5 takeaways from Packers' 23-13 win vs Cowboys: Defense makes a statement

The Green Bay Packers defeated the Dallas Cowboys at Lambeau Field by a 23-13 final score to claim their third straight win, taking them to 4-2 on the season.

Here are five takeaways from a big victory on "Sunday Night Football":

It is hard to overstate the job Jonathan Gannon and the Packers defense did in this matchup. In a game that was supposed to be a shootout, Gannon perplexed Dak Prescott all night, channeling his inner Brian Flores and leaving the Dallas quarterback unsure what was coming next.

This was not just smoke and mirrors though, the Packers' defensive players showed their quality, as they harassed the quarterback and even more impressively, the defensive backs held their own against CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens, and then some.

This game was always going to serve as a test of just how good Green Bay's defense really is, and specifically whether it is good enough to compete in the postseason. The answer looks like a resounding yes.

While it was far from a flawless offensive performance, Jordan Love was in full command at the line of scrimmage on Sunday night, and Matt LaFleur kept pressing the right buttons with his play-calling.

The offensive line remains an issue and regressed somewhat from their recent performances. It is probably time for Kevin Zeitler to get into the lineup next week in Detroit. Mostly due to the offensive line, the run game was once again nonexistent.

But Love made none of that matter, as he simply kept making plays, and his stat line should have looked a lot more impressive.

The main reason Love's numbers are not as gaudy is because of some big drops. Matthew Golden dropped two touchdowns – although they did end up scoring on one of those drives anyway – and Christian Watson dropped one as well.

Ultimately, it did not hurt them tonight, and that has mostly been the case this season, as the Packers offense is often explosive enough to overcome their mistakes. It is an issue that needs cleaning up though.

After a concerning performance at Lambeau Field a week ago, and with the wind whipping again, it was an important night for Trey Smack, and he rebounded, nailing every kick.

He is likely to go through ups and downs throughout his rookie year, but it seems the Packers did not lose confidence in him, and he rewarded their faith on Sunday night. Hopefully he can build on this performance moving forward.

Not for the first time this season, the officials threatened to spoil a strong Packers performance on defense. Craig Wrolstad and his crew extended a Cowboys drive multiple times by throwing flags for extremely soft roughing the passer offences and other nebulous issues.

They robbed Carrington Valentine of what would have been an awesome moment as he picked off Prescott because Lukas Van Ness lightly pushed the Cowboys quarterback in a way that happens around 20 times in an average NFL game.

The officiating in the league has become egregiously bad.

Instead of accounting for the fact they seem to not know what they are looking at by getting out of the way unless something is an obvious penalty, especially on third and fourth down, they are inserting themselves into the action at every opportunity and at times changing the outcome of games.

It is an epidemic which must be stopped. The refs almost took the entire shine off the feeling of victory for the Packers tonight.