The little breaks in the Patriots Game

[Kaiser]

I haven’t reviewed the Patriots game completely yet but its really striking how many little things went against us early on. In the 2016 season where we went 13-3 there were at least three games where all the little things broke out way to make our record better than it should have been. This season its been the opposite, Amari Cooper has a ball go through his hands straight into a DBs hands once every five years or so and that play (a 14 point swing) is one of the main reasons we lost to the Packers.

In this game we were playing the Super Bowl champs on the road in bad weather. The betting line was that we would lose by a touchdown and deservedly so. But if you look at little things in the first 17 minutes of this game, Dallas definitely should have been up by at least six instead of down by 10. We lost by 4.


#1 – Maher’s first FG hits the uprights for the miss, something that happens every five years or so.

#2 – on the next series Quinn has a strip sack but the ball bounces straight up into Brady’s hands. Unusual for that to happen.

#3 – on the next series the first of the Unicorn tripping penalties happens to stop the Dallas offense and force a punt.

#4 – on the punt, Dallas allows a blocked punt (clearly the main reason we lost) that happens once every five years or so. (I don’t find the last time it happened, feel free to post it).


New England then scores on a 12 yard drive


#5 – on the next series, All Pro Center Travis Frederick snaps the ball over Dak’s head, leading to a rushed throw that is intercepted. I don’t ever remember that happening in his six year career but feel free to correct me.


New England then scores on a FG after getting 3 yards on 3 plays.


At that point its 17 minutes into the game and New England has 61 yards of total offense (Dallas has 80). They have a 10 – 0 lead in a game that should have Dallas up by at least 6 – 0. Dallas loses by 4.

 

[Ranched]

I haven’t reviewed the Patriots game completely yet but its really striking how many little things went against us early on

100 Likes!

MEANWHILE....

 

[Fritsch_the_cat]

Fate has conspired against us.

 

[jazzcat22]

It is called an unprepared team.

 

[Kaiser]

Fate has conspired against us.

It evens out, like I said 2016 was the year all these things went for us. This year it seems like they are all going against us.

 

[Beats_By_Zeke]

Good teams find ways to win games.
Bad teams find ways to lose games.
The odd thing is, this seems like a good team but always finds ways to lose.

 

[Kaiser]

It is called an unprepared team.

On Special Teams, yes. For sure.

But I don't think the problem is that Garrett just plum forgot to say "Frederick, snap the ball to Dak's chest. Not two feet over his head, his chest".

 

[jazzcat22]

Fate has conspired against us.

Here is my conspiracy theory for the game against the Bills.
We will get some calls, maybe even to help us win. And it is not because they will be make up calls.

It will be to help NE, as a loss for the Bills pretty much assures NE winning that division. So it will be to help NE, not Dallas.

 

[Risen Star]

Yeah, losers lose and winners win. End thread.

 

[Kevinicus]

Maher misses far more often than once every 5 years. Hitting the upright is no better than 10 feet wide. A miss is a miss.
The high snap is just an excuse for Dak. He still had plenty of time and just made a bad decision/throw.

I believe the last punt block was 2014 @ Seattle.

 

[Kaiser]

Maher misses far more often than once every 5 years. Hitting the upright is no better than 10 feet wide. A miss is a miss.
The high snap is just an excuse for Dak. He still had plenty of time and just made a bad decision/throw.

I believe the last punt block was 2014 @ Seattle.

Thanks for the punt info, I looked for a minute but didn't find it.

My point on the FG isn't that its a miss, its that a half inch the other way makes it 3 points. Its very rare to hit the upright and they can bounce out, bounce back or bounce through for 3 points all based on a half inch. This half inch made it bounce out and not through for 3.

 

[percyhoward]

Dallas allows a blocked punt (clearly the main reason we lost) that happens once every five years or so.

Unless you're the Patriots, who have blocked 5 punts in their last 21 games.

 

[Creeper]

Some of those things, a lot of those things are self-inflicted. Its the little things that good teams don't do. Throughout the game there were little mistakes that hurt. The screen pass on 3rd and 23. Cobb bobbled it for about 2 seconds with blockers out in front of him. If he catches it cleanly, who knows how far he runs. Then there was the Dak scramble before the missed FG. Dak tucks it and runs and Jarwin is out in front of him in a pass route. Instead of recognizing Dak is running and then making a block on the LB standing right next to him, he decides to try to get free so Dak can throw it to him. But Dak had already committed to the run. If Jarwin makes a block there, maybe Dak gets the first down or maybe just a few more yards so the FG would have been good. I saw so many little things like that in the first half when I reviewed the tape. The penalties are just part of the mess the Cowboys make early in games.

Just a thought, we should stop asking why the Cowboys start so slow and start asking why they are making so many mistakes early.

 

[austin88]

I haven’t reviewed the Patriots game completely yet but its really striking how many little things went against us early on. In the 2016 season where we went 13-3 there were at least three games where all the little things broke out way to make our record better than it should have been. This season its been the opposite, Amari Cooper has a ball go through his hands straight into a DBs hands once every five years or so and that play (a 14 point swing) is one of the main reasons we lost to the Packers.

In this game we were playing the Super Bowl champs on the road in bad weather. The betting line was that we would lose by a touchdown and deservedly so. But if you look at little things in the first 17 minutes of this game, Dallas definitely should have been up by at least six instead of down by 10. We lost by 4.


#1 – Maher’s first FG hits the uprights for the miss, something that happens every five years or so.

