Pats Hold Off ‘Boys

The Patriots continued their formula for winning football games in the 2019 season, capitalizing on a blocked punt and an interception to offset their offensive struggles and mixing in more dominant defense en route to a 13-9 win over the Dallas Cowboys.

The Patriots offense would go just 3-for-14 on third down and settle for four field goal attempts, with Nick Folk making two of them and missing from 42 and 48. But when your defense plays as well as the Patriots defense has, it covers up a lot of warts. Their red zone defense was the story of the night, keeping the Cowboys out of the end zone, and holding them to 2-for-13 on third down, making the razor-thin lead hold up.

After the Cowboys picked up a 16-yard pass interference penalty and a 19-yard screen pass to Ezekiel Elliott, the Patriots defense held them to a missed field goal on the second drive of the game. The Patriots looked like they were matching Stephon Gilmore on Amari Cooper on all man-coverage downs. Gilmore was outstanding and didn’t allow Cooper to catch a single ball in the game. The other matchups were as expected, with Jonathan Jones on Randall Cobb and J.C. Jackson on Michael Gallup.

The Patriots had some success running the ball out of the gate, with Sony Michel picking up 44 yards on his first six carries, but it wasn’t consistent enough to produce any early points. The passing offense struggled as you might expect with only three active receivers, two of whom are rookies. Brady started 1-for-3 for five yards on the first two drives. Michel’s next four carries would go just 10 yards combined though as he continued a trend of having his best carries on the first possession. Michel would chip in with some quality runs later in the game capping off a pretty decent night, 20 carries for 85 yards.

As is always the case this year, the offense got a needed spark from the defense/special teams as Matthew Slater blocked a punt, setting up New England on the Dallas 12-yard-line. Two plays later it was N’Keal Harry grabbing his first career touchdown on a back shoulder fade. The rookie showed good body control to spin and make the catch while getting both feet down. It was the kind of play the Patriots offense could build off of after so much Harry hype and discussion over the last few weeks.

Up 13-9 late in the fourth quarter, the Patriots had a chance to close the game out but were stopped on the Dallas 41 and forced to punt. It was a disappointing last possession. The drive did produce two first downs and eat up 3:26 of clock so it wasn’t a total disaster but it left the door open at the end of the game and you’d love to see them slam it shut.

The Cowboys got one final crack at it, starting from their own eight-yard-line and getting a quick 18-yard gain to Cobb. But a tripping penalty would take away a third-down conversion and a fourth-down pass would hit the ground, effectively ending the game. It was another time this season the defense was able to close the game out.

No one expected this to be the Patriots offensive breakout game given the absences of Mohamed Sanu and Phillip Dorsett and the driving rain that hit Foxboro on Sunday, but it was a gutsy performance with some valuable contributions from the rookie receivers. The defense continues their torrid pace and that might be all that matters.