FOXBOROUGH — While the Cowboys only lost by four points to the Patriots, 13-9, Sunday afternoon in rainy, miserable conditions at Gillette Stadium, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was not happy afterwards.
"With the makeup of this team, I shouldn't be this frustrated,” he said.
The Cowboys defense held the Patriots offense to just 13 points and their own offense moved the ball at times, but the biggest issue came on special teams. Dallas had a punt get blocked leading to the only touchdown of the game, and the Patriots clearly won the field position battle.
"Special teams is totally a reflection of coaching," Jones said, which certainly is not a good look for head coach Jason Garrett.
Garrett made a questionable decision late in the fourth quarter by kicking a field goal deep in Patriots territory to make it a four-point game rather than go a touchdowns and the tie, but Jones and other members of the team didn’t take issue with it.
The Cowboys are still leading the NFC East at 6-5, but do not have a win over a team who was above .500 when they played them.
"Make no mistake about it, this was a bigger game [for the Cowboys] than it was for the Patriots on the win column," Jones said. "We had an opportunity to establish something. There is no gratification getting down to the last drive with it determining the outcome of the game. That is not the point. You can't be satisfied with how we got out there.
"I don't care if it is New England with their record and their coach and all that. You can't be satisfied just because you got within the last drive. I'm just really frustrated. I thought we could come up here and put together a better effort in all three phases. I expected us to play well against them defensively. We got what I think we should have expected from our defense. The other phases of the game, we can't come up here and play like that."
Dallas will take on the Bills Thursday afternoon in its annual Thanksgiving game.
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