The normally stellar offense struggled mightily once again against a Rex Ryan coached defense. We all saw this act before. It happened last season in Cleveland when Ryan, then the defensive coordinator of the Cleveland Browns held New England to 14 points. After that game the Patriots scored 30 or more in 13 consecutive regular season games. Until Sunday, when that streak ended, with a 20-16 win over the Dallas Cowboys at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro MA.
QB Tom Brady looked kind of normal once again until he was needed most in the game’s final two minutes. Brady was 27 of 41 for 289 yards and 2 TD’s with 2 INT’s, but it was that final drive, in which he went 8 of 9 for 78 yards. He capped it with an 8-yard TD pass to TE Aaron Hernandez, who was the main target in the final push for their 5th win of the season.
Offensively the Patriots were pretty average as both teams were almost dead even in total yards and fellow QB Tony Romo also went 27 of 41.
One of offensive differences was the 3rd down conversions. Dallas was just 4 for 12 while New England was 8 for 13. Dallas also had twice as many accepted penalties (10 to 5) for just over double the yardage. The only stat in which the Cowboys truly were better was in turnovers as they had four takeaways to the Patriots two.
Defensively the Patriots were surprisingly good at keeping Dallas either off the board or with minimal points. Dallas only got 6 points off of the four New England turnovers, which was huge in the final outcome of the game. Very rarely can a team turn the ball over four times and win.
The biggest stop came late in the fourth quarter trailing 16-13 they forced Dallas to punt on a three and out that then led to Brady’s 32nd career game winning drive.
The Patriots now head into their bye week with a 5-1 record a top the AFC East. They return in Week 8 on Sunday October 30th when they travel to Pittsburgh to face the Steelers.
Cowboys at Patriots Gamebook. This includes the box score, all the stats, play by play, drive charts and more.
Cowboys at Patriots Game Recap via Associated Press.
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Turning Point(s) of the Game
The Patriots defense stopping the Cowboys on a three and out with 2:47 left to play trailing 16-13.
Offensive Player(s) of the Game
Patriots TE Aaron Hernandez had 8 catches for 68 yards and 1 TD.
Defensive Player(s) of the Game
Patriots CB Kyle Arrington had 9 tackles (6 solo, 3 assisted), 1 pass defensed and 1 INT.
Game Notes
Starters for the Patriots were:
On Offense:
LT Light
LG Mankins
C Connolly
RG Waters
RT Solder
TE R Gronkowski
TE Hernandez
TE D Gronkowski
QB Brady
WR Branch
RB Ridley
On Defense:
DE Ellis
DT Wilfork
DT Love
DE Carter
OLB Ninkovich
ILB Guyton
OLB Spikes
CB McCourty
CB Arrington
S Chung
S Ihedigbo
Inactives for the Game:
Patriots
1. S Josh Barrett (hamstring/thumb)
2. LB Jerod Mayo (MCL)
3. T Sebastian Vollmer (back)
4. CB Ras-I Dowling (hamstring)
5. WR Julian Edelman (ankle)
6. S Sergio Brown (chest)
7. QB Ryan Mallett
Cowboys
1. K David Buehler (groin)
2. FB Tony Fiammetta (hamstring)
3. G Derrick Dockery (knee)
4. DE Jason Hatcher (calf)
5. QB Stephen McGee
6. G David Arkin
7. DE Clifton Geathers
The spread (Patriots minus 7) was not covered. Neither was the over/under (55). I am now 3-2-1 vs. the spread and 5 of 6 calling the under/over.
Dallas leads the overall series 7-4.
Dallas has lost the last four meetings to New England.
The Patriots are 3-3 as the home team in the series.
This was the Cowboys first visit to Foxboro since 2003. The last time the Patriots played the Cowboys in Foxboro the field surface was natural grass. It has since been replaced with field turf.
New England is 18-1 vs. the NFC at Gillette Stadium.
Since 2002 the Patriots are 8-1 vs. the NFC East in the regular season. The lone loss was in Washington in 2003.
The Patriots have not lost a regular season game at Gillette Stadium since the 2008 season having won 20 consecutive regular season home games.
Since 2002 when Gillette Stadium opened the Patriots are 70-14 at home.
Since 2003 New England is 32-5 in October with an 18-1 mark at The Razor.
The Patriots streak of having scored 30 or more points in 13 consecutive regular season games ended on Sunday.
The last two teams to hold New England to less than 30 points in game were Cleveland and Dallas. Rex Ryan was the defensive coordinator in both instances.
Bill Belichick now has 182 wins – 10th all-time. Bill Parcells is 9th win 183 wins.
Belichick is 4-1 vs. the Cowboys in his career. He is 3-0 as the head coach in New England.
Tom Brady is now 3-0 vs. Dallas.
Brady has won 31 consecutive regular season games at home, a NFL record. His last regular season home loss was November 12, 2006 to the New York Jets.
Brady is 65-10 at home in the regular season in his career.
With the win vs. Dallas Brady and Belichick are now tied with Miami’s Dan Marino and Don Shula as the winningest quarterback-coach combination in the Super Bowl era with 116 wins.
The win was the 32nd comeback win of Brady’s career and his first in 2011. He led the Patriots 80 yards in 10 plays in 2:25 leaving only :22 on the game clock.
Brady’s 2 TD passes give him 277 in his career he is now 8th all-time. Hall of Famer Johnny Unitas is 7th with 290.
Brady was seen wearing an arm wrap on his elbow in the second quarter, there was no explanation for it by the team.
New England is now plus 1 in turnover differential.
WR Wes Welker now has catches in 88 consecutive games, 71 as a Patriot. The last time Welker did not have a catch in a game was 12/24/05 as a Dolphin.
CB Kyle Arrington had a 1st quarter INT it’s his fourth of the season, he now leads the NFL in INTs.
Arrington suffered a leg injury in the 3rd quarter and he did return to the game.
Rookie RB Stevan Ridley made his first NFL start on Sunday.
The Gronkowski brothers, Rob and Dan, were in the starting line up together for the first time.
The Patriots fumbled twice today. It was there first two lost fumbles (Matthew Slater on a kick off and Hernandez after a pass completion) of the season.
New England tied a season high with four turnovers (at Buffalo, Week 3).
Dallas RB Felix Jones suffered an ankle injury in the 2nd quarter and did not return.
Walt Coleman was the game referee. The temp at kickoff was 63, partly cloudy and windy.
Game attendance was 68,756.
Post Game Interviews
Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and Patriots QB Tom Brady post game press conferences via patriots.com
This Week in the AFC East
The New York Giants beat Buffalo, 27-24
Miami at New York Jets, Monday 830p
AFC East Standings
Patriots 5-1/2-1
Bills 4-2/1-0
Jets 2-3/0-1
Dolphins 0-4/0-1
Next Game
The Patriots have a Week 7 bye. They return to action on October 30 at Pittsburgh.
Follow Steve on Twitter @djstevem
Photo credits: Getty Images, Getty Images
