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By Bob Sturm 1h ago 34
A small chunk of yesterday’s first half provided us with a front-row seat to watch an unraveling Cowboys team seal its destiny through self-inflicted crimes. We can assume the 38-degree setting with a wind chill of 29 probably didn’t help. 16-mph winds at kickoff with a hefty serving of rain and wind were probably somewhat responsible, too.
Football shouldn’t take place in a hermetically sealed environment, as this magical game’s history books include many of Mother Nature’s whims. The forecast told us all week that the Cowboys’ late November trip to Foxborough would likely include weather indicative of… a late November trip to Foxborough. Were the game 55 degrees and calm, perhaps the outcome would be different. We will never know.
What we do know is that the Cowboys played in the first half like a team that was completely out of its element and would probably love to pass legislation for all games to be played indoors. When you commit the errors they were guilty of early and are playing probably the best coach-quarterback combo in the history of the sport, you make an impossible task even more difficult.
With 1:45 to go in the first quarter, the Cowboys committed a mistake they simply couldn’t commit in this setting. A routine punt turned into the play of the game when Joe Thomas allowed the fantastic special-teams star Matthew Slater a crack in the wall just big enough to stretch his outside arm across and into the path of Chris Jones’ left kicking foot. Perhaps a right-footed punter gets that kick away safely, but Slater knows these things on his way to seven consecutive Pro Bowls and five different All-Pro teams. He has as much tenure on the Patriots as anyone south of Bill and Tom, and factoring into this game, he once again demonstrated the value of prioritizing special teams to get you a win or two a season. You don’t win as many games as the Patriots by overlooking details.
Two plays later, a brilliant back-shoulder fade from Brady to rookie N’Keal Harry against Bryon Jones puts up the touchdown and pads a ridiculous statistic: The legendary QB has now thrown touchdowns to 75 different teammates. That is the type of factoid that requires a moment just to ponder the silliness of it all.
On the ensuing kickoff, the Patriots wisely kick the ball short to make rookie Tony Pollard field the kick, which Pollard muffs and recovers, but the field-position result is poor and now the Cowboys start in a hole.
One snap later, Blake Jarwin catches a simple hook to Blake Jarwin, which is then punched out of his possession by Jamie Collins. Again, they can’t hold on to the ball. With the wet conditions, just completing a play is now becoming difficult. From there, on second down, Ezekiel Elliott runs it right into a brick wall for no gain. Now it is third-and-short, the stadium is gaining in noise and the Cowboys need to quiet it down.
Instead, Travis Frederick nearly snaps the ball over the head of Dak Prescott. Prescott recovers, but his timing is now off and he sidearms a crosser to Amari Cooper that these two normally complete in their sleep. Unfortunately, they have to do it in real life, on this stage, and the somewhat casual-looking toss is not far enough in front of Cooper, allowing All-Pro cornerback Stephon Gilmore to chase it down and pick the ball off right where you can’t make a mistake.
We haven’t even mentioned the kickoff Dalton Schultz muffed or the two short third-down situations where Prescott and Cobb could not convert a 3rd-and-3 — or a 3rd-and-1 — to keep drives alive on plays they have made all year. Nor have we mentioned the missed field goal that nailed the upright perfectly flush earlier in the first quarter, one made five yards longer due to a third-down false start by Tyron Smith. Nor the additional tripping penalty on Smith that preceded the blocked punt by a few snaps. Nor the fact that it took six possessions for Dak Prescott to finally consider a glove on his throwing hand so every ball didn’t miss its target. Did Prescott’s discomfort cause the interception or the misses to Cobb? I don’t know, but the moment he put the glove on his hand, he started to pass like the guy we have seen throughout 2019. I am willing to say it made a significant difference.
This list of mistakes pushed New England to a 10-0 lead on scoring drives of 12 and three yards, in conditions that suggested a day when not many points would be scored. Dallas’ comedy of errors was not matched by the Patriots doing anything of the sort in the other direction. The Cowboys committed the drops, the bounced throws, the block, the pick and the countless penalties. They helped place the noose around their own neck. From there, it was just the normal constriction applied by New England as they place you in a vice for the remainder of the game and make you uncomfortable throughout. You have handed the modern dynasty the reins to the rest of the afternoon. From there, with a double-digit lead, you would have to either do something magical or wait for them to counter your mistakes with errors of their own.
