New England Patriots gun down Dallas Cowboys 48-27
New England Patriots defeated the previously unbeaten Dallas Cowboys 48-27 and improved their 2007 regular season record to 6-0.
It was one heck of a game with big plays, pivotal plays, missed plays, baffling plays and lots of excitement and entertainment.
Tom Brady had one heck of he game, his best of the season so far both statistically and playing-wise. He completed 31 of 46 passes for 388 yards, five touchdowns, and perhaps most importantly, no interceptions. Yes, he did miss a number of deep throws, but he made the passes that mattered. Patriots were 11 of 17 on third downs and all of the conversions were on passes, except for one on a scramble by Brady in the fourth quarter (another two third-down situations became first downs thanks to penalties, by they don’t count in the conversion rate).
Cowboys did a good job covering wide receiver Randy Moss, but they couldn’t also contain his colleagues Donte Stallworth and Wes Welker who both had huge days. Stallworth hauled in seven catches for 136 yards. One of his receptions was the play of the day, a 69-yard catch and run touchdown. Welker caught 11 passes for 124 yards and two touchdowns and he also contributed three punt returns for 37 yards. In spite of being the marked man, Moss gathered six receptions for 59 yards and the first touchdown of the game.
Patriots running game wasn’t much to write home about. It was what one could call minimally functional, just enough to give Brady some breathers in between passes. It seemed to me that the Patriots had better luck moving the ball on the ground when a pulling lineman was leading the way than when the team used that fruity zone-ish looking blocking when the offensive linemen form some kind of synchronized human directional that points linebackers to the ball carrier. I wonder why the Patriots didn’t use more pulling blockers, especially since the Cowboys defensive line shoots the gaps, unlike New England’s two-gap defensive line. The worst outcome of the day in the running game was that Sammy Morris got hurt on an off-tackle run. Nominally starting runningback Laurence Maroney was once again inactive, even though he reportedly seemed to be in good shape during warm ups.
Patriots fielded its normal starting offensive line for the first time since week one , with left tackle Matt Light, left guard Logan Mankins, center Dan Koppen, right guard Stephen Neal, and right tackle Nick Kaczur. Light was out for one drive in the first quarter. Kaczur took his spot at left tackle and back-up tackle Ryan O’Callaghan filled in for Kaczur at right tackle. O’Callaghan had one very good cut block on a pass to his side, but then gave up an ugly sack when he was caught about as flat-footed as he seems to be by DeMarcus Ware who flew by him on the outside. The sight of O’Callaghan in action apparently healed Light in hurry. It’s hard to believe that O’Callaghan was seen as a strong candidate for the right tackle spot when training camp started.
The offensive line did an outstanding job taming Dallas’s impressive pass rush, in spite of giving up three sacks. I’m sure you’ll once again hear and read things to the effect that tight end Kyle Brady helped out a lot in the pass protection, but the truth is he did very little of that (and what little he did usually wasn’t all that effective). The Patriots’ most common form of pass protection is the five linemen plus runningback Kevin Faulk, who is extraordinarily good at spotting and picking up blitzers. The second most common pass protection is simply the five linemen, sans assistance. It works, I believe, because of Light and Kaczur’s strength, technique, awareness, and quick feet. They can’t easily be bull-rushed, nor out-flanked by speed rushers, nor beaten by any of the various moves used by outside pass rushers. [Tuesday update: Yup. here we go, Mike Reiss makes the erroneous tight-end assumption:
In utilizing more of the 2 WR/2 TE/1 RB set against the Cowboys, the Patriots were generally countering Dallas' aggressive pressure by having the tight ends help more in protection.
]
For example, on two of the third down conversions on the first drive, the one that ended with Moss’s touchdown catch, the offensive linemen alone protected Brady and on the other two conversions Faulk chipped in (perhaps crucially the on the touchdown play). On the second drive,
Brady stayed home to help O’Callaghan on an incomplete third-down pass (a screen that DeMarcus Ware sniffed out). On the third drive Faulk helped the linemen on both conversions while the tight ends went out on patterns. And so it went on.
