Patriots defense answers the bell against Cowboys top offense

FOXBORO –  The Patriots defense rebounded from their Ravens debacle by shutting down the Eagles last week.

But naturally, football pundits wanted to see more, needed to see more. They wanted more evidence of the unit’s greatness. The Eagles were missing several key players on offense. That took the performance down a peg.

So the question remained: Having faced a bunch of cream puffs early on, could the Patriots really stop a great offense?

The Cowboys brought in the most potent passing attack in the NFL.

Dak Prescott was the league’s best quarterback and was armed with an arsenal of receivers matching any in the NFL, led by Amari Cooper. He also had Ezekiel Elliott riding shotgun in his backfield, so if the Patriots couldn’t stop the run, Zeke was bound to have a big day.

Prescott didn’t have a big day. Neither did Elliott or the Cowboys offense.

Sure, the rainy conditions played a factor. But let’s not keep putting an asterisk next to Bill Belichick’s unit for keeping teams out of the end zone. With both offenses having difficulties on a miserable Sunday afternoon at Gillette Stadium, the Patriots defense had to be the best unit on the field to secure a victory.

And they were.

The Cowboys mustered just three field goals as the Patriots held on for a 13-9 win.

Now, for the message the Patriots defense keeps sending every week, with one exception, it’s pretty simple. They are good enough to carry the team to another Super Bowl appearance at the very least.

They held the Cowboys to 321 yards of offense, and ushered them off the field at every turn. Prescott & Co., the best third down team in football, converted just 2-of-13 attempts. They were 0-2 in the red zone. This was all made possible by all-world cornerback Stephon Gilmore holding top receiver Amari Cooper without a catch, while the rest of the secondary performed admirably against the rest of the Cowboys receivers.

“The weather’s the weather. At the end of the day, you’ve got to execute. We executed better than them in the red area, that’s what it came down to,” said Patriots safety Duron Harmon. “Obviously, we knew they were a great offense, they were going to be able to move the ball. They have exceptional skill players, but when it came into the red area, we were able to stop them, and get off the field and force them to kick field goals.”

The pre-game hype and build-up had this matchup billed as strength against strength. The Cowboys, with all of their offensive might, and the Patriots, with their smothering defense.

How did the Patriots limit such a high-powered offense, one that was averaging 444.6 yards per game, with a quarterback who came in with four games with at least 375 yards passing and two or more touchdown passes?

Prescott finished 18 for 32 for 199 yards with no touchdowns and an interception.

“Just giving them different looks, just continuing to disguise on third down, just making it tough on them, doing things a little bit different,” said Harmon. “We had great coverage in the back end, we had a good rush. We talk about all the time, being complementary between the pass rush and the pass coverage. Everybody did a good job covering today, and we did a good job rushing.”

There were no sacks of Prescott, but he was definitely pressured, and bothered where he had to move out of the pocket to escape and throw several balls on the run.

He also couldn’t find his best receiver, Cooper, because Gilmore had him blanketed. One of the few times Prescott made an attempt, Gilmore made a great play, diving in front of the receiver to pick off the pass. That set up a second quarter field goal. It was the 20th interception for the unit this season.

Gilmore said he didn’t believe it was a measuring stick game, per se.

“I think it was just another game where we had to go out there and play good football,” said the NFL’s best corner. “They got a good team. The teams get better and better every week. It’s just another game we had to take care of.”

Gilmore was tremendous, as was cornerback Jon Jones, linebacker Jamie Collins (team-high 10 tackles), defensive lineman Lawrence Guy (eight tackles), safety Patrick Chung (7 tackles) and the rest of the band.

The secondary has only allowed four touchdowns. And, if the Patriots are supposedly weak at stopping the run, they did a pretty good job containing a slick and slippery Elliott, who finished with 86 yards on 21 carries.

Tackling was tough for both sides.

“Any time you give up nine points in an NFL game, it gives your team a chance to win, and I think that’s all we’re focused on,” said linebacker Kyle Van Noy. “I don’t think we’re really focused on the conditions . . . we did a good job of just playing team defense today. I think we did a pretty good job against the run. We can always do better.”

Prescott is the best quarterback the Patriots have faced. He tried to engineer a last minute drive, but it stalled when a 4th down completion to Cooper over the middle for 20 yards was reversed. The ball hit the ground as he rolled over to make the catch.

“I feel like when we play the way we’re supposed to, we’re a good defense, and we can make it hard on an opposing offense,” said Harmon. “We just have to continue to find ways, each and every week.”

They shut down the best offense in the league. It’s no mistake.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/33mUix2