The truth is, the league has been waiting for the Patriots to inflict their own demise for two decades now. They play in the pouring and freezing rain or in the snow. They also play in the domes at the end of the year in the Super Bowls they win. Regardless, they seldom play a football game where they commit the same number of errors as their opponent. It makes this extremely complex sport appear much more simple.
The rain never seemed to stop, and neither did the Cowboys in their attempt to erase those early errors with a rally that could secure this signature win to confirm the quality many of us believe they possess. The issue then becomes a question of whether they could maximize your opportunities the rest of the way, because the Patriots were certainly not setting the world nor scoreboard on fire, either. Tom Brady completed seven passes in six possessions. New England’s offense is several levels below its normal quality, and their success this year depends on taking the ball away for short fields and keeping the opponent from cashing in with touchdowns in rare opportunities. A 10-6 halftime deficit didn’t seem insurmountable or disastrous.
We can certainly debate whether a blocked punt should be ruled a turnover, but whatever you call it, the Cowboys were down two catastrophic mistakes. Therefore, they would need to be nearly perfect in the second half to survive.
The third quarter was a contest of punts as each team had three possessions and each team sent the punt team on the field three times. The issues of execution continued to baffle, as Dak and Gallup barely missed on a 3rd-and-7 slant against a Cover-0 blitz that could have been a huge play. Dak and Cobb missed again on another 3rd-and-3, and then a real nice drive was brought to its knees by a Tyron Smith holding penalty which turned an Amari Cooper third-down conversion into a 4th-and-23 punt. That sequence of events included the Cowboys’ inability to take advantage of New England not even having a player deep to return it while giving up at least 20 yards of field position with two pre-snap penalties. It was maddening, to say the least.
This game was all about the details.
By the time the fourth quarter arrived, each team was trying to knock the other on its rear end. It was great theater at times, as neither team wanted to give in defensively. The side trying to destroy big plays was at a decided advantage with the weather on its side. Neither team could move the ball well, and the defenses enjoyed the upper hand. But, with yet another short field because of the punting chaos, the Patriots did just enough with a series of gains to get Nick Folk back in to hit a 42-yarder and to extend the lead to 13-6.
Dallas would get two more cracks at this, and that would be that.
The tenth drive of the game found easily the biggest play, as finally, the Cowboys burned a second-down Patriots blitz with a beautiful throw from Prescott to Randall Cobb, gaining 59 yards after Cobb was able to corral a ball punched free by Devin McCourty on the sideline. A few plays later, Elliott slipped out on a screen for another 11 yards, and they were in the red zone. The ability to score in the red zone had been an issue in 2018 — and, recently, in 2019, too. If the Cowboys could punch one in here, it might literally have been the difference between victory and defeat. Two dangerous snaps on first and second down averted disaster, but hardly pushed closer to the goal line. On third down, Prescott tried to hit Blake Jarwin in the back of the end zone on a play that wasn’t terribly close. At first glance, it appeared Prescott could run, but additional angles revealed Adam Butler preventing that from being an enticing option. Could he have cut the seven yards to gain in half? Perhaps.
4th-and-7 with 6:08 to play presented Jason Garrett with a pivotal decision. Do you go all-in and try to convert it on one play to tie the game, or do you kick the field goal and assume you can then try to score the touchdown on your final drive to get the win in regulation? Honestly, I didn’t find either choice terribly appealing. But the prospect of 4th-and-7, given how poorly they executed on third downs all day, caused me to agree with Garrett’s decision to kick it. Cut the lead to 13-9 and with six minutes and all your timeouts, put the game on the final drive rather than just one snap.
(Photo by Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Judging from the reaction elsewhere, perhaps I have allied against the masses and somehow alongside the coach I lost patience with long ago. Fourth-down attempts of seven yards or longer are converted at around a 25 percent rate over the last few seasons, but few of those come against Bill Belichick in the pouring rain. That might be more like a 10 percent proposition, but maybe it was still smarter.
