Atrocious coaching, questionable tripping calls, special teams, and missed tackles on a cold rainy day in Foxborough, Mass., is all it took for the Dallas Cowboys to fall to the defending Super Bowl champs.
New England Patriots head coach, Bill Belichick, didn’t do anything lavish, other than on a defending punt play. He bet on Dallas head coach, Jason Garrett, to lose this game all on his own. As it turned out, Coach Belichick won on that gamble hands down.
The Dallas Cowboys’ special teams unit is ranked 32nd in the league and they proved again on Sunday that they are the worst in the league. The Patriots blocked a punt which resulted in the only touchdown of the game. The Cowboys looked like confused ducks sitting on a pond when the Patriots didn’t have anyone deep to return a punt into a stiff wind. If that wasn’t embarrassing enough, not one coach would inform Tony Pollard on kickoff returns to move up 20 yards because the football obviously was not going to reach the end zone. The special teams unit was just simply out-played and effortlessly out-coached.
Owner Jerry Jones said after the game, “I think it’s every aspect of special teams when you really look at it have been problematic for us there’s no question about that.” Special teams coach Keith O’Quinn is on the hot seat and needs to make drastic changes immediately.
Cowboy fans are counting down the remaining games in hopes it will be Garrett’s last season leading this extremely talented team. It’s hard to believe a team that has Pro Bowl talent at every position is sitting at 6-5.
The Cowboys haven't been able to win the big games this season ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/WDq8BR1a8q
— ESPN (@espn) November 25, 2019
Coach Garrett made a debatable decision to kick a field goal late in the game when the Cowboys were deep into their own territory when he could have played aggressive and went for it on third and seven to tie the game. Instead, he played it safe and kicked a field goal knowing that they would still be down four points and would need a touchdown to win the game anyways.
Again, on the last drive to win the game, on third down with about a half a yard to go with arguably the best running back in the league and a Pro Bowl-caliber offensive line, a pass play was called in. Unfortunately, what would have been a first down was called back on a penalty call and moved the positive momentum behind the chains for a failed long fourth-and-11 attempt.
Some of these decisions by Garrett have been what ultimately has made the Dallas Cowboys a mediocre team since he’s taken the helm of the team.
The Dallas Cowboys will be looking to rebound Thanksgiving Day at home against the 8-3 Buffalo Bills, who defeated the Denver Broncos today, 20-3. It will be Cole Beasley’s first return to AT&T Stadium since the Cowboys opted to allow him to become a free agent last season. The NFC East is still up for grabs as the Philadelphia Eagles lost to the Seattle Seahawks earlier today. The 5-6 Eagles play the 2-9 Dolphins next week in Miami.
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The tripping penalty was the deciding factor in the game that included lackluster offense by the cowboys.
Definitely a debatable call.