Patriots 21 - Cowboys 14
This looked early like it could be headed for a Patriots blowout, with the Cowboys going 3-and-out on their first two drives and the Patriots hammering the ball. But the Dallas D tightening in the red zone kept the Patriots out of the endzone, and forced them to settle for two short field goals to close the half 6-0. After Brady threw an ill-advised pick to open the second half, the Cowboys took the lead 7-6, before the Patriots responded with a BJGE touchdown and 2-point conversion to Hernandez to go back up 14-7. The Cowboys tied it after a long drive, before Cobie Ross ripped off a long run to give the Pats the 21-14 margin. Romo tried to drive at the end and was moving the ball, but a pick by Ras-I Dowling sealed the game.
Brady was pretty pedestrian, going 8 of 13 for 101 yards, 0 TDs and 1 INT (plus a 2-point conversion). He threw mostly to his TEs, with White being mostly blanketed all day. Not my best passing day by any stretch. On the bright side, this was the first game all season in which Brady threw a pick that I went on to win.
Tony Romo was better, going 15-23 for 158 yards, 2 TDs and 1 INT. He actually passed the ball much better spreading it around once safety blanket Witten was knocked out.
Cobie Ross got back on track, carrying 20 times for 190 yards and a TD. Green-Ellis added 5 carries for 25 yards and a TD.
Felix Jones was effective on the ground in limited carries, hauling it 7 times for 45 yards.
Rob Gronkowski was the leading receiver for the Pats, with 3 catches for 41 yards.
Jones and DeMarcus Miles had the TDs for the Cowbows.
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gg man! Losing Witten definitely sucked, but as I mentioned in my text, I think you actually moved the ball a lot better without him. He would double or even triple covered on pretty much every play (which I'm sure plenty of people do to you), once you didn't have him and spread the passes around more, it was much tougher to defend.
I'm very glad I got my running game back on track, though the Red Zone struggles were a bit disconcerting. Still, 25 carries and only 13 pass attempts is the recipe I want, so from a gameplan perspective I'm fairly happy with the results.