Cowboys vs Patriots Review
Jerry Jones said this week it was a measuring stick game for his Dallas Cowboys against the Patriots. After failing to beat another quality team, it’s clear the Cowboys don’t measure up.
If you wanted, for a fourth time, to see what this Cowboys team was all about, you couldn’t be happy with the results. The Cowboys failed in too many aspects of the game against a good team. If you wanted to see where the team stood, it was a disaster:
Cowboys Offense
The Cowboys and their vaunted offense, couldn’t move the ball with any consistency. They went just 2-13 on third downs and failed to get into the end zone. Dak Prescott struggled to throw the ball, missing on some easy throws, had a bad interception and inexplicably chose not to run when he likely could’ve had a walk-in touchdown.
Dallas ran the ball well, but not good enough to make a difference. There weren’t enough big plays to help a struggling passing game.
Cowboys Defense
It was a good effort from the defense, they only gave up 282 yards and had two sacks. However, they gave up a 3rd and 20 and gave up some big chunks of yards at inopportune times. They also allowed 101 yards rushing to a team that has difficulties running it.
Cowboys Special Teams
It was an abject failure from the special teams’ units all around. The blocked punt was a turnover they couldn’t afford, they failed to adjust on the short kickoffs killing their field position and the penalties on their punt team in the third quarter flipped the field. Special teams coach Keith O’Quinn leads one of the worst units in the NFL and it was glaringly obvious today.
Brett Maher also missed a field goal to make matters worse. Special teams was a huge reason the Cowboys lost this game.
Cowboys Coaching
Jason Garrett made some decisions he may want back. Points were at a premium and Garrett settled for field goals in situations where he needed to be more aggressive. If you want to beat the best team in the league, you need to attack and the Cowboys played too conservative, especially considering how difficult it was to move the ball.
Decide for yourself if the Cowboys should’ve added the three points where they could’ve gone for it and tried to score touchdowns, but the score dictated some assertiveness.
Overall
It was going to be a tougher game due to the weather conditions and the top ranked Patriots defense, but the Cowboys shot themselves in the foot with mistakes. You can’t lose the turnover battle and expect to beat anyone, let alone the Patriots. The defense did their part, but it was another instance of the Cowboys not having all phases of the game working at the same time.
This game was indicative of the Cowboys’ season, they can beat the bad teams, but make too many mistakes to win against good teams. Pin the blame on the players and the coaches, neither does a good enough job to win against the better teams in the league, period.
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