Mistakes and Penalties Doom Cowboys In 13-9 Loss To Patriots

DALLAS (105.3 The Fan) - Heading into Sunday's matchup against the New England Patriots, the Dallas Cowboys had yet to beat a team with a winning record outside of the NFC East Division. That trend continued on Sunday, with Dallas falling 13-9 in a defensive struggle to the defending Super Bowl Champion Patriots, dropping the Cowboys to 6-5 in the process.

Thanks to the rainy, windy, and cold weather that hit Foxborough right around game time, it was a sloppy afternoon for both teams on the offensive side of the ball. However, the Patriots did just enough in all three phases of the game to outlast Dallas and move their record to 10-1 on the year.

The Patriots, who entered the game with the number one defense in football, held Dallas, the owners of the NFL's number one offense, to just 321 yards total yards and 2-13 on third down for the Afternoon. Dallas also had seven total penalties for 50 yards, many of which came at critical moments of the game that either derailed Dallas drives or kept New England drives alive.

Dak Prescott, who finished the game 19/33 for 212 yards and an interception, was unable to get into any sort of rhythm with his receivers, as a combination of the weather and New England's elite secondary blanketed the Dallas passing game, and forcing one of the Cowboys lowest total outputs of the season offensively.

Ezekiel Elliott was able to find a bit of room to run in the ground game, carrying 21 times for 86 yards, but it was not enough to get the Cowboys in the end zone, as they were held without a touchdown in a game for the first time this season.

In perhaps the biggest turning point of the game, however, the Cowboys had the ball down 13-6 in the New England red zone on fourth and seven, and with just over six minutes to go in the game, only to for head coach Jason Garrett to elect to kick a field goal. The decision to kick, which made the score 13-9, came in what would ultimately be the Cowboys' last trip to New England territory and is sure to be a heated topic of discussion over the next few days.

On the other side of the ball, the Dallas defense played one of its best games of the season, holding the Patriots to a similar output of just 282 total yards of offense, and holding Tom Brady to just 190 yards on 17/32 passing, with one touchdown. The Cowboys also held Sony Michel to just 85 yards on 20 carries, while allowing just three conversions on 14 third downs overall for New England.

Jaylon Smith led the Cowboys in with eight total tackles, while Chidobe Awuzie added seven stops, and DeMarcus Lawrence finished with five tackles and two tackles for loss.

The Cowboys will be back in action after a short week on Thursday when Josh Allen and the stingy defense of the Buffalo Bills come to Arlington for the first matchup between the two teams since 2015 when the Cowboys lost 16-6 in Buffalo. The two last faced off in Dallas in 2011, with the Cowboys winning 44-7 in Arlington.