive DVOA. The pass rush, a once-feared unit, has mustered only 4 sacks all season. It’s an offense that’s been doing well, ranking 4 in total yds per game, trying to carry a defense that seems to have left its spine somewhere between August and now.

Look, history is a funny thing. It’s a recurring motif in this particular series. The Packers are 6-0 at AT&T Stadium, a venue they seem to treat less like enemy territory and more like a second home. They average an absurd 37.6 points per game there, and that includes their 48-32 wild card rout of 2023. But this is not the same Dallas team they faced then.

After 5 seasons, HC Mike McCarthy is gone, replaced by Brian Schottenheimer. This is a different scheme, a new playbook.

An unwelcome homecoming at Jerry Jones’ world

As Packers coach Matt LaFleur put it, they’re “starting from scratch” in their preparation. “Certainly,” he added, “when you look at their offense, they’re an explosive offense, and they do a good job both in the run game and the pass game.”

The rub is that while the Cowboys have a new scheme, they also have a new problem: Jadeveon Clowney. Signed to address that anemic pass rush, he’s set to make his debut against a Green Bay O-line that is already hurting. Starting right tackle Zach Tom is out with an oblique injury, and if he’s not ready, Clowney, a guy who totaled 5.5 sacks and 44 pressures last season with the Panthers, could make this a very long night.

The thing is, Dak Prescott seems to be relishing the challenge. He’s had his ups and downs this season, but he’s confident when it comes to his former teammate. “All the reps of practice, going against Micah in times when he couldn’t hit me whether him getting back there, just the trash talk back and forth, me telling him he wouldn’t tackle me anyways, he still can’t bring me down,” Prescott told reporters.

And then, as if to pull back from the bravado and ground himself in the game, he added a dose of reality. “You got to get to that point,” he said. “But he’s got five guys up front, plus tight ends and running backs that he’s got to get through. Then we’ll worry about if he can get to me.” Prescott has been pressured on 50 dropbacks this season, which is the 4th most in the entire league—so he has a right to be concerned.

This whole thing feels less like a grudge match and more like an exorcism. The Cowboys are trying to chase away the demons of a historically bad start, while Parsons is the very embodiment of the problem they let walk as he shared about his broken relations with Jerry. And so, as the lights of Jerry’s World blaze down on Sunday night, you have to wonder if the ghost of number 1 will be the one dancing in the backfield, a haunting, unstoppable presence for the team that let him go.