Sunday night at Lambeau against the Dallas Cowboys is the kind of stage Zaire Franklin said he cannot wait for. “Waiting all day for Sunday night,” the Green Bay Packers linebacker said. “Obviously, with Dallas, it’s gonna be a great matchup… I already know Sunday night is gonna be another movie.”
Franklin framed the week the same way he frames every NFL week: the other sideline has somebody special. He pushed back on the idea that beating backups the last two weeks means the Packers now have something to prove against Dak Prescott. Those backups, he noted, had played well before Green Bay faced them. “Every week is another new challenge,” he said. “And Dallas Cowboys got no shortage of superstars over there.”
Dak’s full menu, and two alphas outside
The biggest challenge against Prescott, Franklin said, is veteran presence. “He’s seen it all… He’s got complete command and control of that offense.” He pointed to the relationship between Prescott and the play-caller and to the weapons around him. “He’s got the full menu at his disposal. I mean, he’s got two alphas over there with CeeDee and George. So I definitely got to make sure that they don’t break the game like they’re both capable of.”
Asked about last year’s 40–40 shootout between these clubs, Franklin declined to forecast fireworks. “Last year is last year… We know what they’re capable of, that Dallas offense. There’s no mystery to the explosiveness that they are capable of — quarterback, receivers and running backs. So we got our challenge on defense, but at the end of the day, we got to make plays to help the team win.”
Treat success like failure — and keep growing
After stringing wins together and playing what looked like their most complete game Sunday, Franklin refused to call the Packers “found.” “I still think it’s a lot of things that we got to work on, myself included,” he said. “You want to treat both success and failure the same. You learn from it and keep moving.” Jordan Love’s postgame message — just win — was the seed; Franklin said the response is to lean back into work and accountability. “We didn’t reach the ceiling of who we are on Week 5. I would hope not… We got a lot more growth to go.”
Vocal leadership is part of how he stays locked in. He described himself as the biggest cheerleader on the team — dapping up the offense, turning up Christian Watson on contested catches and Matthew Golden on wins outside even when the ball does not come. “Just being in tune with the game helps me play,” he said. The baseball trip to American Family Field after the win only reinforced the vibe: first time in the park, intense Wisconsin fans, and a Phillies kid at heart who still lists Ryan Howard, Jim Thome and Bobby Abreu among his favorites.
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