#2 – on the next series Quinn has a strip sack but the ball bounces straight up into Brady’s hands. Unusual for that to happen.

#3 – on the next series the first of the Unicorn tripping penalties happens to stop the Dallas offense and force a punt.

#4 – on the punt, Dallas allows a blocked punt (clearly the main reason we lost) that happens once every five years or so. (I don’t find the last time it happened, feel free to post it).


New England then scores on a 12 yard drive


#5 – on the next series, All Pro Center Travis Frederick snaps the ball over Dak’s head, leading to a rushed throw that is intercepted. I don’t ever remember that happening in his six year career but feel free to correct me.


New England then scores on a FG after getting 3 yards on 3 plays.


At that point its 17 minutes into the game and New England has 61 yards of total offense (Dallas has 80). They have a 10 – 0 lead in a game that should have Dallas up by at least 6 – 0. Dallas loses by 4.

It's cherry-picking a bit to count Brady recovering his own fumble as a bad break for us, and not mention the play where Jarwin recovered his own fumble as a bad break for them. In fact, in the space of three offensive plays, we had (1) Jarwin fumble after catching a pass, and get lucky to recover, (2) Frederick snap the ball high, and Prescott get somewhat lucky just to be able to bat it to himself, and (3) Prescott throw behind Cooper for the INT. That's some sloppy football, right there.

 

[Kaiser]

It's cherry-picking a bit to count Brady recovering his own fumble as a bad break for us, and not mention the play where Jarwin recovered his own fumble as a bad break for them. In fact, in the space of three offensive plays, we had (1) Jarwin fumble after catching a pass, and get lucky to recover, (2) Frederick snap the ball high, and Prescott get somewhat lucky just to be able to bat it to himself, and (3) Prescott throw behind Cooper for the INT. That's some sloppy football, right there.

If Jarwin had the ball bounce straight back into his hands, you would be right. But it didn't, it came out and he jumped on it just like most plays of that sort. You rarely see a strip sack where the ball comes right back up into his hands, its either a turnover or a scrum on the field.

And its "lucky" that Prescott catches a high snap but sloppy that he has to rush a throw because the snap was two feet over his head? And if you have video of Frederick making snaps like that in other games, feel free to post it.

 

[austin88]

If Jarwin had the ball bounce straight back into his hands, you would be right. But it didn't, it came out and he jumped on it just like most plays of that sort. You rarely see a strip sack where the ball comes right back up into his hands, its either a turnover or a scrum on the field.

And its "lucky" that Prescott catches a high snap but sloppy that he has to rush a throw because the snap was two feet over his head? And if you have video of Frederick making snaps like that in other games, feel free to post it.

I think Frederick snapping the ball high is an execution error, not a "bad break." And so the subsequent effect it had on Dak's throw is part of the offense playing sloppy football, not the Fates being mean to us.

I don't have stats on the percentage of strip sack fumbles that bounce back to the QB, although I've seen it before. But it isn't all that uncommon on fumbles generally. This was game filled with miscues by the Cowboys, many related to the bad weather, which was a factor for both teams. The only bad breaks I saw were the tripping penalties, which were absolutely horrible, Lions-against-Packers-level-bad, calls.

 

[John813]

IIRC last blocked punt against the Cowboys was Sept 11, 2011 vs the Jets. Returned for a TD
Last punt the Cowboys blocked was the cursed 2015 season week 2 vs the Eagles.

 

[Carson]

We’ve been finding ways to lose games since 96

 

[Praxit]

I haven’t reviewed the Patriots game completely yet but its really striking how many little things went against us early on. In the 2016 season where we went 13-3 there were at least three games where all the little things broke out way to make our record better than it should have been. This season its been the opposite, Amari Cooper has a ball go through his hands straight into a DBs hands once every five years or so and that play (a 14 point swing) is one of the main reasons we lost to the Packers.

In this game we were playing the Super Bowl champs on the road in bad weather. The betting line was that we would lose by a touchdown and deservedly so. But if you look at little things in the first 17 minutes of this game, Dallas definitely should have been up by at least six instead of down by 10. We lost by 4.


#1 – Maher’s first FG hits the uprights for the miss, something that happens every five years or so.

#2 – on the next series Quinn has a strip sack but the ball bounces straight up into Brady’s hands. Unusual for that to happen.

#3 – on the next series the first of the Unicorn tripping penalties happens to stop the Dallas offense and force a punt.

#4 – on the punt, Dallas allows a blocked punt (clearly the main reason we lost) that happens once every five years or so. (I don’t find the last time it happened, feel free to post it).


New England then scores on a 12 yard drive


#5 – on the next series, All Pro Center Travis Frederick snaps the ball over Dak’s head, leading to a rushed throw that is intercepted. I don’t ever remember that happening in his six year career but feel free to correct me.


New England then scores on a FG after getting 3 yards on 3 plays.


At that point its 17 minutes into the game and New England has 61 yards of total offense (Dallas has 80). They have a 10 – 0 lead in a game that should have Dallas up by at least 6 – 0. Dallas loses by 4.

..sounds like more bad luck than anything else.

 

[shabazz]

On Special Teams, yes. For sure.

But I don't think the problem is that Garrett just plum forgot to say "Frederick, snap the ball to Dak's chest. Not two feet over his head, his chest".

Did he then tell Dakota to throw an ill advised pass? Heres a little history for ya to show what a baller can do with a snap that was really 2 feet over ones head