What was supposed to be a story about Micah Parsons’ emotional return to Dallas and Dak Prescott’s determination to protect his home field turned into something much stranger Sunday night: a record-setting offensive shootout that ended with no winner.
The Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys traded haymakers for more than four hours under the AT&T Stadium roof before settling for a 40-40 tie on Sunday Night Football. It marked the second-highest scoring tie in pro football history, trailing only a 43-43 AFL draw between the Raiders and Boston Patriots in 1964.
Brandon Aubrey and Brandon McManus exchanged short overtime field goals, with neither side able to finish off promising drives in the extra period. McManus had already nailed a clutch 53-yarder at the end of regulation to force OT.
Exactly one month after Dallas (1-2-1) stunned the league by trading their star edge rusher to Green Bay (2-1-1), Parsons was back in Arlington. And while he didn’t dominate statistically, his lone sack may have saved the Packers from a crushing overtime defeat.
On the Cowboys’ opening possession in OT, Prescott rolled right and hit Jalen Tolbert for a spectacular 34-yard gain to the Packers’ 5. Dallas appeared primed to walk off with a win — until Parsons caught Prescott from behind for no gain. The drive stalled, forcing Aubrey’s chip-shot 22-yarder.
“I wanted to win more than anything,” Parsons said afterward. “We didn’t get that. Neither of us did.”
The game itself was a quarterback showcase. Prescott and Jordan Love each threw three touchdown passes in regulation, fueling a stretch of seven consecutive lead-changing touchdowns in the second half.
Prescott threw for 319 yards, ran for a score, and leaned heavily on George Pickens, who had 134 yards and two TDs filling in for injured star CeeDee Lamb. Javonte Williams added a 1-yard wildcat TD run that briefly gave Dallas the lead late in the fourth quarter.
Love countered with 337 yards and three scoring strikes to Romeo Doubs, who finished with six catches for 58 yards. Josh Jacobs powered Green Bay’s ground game with 157 total yards and two TDs.
“Back and forth, it felt like a playoff game,” Love said. “We just couldn’t get the last one.”
Green Bay looked in control early, going up 13-0 after Love’s second touchdown to Doubs. But Dallas pulled off a rare highlight when Juanyeh Thomas blocked McManus’ PAT attempt and Markquese Bell returned it for a two-point conversion the other way — the first in Cowboys franchise history.
That unusual swing helped keep Dallas within striking distance, and the three-point margin lingered until McManus’ booming 53-yarder as time expired in the fourth quarter.
The tie was Dallas’ first since 1969, and the Packers’ first since 2018. It also became just the fifth NFL game since 2013 in which both teams scored in overtime, all ending in ties decided by matching field goals.
The Packers remain unbeaten at AT&T Stadium at 5-0-1, including their Super Bowl XLV win to close the 2010 season.
Packers (2-1-1): Bye week, then host Cincinnati on Oct. 12. Cowboys (1-2-1): Visit the New York Jets next Sunday. For Parsons and Prescott, it wasn’t the victory they wanted — just another unforgettable chapter in the Cowboys-Packers rivalry.