The gamble appeared to pay off, though, as the Cowboys received the ball back with 2:38 to go, all their timeouts and a chance to grab the game by the neck. Everything that had led to this moment was suddenly irrelevant to a squad in position to win the game 58 minutes into a 60-minute fight.
A great pass to Cobb while being smashed was followed by another Witten drop. Nine yards to Michael Gallup set up a 3rd-and-1. Prescott spied Elliott underneath, and they converted a fine third-down conversion, earning a fresh set of downs as they approached midfield. This was the moment they had waited for.
And then a flag erased that moment. Tripping was called again, this time on Frederick. Zack Martin and Frederick were being split by Dont’a Hightower, and somehow, Frederick’s knee drew a flag, despite no appearance of a foul anywhere. I’m proud of generally keeping The Morning After free of complaints about officiating, but this one tests our patience. That felt like a flag which absolutely affected the outcome of the game in a situation where it would be very difficult to overcome. If it is a righteous foul, so be it. But this one seemed to be nothing.
Regardless, another last-ditch effort on 4th-and-11 squeezed through Amari Cooper’s grasp as he laid out to try to extend the game. The ball hit the ground, and replay confirmed the catch was not actually made.
This defeat should not be easily accepted.
Entering the game, the Cowboys believed they had the talent to win this game. Weather, execution, mistakes and perhaps coaching again helped decide this. And now the normal flow of anger, frustration, and repetitive disappointment comes showering down like the rains in Gillette Stadium.
Everyone wants somebody to shove today, but the sum total of this particular game was that many shared in this defeat. Had they not failed against the Saints, Jets and Vikings in similarly winnable games, this one might go down as a “reasonable loss.” But given the debacles in previous weeks, it all adds up to what threatens to be a massive underachievement in 2019.
At least, that is what we would like to think. The reality is that this is a game that the Patriots always win and a game the Cowboys seem to always lose.
The Cowboys definitely made too many mistakes to win this one. But perhaps the biggest mistake was made by those of us on the outside when we thought they were better than they actually were.
A small chunk of yesterday’s first half provided us with a front-row seat to watch an unraveling Cowboys team seal its destiny through self-inflicted crimes. We can assume the 38-degree setting with a wind chill of 29 probably didn’t help. 16-mph winds at kickoff with a hefty serving of rain and wind were probably somewhat responsible, too.
Football shouldn’t take place in a hermetically sealed environment, as this magical game’s history books include many of Mother Nature’s whims. The forecast told us all week that the Cowboys’ late November trip to Foxborough would likely include weather indicative of… a late November trip to Foxborough. Were the game 55 degrees and calm, perhaps the outcome would be different. We will never know.
What we do know is that the Cowboys played in the first half like a team that was completely out of its element and would probably love to pass legislation for all games to be played indoors. When you commit the errors they were guilty of early and are playing probably the best coach-quarterback combo in the history of the sport, you make an impossible task even more difficult.
With 1:45 to go in the first quarter, the Cowboys committed a mistake they simply couldn’t commit in this setting. A routine punt turned into the play of the game when Joe Thomas allowed the fantastic special-teams star Matthew Slater a crack in the wall just big enough to stretch his outside arm across and into the path of Chris Jones’ left kicking foot. Perhaps a right-footed punter gets that kick away safely, but Slater knows these things on his way to seven consecutive Pro Bowls and five different All-Pro teams. He has as much tenure on the Patriots as anyone south of Bill and Tom, and factoring into this game, he once again demonstrated the value of prioritizing special teams to get you a win or two a season. You don’t win as many games as the Patriots by overlooking details.
Two plays later, a brilliant back-shoulder fade from Brady to rookie N’Keal Harry against Bryon Jones puts up the touchdown and pads a ridiculous statistic: The legendary QB has now thrown touchdowns to 75 different teammates. That is the type of factoid that requires a moment just to ponder the silliness of it all.
On the ensuing kickoff, the Patriots wisely kick the ball short to make rookie Tony Pollard field the kick, which Pollard muffs and recovers, but the field-position result is poor and now the Cowboys start in a hole.
