Cowboys at Patriots: Three bold predictions for Sunday’s matchup

This Sunday the Cowboys roll into Week 6 red hot, winners of four straight games. Dallas will face one of their tougher tests of the season this week as they travel to Foxborough to take on the Patriots.

Before the Cowboys and Pats square off, here are three bold predictions for Sunday’s matchup.

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1) The defense keeps their streak intact, intercepting Mac Jones two times

Turnovers have been a big problem for the Patriots through five games. New England has given the football away nine times, tied for the third-most in football, and has turned the ball over two or more times in four of their five games.

As is usually the case, when a team struggles to take care of the football the quarterback is almost always at the center of the problem. New England signal-caller Mac Jones has proven this true.

The rookie first-round pick is one of the eight quarterbacks in football with five or more interceptions on the season, and he could have many more. Jones has thrown 10 interceptable passes and has 14 danger plays on the season, via Player Profiler, showing he’s lucky to have just five interceptions.

For the fourth straight week, the Cowboys get to go up against a quarterback that has struggled to take care of the football, once again playing perfectly into their defensive strategy.

The Cowboys keep their interception streak alive on Sunday, courtesy of Trevon Diggs and Damontae Kazee, picking off the rookie signal-caller twice.

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2) Cee Dee Lamb scores a rushing touchdown

If there’s one thing that the Cowboys should try to do more on offense after a fantastic start to the season, it’s get the ball in CeeDee Lambs’ hands more. Lamb has had a nice start to the year, catching 24 passes for a team-leading 348 yards (14.5 Y/R) and scoring two touchdowns, but the Cowboys should find creative ways to get him the ball even more.

On Sunday the Cowboys will do so but in a non-conventional way. We’ve seen Lamb take snaps at running back in the Chargers, Eagles and Giants games this season, and we saw him score a rushing touchdown in Week 16 of last year.

This week, Kellen Moore cooks up a play to get the ball to Lamb in the backfield, and #88 has reservations for six. Lamb scores the second rushing touchdown of his career on a play that ends up being pivotal to the overall outcome of the game.

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3) The Cowboys record a game-sealing fourth-down conversion

Last Sunday against the Giants the Cowboys went for it on an early 4th & 2. Dak Prescott had Ezekiel Elliott open in the flat, but his pass was tipped and intercepted by Giants linebacker Lorenzo Carter.

Even though they failed to convert in that instance, Mike McCarthy and Kellen Moore have shown the willingness to be aggressive and go for it on fourth down in their two years together. Since the start of the 2020 season, the Cowboys have gone for it on fourth down 37 times (via ESPN), second-most in all of football,

This season, the Cowboys have gone for it six times, converting three of the opportunities. On Sunday, they’ll notch their fourth fourth-down conversion, and it will be the biggest one yet.

The Cowboys are clearly the better team, but they won’t completely pull away in this game. Dallas will hold a fourth-quarter lead, but New England will pull within seven with a late score. The Patriots then give the ball back to Dak Prescott and the Cowboys offense, and they convert a game-sealing fourth-down conversion, giving the Cowboys their fifth straight victory.