Here’s our weekly look at the key plays in the Patriots’ game after reviewing the film.
Defending the Patriots
The Cowboys actually had some success slowing down the Patriots. How’d they do it?
The Cowboys, usually a 4-3 defense, used an unusual 3-2-6 defense for much of the game, with two linebackers up on the line of scrimmage and press coverage on the receivers.
This allowed the Cowboys to get creative with their pass rush, and the Patriots’ offensive line had some issues identifying the correct defenders to block, as with this Rolando McClain sack. Also notice how tight the coverage is on all five receivers.
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Patriots adjusting
So how did the Patriots combat this tactic? They ran the pick play over, and over, and over ...
On the first play of the game, TE Michael Williams gave Julian Edelman a perfectly legal pick creating a ton of space for Edelman’s 21-yard catch-and-run.
The Patriots even ran a pick play for Rob Gronkowski, who usually doesn’t need help getting open.
But Edelman created space for Gronk, and he had an easy catch and moved the chains.
Defending the Cowboys
The Patriots’ game plan appeared to revolve around slowing down Jason Witten.
The Patriots brought free safety Devin McCourty down in the box to cover Jason Witten as soon as he got off the line of scrimmage.
McCourty got his hands on Witten to slow down his timing.
And just for good measure, the Patriots shadowed Witten over the top with a safety — in this case, Jordan Richards (37).
| Steelers (61) | Bills (86) | Jaguars (81) | Cowboys (59) | Total (287) | Percent | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C David Andrews | 61 | 86 | 81 | 59 | 287 | 100.0% |
| QB Tom Brady | 61 | 86 | 79 | 57 | 283 | 98.6% |
| TE Rob Gronkowski | 61 | 81 | 54 | 57 | 253 | 88.2% |
| OT Sebastian Vollmer | 52 | 49 | 63 | 56 | 220 | 76.7% |
| WR Julian Edelman | 48 | 75 | 57 | 51 | 231 | 80.5% |
| WR Keshawn Martin | 0 | 0 | 36 | 50 | 86 | 30.0% |
| G Josh Kline | 54 | 86 | 54 | 48 | 242 | 84.3% |
| G Shaq Mason | 36 | 57 | 61 | 42 | 196 | 68.3% |
| RB Dion Lewis | 46 | 73 | 35 | 42 | 196 | 68.3% |
| OT Marcus Cannon | 13 | 50 | 40 | 40 | 143 | 49.8% |
| WR Danny Amendola | 34 | 36 | 54 | 36 | 160 | 55.7% |
| G Tre Jackson | 36 | 27 | 46 | 32 | 141 | 49.1% |
| OT Nate Solder | 57 | 78 | 70 | 25 | 230 | 80.1% |
| TE Mike Williams | 18 | 21 | 32 | 20 | 91 | 31.7% |
| RB LeGarrette Blount | 0 | 7 | 31 | 17 | 55 | 19.2% |
| TE Scott Chandler | 25 | 43 | 32 | 10 | 110 | 38.3% |
| WR Matthew Slater | 0 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 3.1% |
| RB James White | 1 | 0 | 17 | 2 | 20 | 7.0% |
| QB Jimmy Garoppolo | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1.4% |
| WR Aaron Dobson | 30 | 70 | 44 | 0 | 144 | 50.2% |
| TE Michael Hoomanawanui | 12 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 7.7% |
| RB Brandon Bolden | 14 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 20 | 7.0% |
| WR Chris Harper | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 4.2% |
| RB Travaris Cadet | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1.0% |
| Steelers (73) | Bills (72) | Jaguars (57) | Cowboys (72) | Total (274) | Percent | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CB Malcolm Butler | 68 | 72 | 57 | 72 | 269 | 98.2% |
| FS Devin McCourty | 73 | 72 | 50 | 72 | 267 | 97.4% |
| LB Jamie Collins | 73 | 72 | 47 | 72 | 264 | 96.4% |
| SS Patrick Chung | 49 | 61 | 30 | 64 | 204 | 74.5% |
| DE Chandler Jones | 71 | 62 | 33 | 57 | 223 | 81.4% |
| DE Rob Ninkovich | 69 | 63 | 39 | 54 | 225 | 82.1% |
| CB Logan Ryan | 4 | 50 | 57 | 47 | 158 | 57.7% |
| DE Jabaal Sheard | 50 | 45 | 48 | 46 | 189 | 69.0% |
| CB Tarell Brown | 64 | 53 | 0 | 45 | 162 | 59.1% |
| S Duron Harmon | 57 | 22 | 19 | 41 | 139 | 50.7% |
| LB Jerod Mayo | 11 | 16 | 17 | 29 | 73 | 26.6% |
| CB Justin Coleman | 0 | 0 | 42 | 26 | 68 | 24.8% |
| LB Jonathan Freeny | 0 | 2 | 13 | 25 | 40 | 14.6% |
| DT Malcom Brown | 26 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 92 | 33.6% |
| DT Alan Branch | 12 | 25 | 17 | 23 | 77 | 28.1% |
| S Jordan Richards | 0 | 0 | 30 | 22 | 52 | 19.0% |
| DT Dominique Easley | 7 | 0 | 32 | 19 | 58 | 21.2% |
| DT Sealver Siliga | 22 | 44 | 23 | 18 | 107 | 39.1% |
| DT Akiem Hicks | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 18 | 6.6% |
| LB Donta Hightower | 61 | 69 | 41 | 9 | 180 | 65.7% |
| DE Geneo Grissom | 32 | 10 | 7 | 9 | 58 | 21.2% |
| S Nate Ebner | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 2.2% |
| CB Bradley Fletcher | 49 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 68 | 24.8% |
| LB Rufus Johnson | 0 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 4.7% |
| S Tavon Wilson | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.4% |
Follow Ben Volin on Twitter at @BenVolin.