The 40-40 Club

Nearly every NFL fan had this game circled on their schedule. It was a big event even when the schedule was announced in May. After all, it's the Green Bay Packers and the Dallas Cowboys. A huge clash between conference rivals; between two teams who had been each other's biggest non-division rivals for six decades.

And then, August 28, 2025 happened. What took place on that day? Oh, nothing major. Just the Cowboys dealing Micah Parsons to the Packers for next to nothing. That's all. The game was set for exactly a month after the trade, and it was at Jerry World. Micah Parsons was returning home. The day was already crazy enough as it was. It was the final day of the MLB season, and it saw, among other things, the New York Mets actually eliminated from postseason contention--and I promise, that will be another story for another time for sure.

The Packers were coming off a very shocking loss in Cleveland to the Browns, while the Cowboys decided to one-up us in the embarrassing loss department by getting blasted by the Chicago Bears. Each team needed a win to make up for the previous week. The Packers got things started on the right foot; an opening drive touchdown from Romeo Doubs. It was 7-0 after the first quarter, and the Cowboys' offense continued to sputter. Packers struck again, and it was Doubs again. The extra point was not only blocked, it was actually returned all the way by Dallas for two points. So instead of 14-0, it was 13-2 in the Packers' favor. What followed was a few hiccups from the Packers; first, an interception that ended up resulting in Dallas' first TD--a run by Dak Prescott. The Packers' next possession ended in a fumble, and Prescott later tossed it to George Pickens for another score. In just under a minute, Dallas put up two touchdowns, had a 16-13 lead at halftime, and started the second half with the ball.

Dallas' first possession of the second half ended with a punt, but the Packers drove down the field, and Josh Jacobs ran it in. We led 20-16, but that lead was gone, as Jake Ferguson made it 23-20 Dallas very late in the third quarter. Jacobs would strike again, an 18-yard run to make it 27-23 Packers. But again, that lead went bye-bye, as Dallas went down the field and Javonte Williams ran it in. Cowboys led 30-27. Now it was getting dire. Clock was running down to the two minute warning, and I was getting exasperated at the conservative play-calling. I was begging for a pass... and got it! Jordan Love and Romeo Doubs connected again! 15-yard score, Packers led 34-30! That was it! We had this!

Until we didn't.

1:45 remained when we took the lead back again. Out of the 105 remaining seconds, it took just 62 of them for Dallas to take the lead yet again. This was thanks to a huge kickoff return, and they went the rest of the way. In the end, it was Pickens again. Touchdown. 37-34 Cowboys. Oh boy. Thankfully, Dallas was nice enough to leave 43 seconds left for us, and we had all of our timeouts, and we were down by three. So we did not need to go all the way, and this is where the conservative play is warranted. We did make it to range, but it was a long one. A 53-yarder for Brandon McManus. He nails it!

So we have overtime; the second OT game this season--with both taking place at Jerry World. Cowboys won the toss, and it looked like we would hold them at bay... until Prescott tossed that long bomb to Jalen Tolbert. At that moment, I swear these words came out of my mouth: "The Rodgers defense is back." By that, I meant that awful defense that spent years wrecking Aaron Rodgers prime years and keeping him from getting another ring; the defense that was giving up everything and anything. I also had another thought: "Thank goodness opening drive TDs don't end the game anymore."

That's not all we Packers fans are thankful for:

This, folks, is why we traded for Parsons and paid handsomely for him. We all figured that Parsons would sack Dak about five or six times, but this was the only time that he got to his former QB. It was a clutch sack, though. This sack forced Dallas to kick a chip shot FG, giving Dallas another lead. With 4:40 left, we had our shot. We moved down the field, we had to burn our last timeout, but we were in the red zone. Then a crazy thing happened. After some short passes didn't go our way, 3rd down saw us take our sweet time at the line of scrimmage, and actually make an attempt at the end zone! Thankfully, the incompletion did leave just one second on the clock, and as the 4200th and final second of the game ticked away, McManus nailed another field goal, this time from just 34 yards.

The final score: Packers 40, Cowboys 40. Holy shitballs! This game had literally everything and anything. Three touchdowns from Romeo Doubs, Jordan Love and Dak Prescott each putting up clinics, Parsons sacks Dak, a blocked extra point returned all the way, and two clutch game-tying field goals--the last one sealing the fate. This was the greatest tie I had ever seen. Tie games are usually messy, but this one was glorious. I've always liked ties, mainly because they're rare, and they are a monkey wrench in the standings.

In 20 years of Sunday Night Football on NBC, this is only the second tie to occur. The only other one was the hilariously messy 6-6 game between the Seattle Seahawks and the Arizona Cardinals in 2016, and there have been some rare close calls--most notably the famous final game of the 2021 regular season. At 40-40, this is the highest scoring tie in NFL history; overall, the only higher scoring tie was a 43-43 deadlock between the Boston Patriots and the Oakland Raiders in the AFL in 1964. This is the 30th tie game since overtime was introduced into the NFL in 1974, and the seventh to involve the Packers. No team has more ties in that span than Green Bay. As for Dallas, this is their first post-merger tie; their last tie came in 1969.

SNF's 20th year on NBC is on fire! We are three weeks removed from the classic between the Buffalo Bills and the Baltimore Ravens, which ended with the Bills winning 41-40. and now we have this 40-40 tie. The only negative from this: the tie knocked us out of first place in the NFC North, as the Lions (who blasted the Browns) took the lead in the division. But we did beat them this year, so we are still fine. As for the Cowboys, tying the Packers is a big improvement over barely beating/coming close to tying the Giants, and getting blasted by the Bears. Again, this was a very wild, insane, chaotic, and thrilling game, and I still can't believe what occurred!

For the Packers, we're going on bye next week, and we'll be back in action in two weeks--a home game against the Bengals. The Cowboys will be off to MetLife against the Jets next week.