One snap later, Blake Jarwin catches a simple hook to Blake Jarwin, which is then punched out of his possession by Jamie Collins. Again, they can’t hold on to the ball. With the wet conditions, just completing a play is now becoming difficult. From there, on second down, Ezekiel Elliott runs it right into a brick wall for no gain. Now it is third-and-short, the stadium is gaining in noise and the Cowboys need to quiet it down.
Instead, Travis Frederick nearly snaps the ball over the head of Dak Prescott. Prescott recovers, but his timing is now off and he sidearms a crosser to Amari Cooper that these two normally complete in their sleep. Unfortunately, they have to do it in real life, on this stage, and the somewhat casual-looking toss is not far enough in front of Cooper, allowing All-Pro cornerback Stephon Gilmore to chase it down and pick the ball off right where you can’t make a mistake.
We haven’t even mentioned the kickoff Dalton Schultz muffed or the two short third-down situations where Prescott and Cobb could not convert a 3rd-and-3 — or a 3rd-and-1 — to keep drives alive on plays they have made all year. Nor have we mentioned the missed field goal that nailed the upright perfectly flush earlier in the first quarter, one made five yards longer due to a third-down false start by Tyron Smith. Nor the additional tripping penalty on Smith that preceded the blocked punt by a few snaps. Nor the fact that it took six possessions for Dak Prescott to finally consider a glove on his throwing hand so every ball didn’t miss its target. Did Prescott’s discomfort cause the interception or the misses to Cobb? I don’t know, but the moment he put the glove on his hand, he started to pass like the guy we have seen throughout 2019. I am willing to say it made a significant difference.
This list of mistakes pushed New England to a 10-0 lead on scoring drives of 12 and three yards, in conditions that suggested a day when not many points would be scored. Dallas’ comedy of errors was not matched by the Patriots doing anything of the sort in the other direction. The Cowboys committed the drops, the bounced throws, the block, the pick and the countless penalties. They helped place the noose around their own neck. From there, it was just the normal constriction applied by New England as they place you in a vice for the remainder of the game and make you uncomfortable throughout. You have handed the modern dynasty the reins to the rest of the afternoon. From there, with a double-digit lead, you would have to either do something magical or wait for them to counter your mistakes with errors of their own.
The truth is, the league has been waiting for the Patriots to inflict their own demise for two decades now. They play in the pouring and freezing rain or in the snow. They also play in the domes at the end of the year in the Super Bowls they win. Regardless, they seldom play a football game where they commit the same number of errors as their opponent. It makes this extremely complex sport appear much more simple.
The rain never seemed to stop, and neither did the Cowboys in their attempt to erase those early errors with a rally that could secure this signature win to confirm the quality many of us believe they possess. The issue then becomes a question of whether they could maximize your opportunities the rest of the way, because the Patriots were certainly not setting the world nor scoreboard on fire, either. Tom Brady completed seven passes in six possessions. New England’s offense is several levels below its normal quality, and their success this year depends on taking the ball away for short fields and keeping the opponent from cashing in with touchdowns in rare opportunities. A 10-6 halftime deficit didn’t seem insurmountable or disastrous.
We can certainly debate whether a blocked punt should be ruled a turnover, but whatever you call it, the Cowboys were down two catastrophic mistakes. Therefore, they would need to be nearly perfect in the second half to survive.
The third quarter was a contest of punts as each team had three possessions and each team sent the punt team on the field three times. The issues of execution continued to baffle, as Dak and Gallup barely missed on a 3rd-and-7 slant against a Cover-0 blitz that could have been a huge play. Dak and Cobb missed again on another 3rd-and-3, and then a real nice drive was brought to its knees by a Tyron Smith holding penalty which turned an Amari Cooper third-down conversion into a 4th-and-23 punt. That sequence of events included the Cowboys’ inability to take advantage of New England not even having a player deep to return it while giving up at least 20 yards of field position with two pre-snap penalties. It was maddening, to say the least.
This game was all about the details.
