Al
(the weather God as Scott refers to me) here filling in for
Scott
while he's out of town and unable to watch the game until
later in
the week. Please forgive me if my prose is not as insightful
or
elegant, my statistics are not as odd or my trivia is not as
difficult as you are used to. We will return to our regularly
scheduled writer next week, same bat time, same bat channel.
When
I
was getting ready to watch this game I couldn't envision a way
that
a Romo-less Dallas team could give New England any sort of
trouble.
Halfway through the first quarter with the game tied 3-3 a
plausible
plan was shown to me. Unfortunately for the Dallas Cowboys, they
also
had to reveal it to Tom Brady and the New England coaching
staff
who were able to make the
necessary adjustments and defuse the situation. Dallas' hard
pressure
worked early, but it required an unsustainable effort and by
half
time the Patriots had the game in hand.
It
was a rough day physically
for quarterback
Tom Brady early as he was sacked five times in the first
half,
and knocked down or hurried many more. (Trivia question: can
you name
the last time Tom Brady was sacked five or more times in a
game? Answer below.)
After the fifth sack New England mixed in a heavy dose of
running to
relieve some of the pressure, which worked somewhat well, but
the
Dallas pressure off the ends still caused several hurries,
knock
downs and an additional fumble. The fumble probably should
have been
called an incomplete pass, but caused no harm as Julian
Edleman was
able to cover it up for a small gain. Tom's numbers ended
20/27 with
two touchdowns and zero picks mostly thanks to quick releases
on
short passes, some of which came with excellent yards after
the
catch. If you only looked at Tom's stat line you wouldn't even
know
how much pressure he was facing. Tom also rushed for a
touchdown on a
one yard quarterback sneak, much to the joy of fantasy
football fans
everywhere I'm sure.
On
the offensive
line,
Dallas
caused
the front five fits all day off the ends and
up the middle.
Tom was under nearly
instant
pressure on most passing plays even
after the Patriots mixed in a heavier dose of runs. On run
blocking
the O-line did slightly better but still got beat on a
couple run
blitzes. All
in all I'm sure there will be plenty of adjustments coming
next week
in practice.
On
the rushing plays, running
back
LeGarrette Blount did the majority of the heavy lifting,
rushing 13
times
for a modest 74 yards. Blount
got stopped for minor gains a lot but also ripped off an
impressive
34-yard rumble. Dion
Lewis tossed
in an additional 34 yards on six attempts. A majority of the
running
plays came late in the second quarter and after with
New England all but ignoring the run on their first two
possessions.
Dion Lewis had a couple of good runs after first contact,
but the
most spectacular play of the game was
his 10-yard catch and touchdown run to finish off the
Patriots first
drive of the second half. Dion caught a Brady pass in the
flat and
juked, spun and dove past four separate Dallas defenders to
secure
the score that pretty much put the game away.
Among the other receivers, your usual suspects shined through again today, but in a less-than-characteristic low volume, high yards manner thanks to some great YAC. Julian Edelman grabbed four passes for 120 yards and a TD. Tight end Rob Gronkowski, was quiet early, but ended the game with four grabs for 66 yards, 33 of which came in a single play where he had some good freight train yards after the catch carrying several Dallas secondary players with him. Dion Lewis had 8 catches for 59 yards and Keshawn Martin and Danny Amendola had a pair of catches each. The Patriots receivers got caught on two offensive pass interference pick plays, a trend that seems to be on the rise and worth keeping an eye on.
On
defense, New
England loaded the box against the run on first and second
down
playing
man
coverage on the receivers. This
effectively shut down the Dallas running game and put them
in to many
third and medium to long situations. In those the secondary
played a
heavy dose of man coverage with
safeties over the top.
Devin McCourty was seemingly everywhere logging seven
tackles. Dont'a
Hightower notched four tackles and a sack, but was knocked out
of the
game in the second quarter with a rib injury and didn't return
to
play the rest of the game. The defensive eye-opener for me was
Jabaal
Sheard who only had two tackles, but also added in two sacks in
the
first half.
The
defensive line played
well
backed up by the line backers clogging up the middle and
holding
Dallas' run-heavy offense to minimal yards. The
one unfortunate notable event was left tackle Nate Soldier
left the
game with an undisclosed injury and did not return to play.
Rob
Nikovich didn't show up big on the stats sheet, but was his
usual
QB-tracking, end-sealing self and was responsible for at
least two
blown Dallas plays that won't show up on the stats sheet.
The
secondary played
well in
man-to-man coverage as well as holding four downs in a row
in
goal-to-go at the end of the game. Logan Ryan was the stand
out today
with two tackles and a pick. Malcolm Butler continues to
impress as
the Patriots 'feature' corner.
Special teams played very well. Punter Ryan Allen actually had to work for his paycheck this week and consistently kept Dallas in very poor field position. Kicker Stephen Gostkowski was 3 for 3 on field goals including a new personal best 57-yarder to end the half and his only kickoff that wasn't a touchback was downed at the 10-yard line. Danny Amendola had a very respectable 13-yard average on his four punt returns.
So
where does that leave us? 4-0 and coming off the bye a
game ahead
of both the Jets and the Bills and light years ahead of the
slumping
Dolphins. Next week the Patriots play in the 'Revenge Bowl' in
the
Sunday Night game against the fading Indianapolis Colts. If
you're a
betting person, take the over on that one!
Statistical
Oddity of the Week (Credit
to Scott for providing this): The
Patriots franchise lost its first seven games to the Cowboys,
and won
their next five games against them (including Sunday).
Weekly
Water-cooler Wisdom:"Dispatching
the
Romo-less Cowboys was just an appetizer for the Colts
revenge
game!"
Keep
the faith,
-
Al, sitting in for Scott
PS.
4-0!
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