If you turned off the New England Patriots’ game against the Houston Texans in Week 5 at halftime, you’d probably think Bill Belichick and company have no shot of beating the Dallas Cowboys in Week 6.
In the second half, however, the Patriots played excellent defense and efficient offense — a recipe for spotty success in 2021 — and somehow pulled off a win, in part thanks to the Houston Texans embarrassing themselves by blocking their own punt and, in turn, losing all momentum. It helped, too, that players like Matthew Judon, Jamie Collins and Hunter Henry stepped up in the fourth quarter. That allowed quarterback Mac Jones, who continues to run the Patriots offense with training wheels, to make short, high-percentage passes and put up 13 unanswered points for a comeback win.
It would have been an exciting moment for New England, if it wasn’t beating Houston. Belichick shared just how pleased he was with the team during a postgame speech in the locker room. Maybe Belichick spent the week talking up the Texans — in hopes of avoiding a trap game — and couldn’t not praise the team for beating Houston. Maybe Belichick felt like the second half of the game was a promising sign that this team will pull it together and get competitive to make the playoffs. But the truth is that the Patriots should never have fallen into a hole against Houston. Because of that, the comeback lacked fanfare.
But the Cowboys are legit. Maybe their defense has issues, but in the NFL, an elite offense can compensate for problems on the other side of the ball. They’re 4-1, with wins over the L.A. Chargers, the Philadelphia Eagles, the Carolina Panthers and the New York Giants. Dallas also nearly took down the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a 31-29 loss.
The Cowboys offense, led by Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, Amari Cooper and Ezekiel Elliott, is so impressive from top to bottom and will provide an entertaining test for a Patriots defense that has been inconsistent. It sounds cliche, but they really haven’t played 60 minutes of spotless football. That’s what they need to do if they’re going to beat Prescott and the Cowboys.
The Cowboys defense ranks at 14th in points allowed per game but has given up the second-most passing yards per game and the eighth-most total yards. It also has the most penalized defense. The yardage total is deceiving because they’ve faced elite offenses while also routing the Giants and Eagles (so there were garbage-time yards). It’s likely this defense is middle of the road, which is what the points-allowed statistic indicates — particularly when you consider they’re good at generating turnovers. They lead the NFL in interceptions. They might provide Jones with a runway for takeoff with the downfield passing game that has been sorely lacking for the Patriots. But he can’t get careless, lest cornerback Trevon Diggs nab his seventh interception of the season. The Patriots would be in trouble if they were outmatched. This seems like a fair fight.
New England has come close to beating a good team this season, with a two-point loss to the Buccaneers. But their other losses came to the Miami Dolphins and the New Orleans Saints, both seemingly middling teams. The Patriots seem to be taking steps forward in their loss to the Bucs and their win over the Texans. Unless we see the Patriots log a win in Week 6, those glimmers of potential won’t mean anything. And with a fairly tough stretch in the coming weeks (vs. Jets, @ Chargers, @ Panthers, @ Falcons, vs. Titans, @ Bills), the Patriots desperately need a win, lest they face a brutal battle to get back to .500 and back in the playoff hunt.