What we learned in the Dallas Cowboys angry 38-3 blowout of the New England Patriots
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See photos from the game
The Cowboys defeat the New York Jets in their season home opener. Check out photos from the sidelines.
The much-anticipated showdown between the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers is finally here.
It doesn’t come the way the Cowboys had hoped, thanks to a loss to the Arizona Cardinals last week.
But on Sunday, the Cowboys took their anger out on the New England Patriots with a bounce-back 38-3 blowout victory at AT&T Stadium.
The Cowboys got two defensive touchdowns in the first half, a 10-yard fumble return by linebacker Leighton Vander Esch and a 54-yard pick-6 from cornerback DeRon Bland to power a 28-3 halftime lead and cruise to victory.
The Cowboys have now won 10 straight home games and have a two-game winning streak against the Patriots.
It is the longest active home winning streak in the NFL. The last time Dallas won 10 consecutive
games at home was when they won 11 straight at Texas Stadium in 1991-92.
The Cowboys are now 9-1 after loss under Mike McCarthy since 2021.
The 35-point setback was the worst loss of Patriots coach Bill Belichick’s legendary career.
Owner Jerry Jones said the blowout win was surreal over a coach and a franchise with six Super Bowl titles.
“It’s what it is when you look at how well they have competed all these years and so again that is the case where you have all the respect in the world for them,” Jones said. “Couldn’t have pictured being able to have the score like this but again, it’s kind of inspiring because again knowing what a great coach, what a great organization they’ve got. We’ll build on that. That did us some good.”
The Cowboys moved to 3-1 on the season — with a combined margin of victory in the wins of 108-13 — to set up their first big test, against the undefeated 49ers (4-0), who handled the Cardinals 35-16 on Sunday.
The Cowboys will meet the 49ers on Oct. 8 in San Francisco on Sunday Night Football.
It is not lost on the Cowboys that the 49ers knocked them out of the playoffs each of the past two seasons in the wild card and divisional rounds.
Getting past the 49ers would be huge step toward their goal getting to the Super Bowl for the first time since 1995, ending a 28-year drought.
“I just think a win against that team would just feel like you’re playing for the marbles in the NFL,” Jones said. “When you play against a team here that is undefeated as we play them, we’re going to come in there and try to stay on the field with them.”
What we learned in the Cowboys blowout of the Patriots:
Red Zone woes remain but Dak Prescott was efficient, accurate
The critics can still be mad at Dak Prescott and the offense for not scoring in the red zone.
After going 3-for-11 on red zone touchdowns in the previous two games, including 1-for-5 in the 28-16 loss to the Arizona Cardinals last week, the Cowboys opened Sunday’s game against the Patriots 0-for-2. The first one was spoiled by an incomplete (but catchable) pass in the end zone to rookie tight end Luke Schoonmaker and a miscommunication between Prescott and running back Tony Pollard.
But Prescott did have a 20-yard touchdown pass to CeeDee Lamb and the team led 28-3 at halftime, thanks to two returns for touchdowns on defense.
Per NFL rules, the red zone is anything from the 19-yard line on in.
Prescott however, was sharp and accurate. He was 19 of 22 for 196 yards and a touchdown on the first half.
And on the first drive of the second half, the Cowboys had a 3rd-and-2 at the 6 but Prescott was sacked and the Cowboys had to settle for a third field goal in the red zone.
Up 31-3 in the third quarter, the Cowboys tried to to work on their red zone issues by going for it on 4th-and-3 from the 23 but Prescott was sacked.
The Cowboys finally ended their red zone drought with a 3-yard run by Hunter Leupke with 6 minutes, 38 seconds left in the fourth quarter to make the score 38-3.
“Still not up to our standard,” Prescott said of the red zone offense. “But It’s a lot easier to get better with a win like that and a score like that.”
Prescott finished the game completing 28 of 34 passes for 261 yards. His 82.4 completion percentage was a season-high and the sixth-highest of his career..
Dallas had four drives of 10-plus plays against the Patriots. Dallas leads the NFL in 2023 with 16 drives of 10 or more plays.
Fired-up defense stuffs Ezekiel Elliott, turns offensive on Mac Jones
The Cowboys defense was not itself in the 28-16 loss to the Cardinals.
It allowed 222 yards rushing, so stopping the run was the primary focus heading into the Patriots game, especially with former Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott on opposite sideline.
The Cowboys stuffed the Patriots ground game, limiting Elliott and Rhamondre Stevenson to 46 yards on 20 carries, an average of 2.3 yards per carry.
“It’s a homecoming but it’s still our house,” defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence said. “We gotta represent every time we touch the field. Shout out to Zeke and much love brother. Wish him success and health in the future. Just don’t come back. Not against us.”
“He thought he was going to eat. We had a cook out.”
But the defense wreaked the most havoc on Patriots quarterback Mac Jones. With the Cowboys up 10-3, defensive end Dante Fowler had a sack and forcing Jones to fumble. Vander Esch scooped it up and returned it 10 yards to the end zone.
Bland then got into the act with 54-yard interception return for a touchdown right before the half to make it 28-3.
It was the second pick-6 of the season for Bland, who had one in the 40-0 season-opening victory against the New York Giants.
Bland got his second interception of the game and a team-leading third of the season in the third quarter.
Bland is proving himself as a capable of replacement in his second start for All-Pro cornerback Trevon Diggs, who is out for the season with a torn ACL.
Bland is the third corner in Cowboys history with multiple interception return touchdowns in the same season, joining Diggs (2) in 2021 and Larry Brown (2) in 1995.
The Cowboys defense simply smothered Jones, who finished the game completing just 12 of 21 passes for 150 yards and two interceptions before being replaced in the quarter.
Sneaky special teams coach John Fassel
Special teams coach John Fassel has already shown his worth with the success of kicker Brandon Aubrey, who opened the season making 10 of 10 field goals in the first three games.
Aubrey has been perfect on extra points after missing his first one in the season opener.
On Sunday, Aubrey kicked three field goals.
But when the Cowboys scored a fumble return for a touchdown in the second quarter, Fassel got cute on the extra point.
Punter Bryan Anger picked the ball up and tossed a pass to defensive tackle Chauncey Golston for the two-point conversion.
“I just got to give John a ton of credit,” McCarthy said. “It’s something that he brought it to me Tuesday night and just something he saw on film. We repped it all week. We had to check on it. So we got the look. The players did a great job preparing and it was very well executed. We just felt that something we may have a chance to take advantage of.”
And at the end of the half, the Cowboys trotted Aubrey out there to attempt an NFL-record tying 66-yard field goal. But the Cowboys committed a false start. So they kneeled out the half.
“I’ve seen him kicking deep in the high 60s,” McCarthy said. “So I would I would love to give them that opportunity right before the half.”
This story was originally published October 1, 2023 at 6:48 PM.