By the time the fourth quarter arrived, each team was trying to knock the other on its rear end. It was great theater at times, as neither team wanted to give in defensively. The side trying to destroy big plays was at a decided advantage with the weather on its side. Neither team could move the ball well, and the defenses enjoyed the upper hand. But, with yet another short field because of the punting chaos, the Patriots did just enough with a series of gains to get Nick Folk back in to hit a 42-yarder and to extend the lead to 13-6.
Dallas would get two more cracks at this, and that would be that.
The tenth drive of the game found easily the biggest play, as finally, the Cowboys burned a second-down Patriots blitz with a beautiful throw from Prescott to Randall Cobb, gaining 59 yards after Cobb was able to corral a ball punched free by Devin McCourty on the sideline. A few plays later, Elliott slipped out on a screen for another 11 yards, and they were in the red zone. The ability to score in the red zone had been an issue in 2018 — and, recently, in 2019, too. If the Cowboys could punch one in here, it might literally have been the difference between victory and defeat. Two dangerous snaps on first and second down averted disaster, but hardly pushed closer to the goal line. On third down, Prescott tried to hit Blake Jarwin in the back of the end zone on a play that wasn’t terribly close. At first glance, it appeared Prescott could run, but additional angles revealed Adam Butler preventing that from being an enticing option. Could he have cut the seven yards to gain in half? Perhaps.
4th-and-7 with 6:08 to play presented Jason Garrett with a pivotal decision. Do you go all-in and try to convert it on one play to tie the game, or do you kick the field goal and assume you can then try to score the touchdown on your final drive to get the win in regulation? Honestly, I didn’t find either choice terribly appealing. But the prospect of 4th-and-7, given how poorly they executed on third downs all day, caused me to agree with Garrett’s decision to kick it. Cut the lead to 13-9 and with six minutes and all your timeouts, put the game on the final drive rather than just one snap.
(Photo by Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Judging from the reaction elsewhere, perhaps I have allied against the masses and somehow alongside the coach I lost patience with long ago. Fourth-down attempts of seven yards or longer are converted at around a 25 percent rate over the last few seasons, but few of those come against Bill Belichick in the pouring rain. That might be more like a 10 percent proposition, but maybe it was still smarter.
The gamble appeared to pay off, though, as the Cowboys received the ball back with 2:38 to go, all their timeouts and a chance to grab the game by the neck. Everything that had led to this moment was suddenly irrelevant to a squad in position to win the game 58 minutes into a 60-minute fight.
A great pass to Cobb while being smashed was followed by another Witten drop. Nine yards to Michael Gallup set up a 3rd-and-1. Prescott spied Elliott underneath, and they converted a fine third-down conversion, earning a fresh set of downs as they approached midfield. This was the moment they had waited for.
And then a flag erased that moment. Tripping was called again, this time on Frederick. Zack Martin and Frederick were being split by Dont’a Hightower, and somehow, Frederick’s knee drew a flag, despite no appearance of a foul anywhere. I’m proud of generally keeping The Morning After free of complaints about officiating, but this one tests our patience. That felt like a flag which absolutely affected the outcome of the game in a situation where it would be very difficult to overcome. If it is a righteous foul, so be it. But this one seemed to be nothing.
Regardless, another last-ditch effort on 4th-and-11 squeezed through Amari Cooper’s grasp as he laid out to try to extend the game. The ball hit the ground, and replay confirmed the catch was not actually made.
This defeat should not be easily accepted.
Entering the game, the Cowboys believed they had the talent to win this game. Weather, execution, mistakes and perhaps coaching again helped decide this. And now the normal flow of anger, frustration, and repetitive disappointment comes showering down like the rains in Gillette Stadium.
Everyone wants somebody to shove today, but the sum total of this particular game was that many shared in this defeat. Had they not failed against the Saints, Jets and Vikings in similarly winnable games, this one might go down as a “reasonable loss.” But given the debacles in previous weeks, it all adds up to what threatens to be a massive underachievement in 2019.
At least, that is what we would like to think. The reality is that this is a game that the Patriots always win and a game the Cowboys seem to always lose.
The Cowboys definitely made too many mistakes to win this one. But perhaps the biggest mistake was made by those of us on the outside when we thought they were better than they actually were.
