Special Teams costs Dallas Cowboys the game vs. Patriots

The Dallas Cowboys lost a close one to the New England Patriots largely due to horrendous special teams play. The loss drops the Cowboys to 6-5.

The Dallas Cowboys played a tough contest in New England on Sunday, losing by the score of 13-9. The Cowboys as a whole did not play terrible, yes the offense was slow but that was due partly to the weather, and the defense played terrifically.

What cost the Cowboys of a huge win on Sunday was the terrible play of the special teams. Consistently throughout the game.

Lets recap:

• Missed Field Goal
• Blocked punt
• Delay of game on the punting unit
• Illegal shift on the punting unit
• Miss handled kickoff
• Miss handled kickoff
• Miss handled kickoff

This completely falls on head coach Jason Garrett and special teams coordinator Keith O’Quinn. There is no way around it. Patriots head coach Bill Belichick made it an emphasis that the Patriots win the special teams battle, and that they did.

My question is this, why did Garrett not make it a huge emphasis as well? Lately, the Patriots offense has been struggling mightily, you knew the weather was going to be terrible, and most importantly, the Patriots rely heavily on their special teams to make a difference in their games!

Owner and general manger Jerry Jones described it perfectly as special teams is 100 percent coaching. Which it is. There is no other way to describe the lack of preparation on the Cowboy’s special teams play.

To address the other Garrett blunders from Sunday … I personally agreed with kicking the field goal with 6:11 to play from the New England 11.

In the end, the Cowboys had the ball with over two minutes to play and all three timeouts, until the phantom tripping call occurred and the rest is history.

After the loss, the Dallas Cowboys fall to 6-5 and will have a quick turn around against a sneak 8-3 Buffalo Bills team on Thanksgiving day. It is a must-win, to say the least.