The weakest link on the offensive line right now is probably Neal, which isn’t all that surprising since he’s the one with the least football background of the Patriots linemen (didn’t play football in college, national wrestling champ, yadda yadda yadda) and he’s also missed the most playing time this season with injuries. Unfortunately for opposing defenses, weakest link in this context doesn’t mean Sackapalooza Express, it merely means that their loops and delayed blitzes have a better chance of working on Neal’s side than on Mankins’s. [Here's a qualification to that rule: Overload blitzes against quick passes probably work better over Mankins's side because Koppen usually turns to his right, leaving Mankins, Light and, if applicable, Faulk to handle three pass rushers. On quick passes Faulk probably won't get to the third pass rushers fast enough to protect Brady. The overload worked for Browns on a red-zone play two weeks ago and again for the Cowboys on a third down play last Sunday when Brady was forced to overthrow Welker. Unfortunately for the Cowboys one of the pass rushers on Neal's side was offside at the snap and gave the Patriots the first down anyway.]
Mankins was flagged once for false start and Neal was called once for holding. The drive on Mankins’s penalty ended with a punt while Neal’s ended with a touchdown.
Brady made a very good play on a third-and-five situation at the Dallas 39-yard line in the third quarter when Faulk uncharacteristically failed to block a blitzer on Mankins’s side. Brady had to roll backwards to his right to buy time for Jabar Gaffney to get open. Brady hit him with a spot-on pass for ten yards and first down, keeping alive the drive that ended with Kyle Brady’s one-yard touchdown reception.
As they have done in every game this season, New England Patriots scored on their first drive. They could have done it on the first play but Brady overthrew Moss on a deep, deep post route. 13 plays later Brady finally connected with Moss for a six-yard touchdown.
After the messed drive up with O’Callaghan at right tackle, Patriots scored on a 35-yard touchdown pass from Brady to Welker where Welker split a double-coverage clearly expecting an underneath pass for the diminutive receiver. Instead Welker broke deep and Brady hit him with a perfect pass that put New England up 14-0. The score was set up by a tremendous, absolutely top-notch pass-and-catch play from Brady to a well-covered Watson over the middle for 28 yards on third down.
A football game is a string of situations, as illustrated by Dallas’s sack-fumble-touchdown in the second quarter. It was preceded by a flea-flicker on which Brady overthrew Moss deep over the middle. Had Brady made the connection the Cowboys wouldn’t have gotten their score.
Somewhat similar, in the third quarter Morris got hurt when running on off-tackle left over back-up tight end Marcellus Rivers. If Rivers’s block had been just a little bit stronger Morris would probably have gotten more separation from the scrum of defenders that landed on him at the end of the play and got him hurt. Rivers was on the field because Watson got hurt on a pass play in the second quarter when Dallas safety Roy Williams made one of his trademark poor-ass tackles (he can’t cover, he can’t tackle, and he’s not fast so what the heck does he bring to football?) The play itself was nullified by a penalty on Dallas.
The Patriots tried the Power-I (left) at least once, but it blew up when Neal couldn’t keep the back-side defensive tackle from stunting in to the path of Morris. A Power-I right run went nowhere, in part because Watson couldn’t quite hold his ground. Later in the same drive a 3rd-and-1 run left was killed when the defensive end stunted inside Light who was taking a step outside to secure leverage to keep the off-tackle lane open. Morris did a heck of a job breaking the tackle and getting back to the line of scrimmage, setting up a successful 4th-and-1 sneak by Brady over Mankins (for some reason the Cowboys undermanned their right side of the line of scrimmage). The very next play was Welker’s second touchdown reception of the day.
Rivers wasn’t quite as impressive as a blocker as I had expected him to be, but he seemed to get stronger as the game wore on and his number of plays added up. I wouldn’t make too much of his performance during the last drive, the one that ended with Eckel’s touchdown, as the ‘Boys were a beaten team at that point. That said, he did his job.
