The New England Patriots got their first win of the season on Sunday, albeit over the struggling New York Jets in an ugly game by the score of 15-10.
New England simply didn’t play that well on offense — quarterback Mac Jones completed just 15 of 29 passes — but the Jets played even worse.
If the Patriots are to improve to 2-2 and give themselves some real hope of returning to the playoffs, they will have to defeat the Dallas Cowboys on the road this Sunday.
Head coach Bill Belichick is known for being short and tight-lipped, but he gave some lengthy praise for the Cowboys, via Jon Machota.
Bill Belichick’s lengthy intro today about the Dallas Cowboys: “It’s always interesting to look at Dallas here, obviously, a really good football team. They’ve been good for quite a while. They made a few adjustments last year. You know, Jerry, Stephen put together a great…
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) September 27, 2023
Dallas was looking like perhaps the favorite to win the Super Bowl after they won their first two games of the year by a combined 70 points over the Jets and New York Giants.
But they were dealt a serious blow last week when star cornerback Trevon Diggs tore his ACL, forcing him to the sideline for the rest of the season.
Then came Week 3, in which the Cowboys were shocked by the seemingly hapless Arizona Cardinals, 28-16.
Many had expected Arizona to be the worst team in the NFL, and some thought the team would even try to tank in order to be able to draft University of Southern California quarterback Caleb Williams.
Instead, Cardinals quarterback Joshua Dobbs, who is filling in for the injured Kyler Murray, went 17 of 21, while the Cowboys’ Dak Prescott completed only 25 of 40 passes.
In addition, the Cowboys gave up 222 yards and two touchdowns on the ground to Arizona, a team that didn’t have an overpowering running game prior to Week 3.
The Cardinals may have provided Belichick with a blueprint of how to hand “America’s Team” another upset loss.
