BSJ Game Report: Cowboys 35, Patriots 29 (OT) - New England loses 4th home game in crushing fashion

Everything you need to know from the Patriots’ overtime loss to the Cowboys in quickie form, with BSJ insight and analysis:

HEADLINES

Patriots stunned in seesaw battle: After a first half in which Dallas made drive-killing mistakes throughout, the game settled down entering the fourth quarter, as the Cowboys led 20-14.

And then all hell broke loose until the conclusion:

• The Patriots went 75 yards to grab a 21-20 lead with 6:23 left.
• New England appeared to have won the game when K Greg Zuerlein missed a field goal with 2:42 left.
• Then Dallas grabbed a 26-21 lead with 2:27 when Mac Jones' pass to Kendrick Bourne tipped off his hands to Trevon Diggs, who returned it 42 yards for a touchdown.

• New England answered right back when Jones and Bourne hooked up on a 75-yard touchdown to make it 29-26.

• Dallas sent it to overtime on a 49-yard field after getting 24 yards on 3rd and 25.
• And, finally, after a New England punt to start the extra session, the Cowboys had a walk-off win when Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb beat Jalen Mills on a 35-yard touchdown.

Man, some game. And some brutal loss for New England, which fell to 2-4.

New England's offense and defense will have reason to kick themselves: The Patriots started off great offensively, with touchdowns on their first two drives. But then stalled until the fourth quarter: fumble when Jones was blasted on a sack allowed by Yodny Cajuste, second blocked punt of the season, Bill Belichick elected to kneel with 1:30 left before halftime, punt, punt, punt. After the first quarter, New England ran 21 plays for 69 yards and three first downs.

The defense allowed nearly 40 minutes of Dallas possession, 567 total yards, 445 passing yards and three touchdowns to Prescott, 4.1 rushing yards each to Zeke Elliott and Tony Pollard, eight plays of 20 or more yards, and 149 yards and 2 TDs to Lamb. The game-tying FG was set up by a 24-yard pass to Lamb on Mills on 3rd and 25.

"It was a tough one to lose tonight," said Bill Belichick. "Give Dallas credit. They're a good team. They're well-coached. I know we just came up a little bit short. Thought that we went toe to toe with them for 60 minutes and we just couldn't – they just made a few more plays than we did, so give them credit for that. We'll move on.

No home cooking: Adding extra pain to this is that the Patriots have dropped their first four home games for the first time since 1993. They do have an extra home game this season with the 17-game schedule but after next week at home against the Jets, they will finish with 6 of 10 on the road.

TURNING POINT

Has to be 3rd and 25. If the Patriots could have gotten Dallas into long yardage on 4th down, they just needed one more play to win the game.

Instead, this happened, putting them into field goal position:

SECOND GUESS

We'll have much more on this aspect in our column, but Belichick electing to kneel on the ball with 1:30 left in the first half made little sense to anyone but Belichick.

"Because we were getting the ball the start of the second half," he said.

So what?

You don't need any timeouts (they had none) to kick a field goal before halftime. Why burn your final timeout on defense before the two-minute warning if you're just going to kneel when you do get it?

THREE UP

Ja'Whaun Bentley: Before leaving with a rib injury, Bentley might have had his best game since his rookie season with 13 tackles — 12 solo — a tackle for a loss and a ridiculous forced fumble that saved six points.

Justin Bethel: The special teamer came up big when Jonathan Jones left for a bit as he caused Prescott's interception that went to Kyle Dugger, and he had two special teams tackles, including a forced fumble.

Damien Harris: Had his fifth 100-yard game as he carried 18 times for 101 yards and a touchdown. He was impressive and physical.

THREE DOWN

Jalen Mills: Allowed the 3rd and 25 near conversion for the game-tying field goal, and the game-winning score.

Kendrick Bourne/Jonnu Smith: The high-priced duo had one catch each, and Agholor had a big drop to start the overtime drive, and wasn't on the same page with Jones on the third down on the same drive as well.

Yodny Cajuste/Justin Herron: The backup tackles combined to nearly get Jones decapitated. Randy Gregory owned the Patriots all night.

INJURIES

CB Jonathan Jones (ribs): Returned.
DE Chase Winovich (hamstring): Did not return.
LB Ja'Whaun Bentley (ribs): Did not return.
DL Christian Barmore (shoulder): Returned.
LB Dont'a Hightower (elbow): Returned.

THREE TAKES BEDARD WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

Time to take the training wheels off: Yes, the Patriots have managed the games — primarily their defense — well, especially against Tampa and Dallas, to get it to one score in the fourth quarter, along with their other losses. But they've also dropped four winnable games and have basically left themselves little room for error to make the postseason. This approach has not worked. It's time to go big or go home.

At least Stephon Gilmore is coming back to clean up the pass defense ... oh, wait, he's not. For a sixth-round pick.

Just a thought, but maybe bend but don't break on defense doesn't work all that well without that former quarterback, especially when you're trying to break in a rookie QB and four new receiving targets. Maybe you need to create turnovers on the plus-side of the field.