Watson’s absence meant the Patriots had to forsake their productive two-tight end, two-split-end formation (let’s call it the Two Split Ends, Two Tight Slots formation, or 2SETS for short) and instead go with two split ends and Welker in the slot. Granted, the Patriots barely missed a beat, but the 2SETS adds balance to the passing game and also forces defenses to be more mindful of the running game when deciding which personnel package to choose. When Welker is in instead of Watson it’s pretty safe to send in an extra defensive back.
Kelley Washington did not cover himself in glory on Tyson Thompson’s 72-yard kick-off return after Stallworth’s touchdown where Larry Izzo - linebacker and special teams ace - was keeping up with him. That kind of lollygagging is not acceptable, especially not for a wide receiver who’s just barely hanging on to his roster spot (well, maybe not that barely, he is after all active on game days).
The most absurd play of the game was Marion Barber’s two-yard run that started off as an off-tackle left. When Harrison stuffed Cowboys pulling left tackle Flozell Adams, Barber reversed field all the way to the right sideline, breaking six tackles in the process, and that number doesn’t include the initial stop.
Dallas mustered a couple of rallies. The first was sparked by a sack of Brady that resulted in fumble returned for a touchdown that cut New England’s lead to 14-10. Greg Ellis came in untouched on Brady’s blind side, probably because Brady had called a quick pass but then re-cocked when the intended receiver wasn’t open. That gave Ellis enough time to whack him and force the fumble. Light could have blocked him but helped Mankins to the inside, presumably, again, because they expected Brady to unload quickly.
The second rally was in the third quarter, when the Cowboys briefly held the lead after marching down the field on the back of a couple of long Julius Jones runs off-tackle right before hitting Patrick Crayton with a couple of passes, the second for 8 yards and a touchdown. That made the score 24-21 in Dallas’s favor. Patriots responded with a drive that lasted five minutes and twenty-four seconds and ended with Kyle Brady’s touchdown grab.
The third sack the Patriots gave up in the game came on a corner blitz over Kaczur’s side. Kaczur did he a heck of a job pushing one Cowboy pass rusher into cornerback Nate Jones, giving Brady the chance to step up in pocket and out of harms way. But there was no receiver open, so Jones was able to recover, hunt down Brady and finally get the sack.
(Not that I’m an apologist for Light et al, but, yes, I’m blaming the three sacks on Brady, a backup, and Dallas’s secondary.)
The CBS broadcast of the game was nearly flawless. I don’t think a single snap was missed and viewers were treated to wide angle shots that showed the offensive formations rather than pointless closeups of the quarterbacks barking out signals. Nice work all around by the CBS crew.
The game drew a record rating for NFL regular-season broadcasts on CBS since the network got back in the game in game of broadcasting NFL games in 1998. [Wednesday update: Big, big numbers.]
Dave Halprin at Blogging The Boys reacts to the game:
[H]ere’s why it’s not a total disaster for me, the Cowboys were in the game. They were competitive through most of the game and could have put themselves in a position to win it. With all that happened, Dallas was just one or two big plays away from seriously contesting the win. I’ll take it, for now. Because I think this Cowboys team is only going to get better as the year goes on.
But will they? I seriously doubt the team’s head coach Wade Phillips will keep things moving in the right direction. We’ll see. The Cowboys by and large has the talent it needs to make a serious run.
Game stats at NFL.com
New England Patriots - Dallas Cowboys game report at Patriots.com.
Tuesday update:
John Tomase speculates that the Patriots used the game as a trial for the game against Indianapolis Colts a few weeks down the road in this week’s edition of Tale of the Tape.
Albert Breer, who started the Tale of the Tape at BostonHerald.com, has one for his new employer, Dallas Morning News. Breer chides Cowboys for not giving the running game more of a chance, and for covering Welker with a linebacker and for a number of other things. He does see a silver lining though:
The best thing I can say about the Patriot game is that, aside from some matchups with the Patriots receivers, the Cowboys didn’t seem physically outmanned the way some other teams have against them. And that gives them every chance to be among the NFL’s elite when all is said and done.
But there is of course the Phillips Phactor to overcome.
