The Cowboys are trying to get off a treadmill on Sunday, having sequenced a loss, a win, a loss,a win, and then another loss through their first five games. Dallas’s magnetic attraction to staying within a game of .500 has so far not crushed them in the NFC East, where no team has more than three wins and the presumptive-favorite Eagles are floundering in the early season. It may well not take more than nine wins to claim the East this year, but the Cowboys have to start stacking them at some point.

Their task Sunday in Green Bay will be a tough one. The Packers have had substantial injury problems but looked rejuvenated in putting a 31-7 beating on the Bears last week. While Chicago playing backup QBs Tyson Bagent and Case Keenum might explain their low point total, the Green Bay offense looked like a revelation. Now the Pack get to face a Dallas defense that lost to a rookie QB 10 days ago and has yet to keep an opponent under 20 points. Can the Cowboys show some mettle on the road?

Cowboys at Packers

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The Cowboys simply need to stop getting gashed in the run game. They’ve allowed a league-worst 168 rushing yards per game, a deficit that would surely keep them from containing even in a watered-down East if it held up much longer. The defense has also had problems containing the deep passing game, and that could be a particular problem against a Packers offense that is surging in that department. Christian Watson and Matthew Golden both had 50-yard receptions from Jordan Love in a win over the Bears last week and combined for 266 yards. The Cowboys’ secondary, including newly acquired cornerback Joey Porter Jr, have a serious task on their hands.

The Packers will have their own challenges on defense, especially as they still await the return of star edge rusher (and scorned former Cowboy) Micah Parsons. The additional absences of front players Edgerrin Cooper and Javon Hargrave could mean a lot of time for Dak Prescott to forge connections with one of the sport’s top wideout tandems in CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens. There is a reason why the more gambling-inclined fans of the sport expect this to be the highest-scoring contest of the week (or at least tied with Raiders-Bills), with the teams pegged to combine for 50-some points.