Patriots Schooled By McCarthy, Quinn
The NFL is a funny entity.
It can be a roller coaster ride for most teams.
One week you’re on top of the world, the next you might be the worst team in the league, only to return to the top the following week.
The Cowboys are going through some of those ups and downs, riding high to start the season with big wins over the Giants and Jets.
Then, just when you feel like you’re the team to beat no matter who you play, you get dismantled on an afternoon trip to the Arizona desert. Only to return home to the metroplex to give Bill Belichick the worst beating of his career.
Belichick, obviously not that big a genius without Tom Brady, looked no better coaching on Sunday at AT&T Stadium than some of the ragamuffins Jerry Jones has hired over the years to be the head coach of the Cowboys – Dave Campo, Chan Gailey, Wade Phillips or Jason Garrett.
No, Mike McCarthy and Dan Quinn outcoached the so-called master.
McCarthy out foxed the Belichick trio, that includes the head man who runs the defense, linebackers coach Steve Belichick and safeties coach Brian Belichick, with short passes and a running game with enough punch to keep the Patriots guessing.
Dak Prescott was damn near perfect, completing 28 of 34 passes with one touchdown and no interceptions. He was efficient with the offense and never put the team in jeopardy with questionable throws that he has been known for since the middle of last season.
It was a masterful job on offense by all involved, but it was made much easier by Dan Quinn and the Dallas defense.
The Cowboys defense was embarrassed in Arizona last week, with the Cardinals having their way on big downs. The Cardinals offense rushed for 222 yards, had quarterback Josh Dobbs complete 80-percent of his passes and went 2-fo-2 in the red zone.
It only took xx plays on Sunday afternoon in Dallas to see the changes Quinn had made to the defense and how they were going to attack the Patriots.
It worked.
The Cardinals threw into the vacated area of the Cowboys rushers, most importantly Micah Parsons, and the Dallas defense couldn’t stop it. Parsons played primarily at right defensive end and the Cardinals made him pay for his aggressiveness.
On Sunday, Quinn had Parsons moving around, including inside over the center. And of course, Parsons wasted little time in getting New England center David Andrews on his bullrush that has taken the league by storm.
The move allowed the Cowboys to get another pass rusher on the field, while also confusing Jones and the Patriots offense with alignment. It worked well enough that Parsons was in the face of Jones on several plays, including one that ended in a Sam Williams sack of the Patriots QB. Of course, Williams was in the game playing at Parsons usual end spot.
It was a perfect, yet simple, move that changed the entire complexity of the game, for both teams.
It was a master class from start to finish, only this time the so-called master got schooled.
Sunday just confirmed that Belichick is just another dude without Brady and McCarthy and Quinn are pushing all the right buttons, despite a loss, early in the season.
But this should be just the beginning for both Cowboys coaches. They need to continue to be sneaky, innovative and smart.
These new wrinkles are now on film for all to see.
The Dallas coaching duo will be put to a new test this coming Sunday when they take on the 49ers in San Francisco. Did they make the proper adjustments, making it just difficult enough to be confusing?
We will know soon enough. My guess is they will. Their current track record says so.
A win in the Bay Area and we’ll all know a lot more about this version of the Cowboys.
But so far, it looks pretty good.