David Silverman

A tough game for Patriots quarterback Mac Jones saw him get the hook as the Dallas Cowboys dominated in a 38-3 win against the New England Patriots on Sunday afternoon. 

The 35-point loss to the Cowboys saw head coach Bill Belichick suffer the largest defeat in his 29-year career as a head coach. For Jones, this was his worst game statistically as quarterback for the Patriots. He was completely out of sync. The Cowboys displayed constant pressure which caused Jones to make some costly mistakes and displayed his poor decision-making.

“We didn’t do much of anything well enough to be competitive tonight,” said Belichick about his team’s performance. “I think we’re a lot better team than we showed out there tonight, but that’s what we showed.”

Jones was taken out of the game with 3:18 remaining in the third quarter for backup Bailey Zappe. This was after Jones had a hat trick of turnovers. The first turnover happened early in the second quarter when Jones was pressured moving out of the pocket and was strip sacked by defensive end Dante Fowler.

This led to a scoop and score by linebacker Leighton Vander Esch which gave the Cowboys a two-score lead. It only got worse for the Patriots because they were caught sleeping during the extra point try, as the Cowboys executed a trick play to convert a two-point conversion.

On the following drive, the Patriots went three-and-out. The offensive struggle continued even into the next drive that ended in an interception by cornerback DaRon Bland who took it all the way for a touchdown. This extended the Dallas lead to 25 with a minute remaining in the second quarter.

This interception saw Jones throw a pass across his body, which is never a good idea at quarterback as it’s always a risk of being intercepted. Jones did this earlier in the drive by finding Kendrick Bourne for the first down, but he paid the price the next time. The worst part about this was Jones did not need to move out of the pocket during the play as he had protection and the time to make a better read.

“Disappointed in myself. I feel like I could play a lot better, and I have to beat good teams,” Jones said about his performance. “I let my team down, let the coaches down, the whole the organization, the fans [down]. I’m going to take the positive route, and hopefully, it gets the best out of me.”

Belichick’s last straw for Jones was after he threw another interception to Bland at the beginning of the second half. Jones finished 12-of-21 for 150 yards and finished with his third-lowest quarterback rating of his career with 39.9.

In a game where the Cowboys’ offense had the same amount of touchdowns scored as the defense, this shows how poorly the Patriots performed in the game. When rookie corner Christian Gonzalez was injured in the first quarter making a tackle that should have been the sign for Patriots fans that this was going to be an ugly game. 

Gonzalez attempted to stay in the game, but took a knee and went into the blue medical tent. He did not return to the game and was ruled out with a shoulder injury. The Patriots already had a thin cornerback group with three of their top corners out with injuries.

Along with Gonzalez, the Patriots best defensive player Matthew Judon was injured early in the fourth quarter when he made a tackle. Judon came up holding his right elbow and left the game. After the game, it was determined Judon suffered a lower bicep tendon tear. Injuries, turnovers, and unsatisfactory offensive execution are not the recipe for success for the Patriots.

“It’s all of us that has to look in the mirror,” said team captain David Andrews about the team. “It is never one person’s fault.” said team captain David Andrews about the team.

The Patriots fell to 1-3 and will look to bounce back against the New Orleans Saints at home on Sunday afternoon.