Dallas Cowboys vs. Green Bay Packers: Green Bay Grades, Notes and Quotes

With head coach Mike McCarthy calling the offensive plays for the first time this season, the Green Bay Packers defeated the Dallas Cowboys, 28-7, on Sunday at Lambeau Field. 

News broke a few hours before kickoff that McCarthy would be resuming the responsibilities he had before this offseason when he passed on play-calling duties to associate head coach Tom Clements. 

The win now gives the Packers (9-4) sole possession of first place in the NFC North with a one-game lead over the Minnesota Vikings in the division. 

On the other hand, the Cowboys (4-9) fall further back in the NFC East as their playoff hopes become more distant. 

McCarthy's balanced offensive attack featured a punishing ground game and effective passing. Eddie Lacy racked up his third 100-yard rushing game in four weeks as he and his backfield mates combined to gain 230 rushing yards. 

Cowboys running back Darren McFadden had a big game on the ground himself, but to no avail. The Green Bay defense shut down the Dallas offense when it mattered in the fourth quarter. 

Let's now get to some position grades and review the important notes and quotes from the Packers' Week 14 victory over the Cowboys. 

Position Grades for Packers

Joe Robbins/Getty Images

Position	Grade
Quarterback	B+
Running Back	A+
Wide Receiver	A
Tight End	B
Offensive Line	A+
Defensive Line	D
Linebacker	B-
Defensive Back	A+
Special Teams	A
Coaching	A

Quarterback

Although the running game stole the show Sunday, Aaron Rodgers was effective throwing the ball when needed. He finished with a 99.5 passer rating, 218 yards and two touchdowns in a game where the star quarterback unusually took a backseat to the backfield. 

Running Back

Mike McCarthy and the Packers made a clear effort to get Eddie Lacy involved as the lead back once again. Lacy's 24 carries and 124 rushing yards were both season highs as he led a dominant ground attack that couldn't be stopped all day. James Starks had 71 yards on 11 rushes of his own. The Packers as a team gained 230 rushing yards on 44 carries—an impressive 5.2 yards per rush. 

Wide Receiver

Although they weren't called upon often, Green Bay's receivers were reliable complements to the run game. Randall Cobb led all pass-catchers with eight receptions for 81 yards while James Jones had four catches and 49 receiving yards of his own. 

Tight End

The Packers tight ends were more useful as run-blockers on Sunday rather than receivers. Justin Perillo and Richard Rodgers helped seal the edge for Lacy and Starks on numerous runs. Still, Rodgers' lone catch went for a touchdown—tying him for a team-high seven on the year. 

Offensive Line

When the tailbacks behind you rack up over 200 rushing yards in any game, you know you dominated in the trenches. That's exactly what the Packers offensive line did on Sunday—even with backup center JC Tretter in the middle. The O-line consistently opened up holes for Lacy and Starks and allowed McCarthy to continually go back to the run throughout the game. 

Defensive Line

Cowboys running back Darren McFadden racked up 111 rushing yards on just nine carries—an astonishing 12.3 yards-per-rush average—while backup Robert Turbin threw in 51 yards on seven rushes. Green Bay's defensive line got dominated all game by Dallas' talented O-line and repeatedly got burned for long runs. The unit is lucky the Cowboys didn't run the ball more as they were forced to throw the ball late when trailing by multiple touchdowns. 

Linebacker

Clay Matthews continues to impress in his new position as he was disruptive all game as a pass-blitzer up the middle. He and outside backer Jayrone Elliot combined to disrupt Dallas quarterback Matt Cassel on passing downs late in the game. Matthews also got his first sack since Oct. 11—giving him 5.5 on the season. Still, the linebacking corps were part of the problem as the Cowboys ran the ball at will early on. 

Defensive Back

Although Cassel is no star passer, Green Bay's secondary shut down any chance of Dallas' quarterback leading a comeback in the second half. Sam Shields dominated Cowboys wideout Dez Bryant in the first quarter as the two went head-to-head all over the field—Shields' first-quarter interception in the end zone on a pass Bryant normally catches set the tone for the day. When Shields left with a concussion in the first half, the Packers defensive backs didn't miss a beat, as Bryant was held to just one reception for nine yards in the entirety of the game—the star receiver's lowest single-game totals since his rookie season in 2010.

Special Teams

Mason Crosby hit all four of his extra points—extending his perfect streak on point-afters to 32 in 2015. Jeff Janis also made a couple of nice tackles as a gunner on punts. Although he's still returning kicks, the second-year player is proving his worth in multiple ways on special teams. 

Coaching

It was Mike McCarthy's first time calling offensive plays since last year—and the offense put on one of the most dominant performances of the season. You have to give credit to the head coach for taking it upon himself to make the offense better heading into the final four games before the playoffs. Also, McCarthy made a concerted effort to get Lacy back in the mix as the feature back—a move that paid off on Sunday. McCarthy's only blemish came in the first quarter when the offense failed to score on three straight plays from the 1-yard line. Still, it's tough to put that on the coach.

