The much-hyped, highly anticipated return of the All-Pro pass rusher Micah Parsons to Dallas was less a vengeful storm and more a quiet fog. 1 sack, 3 tackles, and a lot of watching.

It was a beautiful, chaotic mess that ended, almost poetically, in a 40-40 tie, the first tie of the 2025 season & a result that felt like a shrug after 3 hours of heavyweight haymakers.

1. The real star Pickens

With CeeDee Lamb sidelined, the memo in the Cowboys’ locker room must have been simple: someone needs to step up. Enter George Pickens, who played like a man possessed. His acrobatic sideline grab, snagged between 2 Packers defenders while somehow getting his feet down, was the kind of play that shifts momentum. It set up a Dak Prescott TD sneak and announced that Dallas wasn’t going down easy. 

Prescott was dealing, finding 6 different receivers and looking every bit the commander of an offense that refused to flinch. Pickens finished with 8 catches for 134 yds and 2 crucial scores, becoming the hero nobody saw coming.

2. Jordan Love and Romeo Doubs were cooking

But with every Dallas punch, Green Bay had an answer. And that answer was usually named Romeo Doubs. The Packers receiver was a nightmare for a Dallas secondary that looked porous all night, hauling in 3 touchdowns. Jordan Love, for his part, was surgical. 

The Packers offense was a buzzsaw, converting on 10 of their 14 third downs and racking up 489 total yards. This wasn’t a football game; it was a battle.

3. The Cowboys’ Pass Rush Was a Rumor

They officially tried to sack Jordan Love 12 times. The result? One single solitary sack. Love was pressured on just one of his first 14 drop-backs, giving him all the time in the world to pick apart the secondary. The absence of Parsons’ disruptive energy on their side of the ball felt less like a tactical problem and more like a spiritual void, just like Malik Hooker.

It was a game that saw both teams combine for over 925 total yards and 58 first downs. Superstars faded while backups became heroes. Defenses vanished.

4. The kickers had the final say

After 6 lead changes and enough offensive fireworks to last a month, it all came down to the guys who get paid to be calm. First, it was Parsons, finally, making his presence felt by chasing down Prescott in overtime to force a Brandon Aubrey field goal. A small play, but a significant one. It gave Green Bay the ball back with a sliver of hope. 

Then, after the Packers drove down the field, Brandon McManus drilled a 34-yarder as the final second of overtime bled off the clock. A perfect kick to secure a perfectly imperfect result.

5. Matt LaFleur nearly coached himself into a loss

With the clock bleeding out in overtime and a tie-sealing field goal practically begging to be kicked, what does Green Bay do? They let Jordan Love try to play hero, throwing for the end zone on third down. The pass fell incomplete, the clock nearly hit zero, and a collective gasp likely sucked the air out of every sports bar in Wisconsin.

They got the kickoff, sure, but it was a self-inflicted wound that almost turned a hard-fought tie into a baffling defeat. LaFleur has some things to answer for this week.

A contest of breathtaking offensive plays and head-scratching defensive lapses, a showcase of backup players becoming heroes and superstars fading into the background, with Bradshaw’s insights for Jones. A 40-40 tie feels right.