Following the Patriots’ 35-29 overtime loss to the Cowboys on Sunday, Bill Belichick acknowledged the difficulty of coming so close to what would have been a pivotal early-season win.
“Tough one to lose tonight,” Belichick told reporters in the opening remarks of his postgame press conference.
“Give Dallas credit,” said Belichick. “They’re a good team, well coached. We just came up a little bit short. I thought we went toe-to-toe with them for 60 minutes. They just made a few more plays than we did. Let’s give them credit for that and move on.”
One notable aspect of the game was in the disparity in plays run by each offense. In total, the Cowboys ran 82 offensive plays vs. just 50 from the Patriots.
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Asked about the challenge of holding down such a prolific offense, Belichick was direct.
“They’re a good team and that’s what you have to do,” he explained. “You have to stop them.”
But even when New England was able to sufficiently cover Dallas receivers, Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott would find a way to create more time.
In total, Prescott completed 36 of 51 passes for 445 yards and three touchdowns (including the game-winner to CeeDee Lamb in overtime).
“He did a good job,” Belichick said of Prescott. “You know there were a lot of times where I thought we had him covered pretty well but he was able to extend some plays and made some great throws. They have very good skill players.”
On the deciding score to Lamb, Belichick offered a basic overview of what he thought went wrong.
“We covered a flat receiver and then they beat us on the over route,” he summarized, “another extended play. Obviously didn’t play it well enough, didn’t coach it well enough.”
The Patriots, now 2-4, face the Jets in Week 7 at Gillette Stadium.
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