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Sunday served as the fifth taste of defeat that the Dallas Cowboys have had this season yet somehow, some way, they still find themselves in first place in the NFC East. It pays to be in a sub-par division, obviously.
What of the game in New England, though? What were the high points? The lows? The in-betweens? We’ve got your winners and losers right here. Prepare yourselves.
Winner: Being in the NFC East
As mentioned... the NFC East is bad. The two leading teams (Dallas and Philadelphia) both lost on Sunday. In fact, the two teams have combined for three losses in their last four games. The division is going to come down to one of the two teams.
Somebody has to win it.
Winner: Michael Gallup
He’s a star in the making. While the Cowboys didn’t have a lot of offense to write home about, Gallup did make enough catches to be noticed. That’s always a good sign.
Having Gallup paired with Amari Cooper really is such an amazing thing for the Cowboys. Hopefully they’re able to make more of it next time.
Winner: Connor Williams’ health
It should be noted that Connor Williams had arthroscopic surgery very recently. In spite of this he was playing on Sunday afternoon against the New England Patriots. That’s insane.
Dallas has had injuries pop up here and there throughout the season. Thankfully most of their players have been able to fight through them.
Winner: DeMarcus Lawrence and Robert Quinn
The duo continues to be great along the edges. Dallas has finally found a set of bookend pass-rushers and they’re either getting home or causing serious havoc. It’s a shame that they can’t turn all of that into consistent victories.
Winner: Drama
The Cowboys played in yet another one-possession game. They lost, though.
They are now 1-4 in games of that variety this season.
Loser: Jason Garrett
You cannot, under any circumstances, be playing in the biggest game of your career and not score a single touchdown. It just cannot happen.
Sunday was very disappointing for Garrett and a flat performance from his team isn’t what people want to be seeing right now. The Cowboys had New England for the taking and were unable to capitalize, largely due to playing they game so conservatively.
It’s frustrating.
Loser: Jason Witten
One day Jason Witten will have a bronze bust in Canton, Ohio, but today, in 2019, he is hurting the Dallas Cowboys by how much football he is playing.
The Cowboys have a Jason Witten problem and it’s a very serious one. Either he’s so selfish (this isn’t a criticism of him, it’s normal in these circumstances after all) that he wants to be playing so much or the coaching staff is too timid to bench him. Whatever the case, the best tight end on the team isn’t playing the majority of snaps at the position and that’s an issue.
Loser: Special Teams
Dude, what is happening?
It seems like every week the Cowboys have some huge miscommunication on special teams that either does or comes close to causing a turnover. Such was the case once again in New England - multiple times - but thankfully the Cowboys were able to prevent them (save for the blocked punt).
Weather is no excuse. This has to be better.
Loser: Dak Prescott’s MVP candidacy
Dak Prescott was undoubtedly an MVP candidate entering this game, but a flat performance from the entire team and the offense specifically is going to hold that back. In some ways, it appeared as if Dak did all he could, but he is the quarterback and therefore a lot is expected of him.
That interception was gross.
Loser: The idea of it being different
Many allowed themselves to think that the Cowboys would finally pull off something incredible and go on the road to defeat the New England Patriots. It seemed possible for a bit, and to their credit the Cowboys even came back from a 10-point deficit to make it interesting.
That wouldn’t be the case, though. The Cowboys lost another game to a big-time opponent. When will it change?