McCarthy Takes over Offensive Play-Calling

Morry Gash/Associated Press

McCarthy took back the Packers' offensive play-calling duties Sunday for the first time all season. It was a job that had long been his before he handed off the responsibilities to associate head coach Tom Clements in the offseason. 

When the Packers started 6-0 in 2015, all seemed fine with the offense. But the team's recent 2-4 stretch ahead of Week 14—including consecutive losses at Lambeau Field—couldn't be ignored. 

Green Bay's offense, a perennial top-10 unit with McCarthy as the play-caller, entered Sunday's game ranked 22nd in yards, 15th in rushing, 23rd in passing and 26th in third-down conversion rate this season under Clements' direction.

According to Rob Demovsky of ESPN, McCarthy said he informed Clements of the decision on Monday, who then moved from the sideline to the coaches box for Sunday's contest. 

Here's more from Demovsky on McCarthy's decision:

"

McCarthy was following the advice of people in the organization urging him to take over the task, but he had been reluctant to do so because it might create a negative perception about the performance of Clements and new offensive coordinator Edgar Bennett.

"

If the Packers' 28-7 win over the Cowboys is any evidence, it seems McCarthy made the right choice to give himself play-calling duties back. 

McCarthy, Rodgers on New Play-Calling Plans

Mike Roemer/Associated Press

After Green Bay's win, McCarthy offered some insight into what went into his decision to assume play-calling duties.

"In regards to the play-calling, I think it's really, you know an adjustment in our process, and we've been, most of us have been, together for a long time as a coaching staff," McCarthy said, via Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

"You know, Tom and I spoke on Monday and the reality of it all is Tom has been calling it, and I've been suggesting things and we just shift gears, where I called it today and he was suggesting things. So it worked out. The decision was made because I feel as the leader of this football team, I've got to make sure maximize all the opportunities and resources to (save) and to give our team the chance to win."

McCarthy also said he will continue to call plays moving forward, though he admitted it wasn't easy demoting Clements in the first place. 

"Personally, it didn't feel very good, it didn't feel good at all," McCarthy said, according to a report by ESPN. "That's a challenge with these types of decisions, but professionally it was what I felt I needed to do. And regards to Tom Clements, he's a big part of our success here, has been since Day 1, and will be as we continue forward. So this is an adjustment in our process and this is the way we'll go forward."

As for quarterback Aaron Rodgers, he added a humorous take on what the change in play-calling means to him, per Ryan Wood of the Green Bay Press-Gazette. 

"

Rodgers on biggest adjustment for him with MM calling plays: "Just trying to understand what he's saying. He has that Pittsburgh dialect."

— Ryan Wood (@ByRyanWood) December 14, 2015"

Rodgers did get serious, though, as he noted there were fewer plays called where it was up to him to check to the best play possible. 

"I think we just had a lot more plays that we felt good about running without checks," Rodgers said, per Silverstein. "We'll have run-to-pass checks, pass-to-run checks and free plays sometimes in a certain play. Tonight, it was more plays without a lot of checks."

Packers Run Wild in Victory

Jeffrey Phelps/Associated Press

There was a moment in the fourth quarter when the Cowboys trailed 14-7 with momentum on their side and enough time to make things interesting. The Packers offense had been forced to punt on all four of their drives in the third quarter despite racking up 255 total yards before halftime. The Lambeau Field crowd fell eerily silent as they sensed a Dallas comeback in the works. 

Yet, at the start of that final quarter, Green Bay got the ball at its own 16-yard line and would put together a statement drive that put the game away for good. 

The Packers marched 84 yards in 12 plays—eating up 6:34 in the process—with Starks' 30-yard touchdown run giving the home team a two-score lead. 

The drive epitomized what the offense did so well in the first half—run the ball and run it well.

Lacy and Starks each starred in the backfield Sunday as both found the end zone and averaged at least five yards per carry. Lacy would finish with the better numbers overall (24 carries for 124 rushing yards), but Starks' day wasn't too shabby either. His 71 yards on 11 rushes provided a nice change of pace in the run game. 

When the dust settled, the Packers would rush for 230 yards against the Cowboys—25 more yards than they had through the air—as they awoke a dormant offense that's struggled of late.

Lacy, McCarthy on the RB's Bounce-Back Game

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Lacy has now run for at least 100 yards in three of the last four games—including a season-high 124 on Sunday against the Cowboys. 

This week, though, all eyes were on the third-year back after he was demoted for missing curfew before last Thursday's game. Well, 24 carries and a century-mark performance certainly answered any questions on whether or not he would earn back the playing time. 

After Sunday's win, Lacy saw a silver lining in getting benched last week. 

"I know the last few weeks, things were a little different, but I think it was just the way to show me this is what I love to do and, without it, I'm miserable," Lacy said, per Ryan Wood of the Green Bay Press-Gazette. "And with Coach taking me out and going through that, it just showed me that's not what I want. And by him giving me a chance to come out and redeem myself, I think it was just a blessing in disguise."

Lacy then opened up even more.

"It showed me without this game, without this sport, I'm not happy," he said, per Wood. "I'm unhappy because this is what I like. So I think it was just something that had to happen to jump-start and keep my mind focused like I’ve always been."