SZ709
BY
JIM DAWSON
NOVEMBER
25, 2019
PATRIOTS
WEATHER THE STORM VERSUS THE COWBOYS 13-9
Before
I get into the nuts and bolts of this rain-soaked soiree, I just want
to applaud Robert Kraft and the Patriots for honoring our military at
this game. There was a pre-game ceremony to honor veterans and active
duty service members as well as a special swearing in of 50 soldiers
into the Army.
The
National Anthem was sung by Musician 2nd Class Rachel
Vennel, who is an active duty member of the Navy stationed in
Newport, RI. Ms. Vennel delivered one of the best renditions of our
National Anthem that I’ve heard in a long time. No trills nor
embellishments, just a gorgeous on-key, full-throated delivery of the
song. It was greeted with a great response by the fans which was well
deserved. Kudos to Rachel Vennel.
When
you are playing in a constant, wind swept torrent of sheets of rain,
the players have another obstacle to overcome besides their opponent.
Sunday it was the Cowboys who made the key mistakes that contributed
to their loss. That and the combination of just enough offense, a
powerful defense and strong special teams play that won the game
After
the rain and wind caused a 46 yard Dallas field goal try to bounce
off the upright, the Cowboys made the mistake of having a punt
blocked by special teams stud
Matthew
Slater which was recovered by Nate Ebner on the Dallas 12. Two plays
later Tom Brady threw the perfect back shoulder pass to rookie N'Keal
Harry for a 10 yard TD, Harry’s first ever in the NFL.
The
rest of the Half would show the resilience of the Patriots D as they
held on a 3rd and 1 (incomplete pass), 3rd and
2 (interception by Stephon Gilmore at the Dallas 29) which culminated
in a Nick Folk 44 yard FG into the wind (10-0 Pats); 3rd
and 3 (incomplete pass), but a Brett Maher 46 yd FG, and after a 3rd
and 7 stop at the NE 11, another Maher FG from 27 yards out. 10-6
Pats at the Half.
During
that 1st Half, the Patriots Nick Folk would miss FGs from
46 yards and 48 yards, both wide right (that’s for you ‘Gunner’).
Danny Shelton had a bad penalty (false start) on that first miss with
the ball originally on the Dallas 23.
The
3rd quarter was scoreless, but again the Patriots Defense
was as strong as the unyielding rain, making Dallas go three and out
twice. On their 3rd possession, a holding penalty negated
a 15 yard catch by Amari Cooper and Dallas ended up punting.
At
this point, it was the 4th quarter. The Patriots went on a
12 play drive that took 5:28 off the clock. It concluded with a Nick
Folk 42 yard FG (with the wind) to make it 13-6.
The
next series is the one that would doom Dallas. The Pats defense was
burnt for the longest play of the game as Dak Prescott hit Randall
Cobb for 47 yards. Devin McCourty caused Cobb to fumble, but he
recovered his own fumble and got an extra 12 yards down to the NE 25.
The Cowboys got it to the NE 14 and then had 2nd and 3rd
from the 11. Gilmore left his man to break up a pass to Witten and
then Prescott missed his other tight end Blake Jarwin. Faced with 4th
and 7, the ‘brain trust’ Jason Garrett elected to kick a FG. That
made it 13-9 but the Cowboys still needed a TD with time running out.
Dumb call. I turned to El Jefe and Driller Killer and said they
should have gone for the TD and will lose because of it. They did.
Dallas
got the ball back with 2:38 left. On 4thand 11 from their
25, Prescott hit Amari Cooper for a 1st down, but replay
showed the ball hit the ground. It was left for the Pats to run out
the clock which they did aided by runs of 5 and 12 yards by Sony
Michel.
A
hard fought win against a very good team that played better than I
thought they would considering the elements. On to Houston.
LEFTOVERS
(ALL STATS VIA GAMEBOOK UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED)
The
Patriots beat Dallas, the #1 offense in the NFL (total yards). They
did it with a depleted receiver core. No Dorsett (concussion). No
Sanu (high ankle sprain). NE had Julian Edelman and two rookie
receivers, N’Keal Harry and Jacobi Meyers. All 3 dropped passes.
Harry only had one catch - the 10 yard TD. Meyers was targeted 9
times with 4 catches for 74 yards. Edelman had 12 targets and 8
catches (93 yds).
With
the return of LT Isaiah Wynn, the Pats were able to run the ball.
Sony Michel ran for 85 yards (54 in the 1st half). His
yards per carry (4.3) were slightly better than Zeke Elliott’s
(4.1) on 21 carries for 86 yards. Wynn wasn’t perfect as he had a
false start penalty and gave up a sack to Robert Quinn, one of the
NFL’s best. Great start anyway.
Stephon
Gilmore so blanketed Dallas’ best receiver Amari Cooper that he was
only targeted twice with no completions. The last ‘catch’ was
ruled incomplete. Cooper did have one catch, but it was negated by a
penalty. Gilmore switched off on Jason Witten on the play from the NE
11 where Dallas settled for a FG. In fact, Witten, who was targeted 4
times, only had 1 catch for 5 yards.
Sportzine
is available at jimdawsonsports.com thanks to Buffalo Steve Lenz
There
was consternation by Pats fans about who would handle punt returns.
Gunner Olszewski originally handled punts but was placed on IR. After
the trade for Sanu, he had been handling punts, but was injured on
one last week and was out. Old reliable Julian Edelman was back
there, but wisely stayed away from the ball, not even making a fair
catch. It was obvious that the coaches didn’t want to risk him
being injured. At the end of the 3rd quarter, the Pats
elected to have no one back to return the punt. Amazingly Dallas got
called for delay of game. On the ensuing punt, Rex Burkhead was back
and called for a fair catch.
On
3rd down, the Patriots Defense held the Cowboys to 2 for
13. The Pats weren’t much better at 3 for 14. Interestingly, NE had
27 rushes to Dallas’ 26. The Pats had 10 first downs by pass and 6
by the run. That’s closer to
the balance that they need to succeed.
Dallas
sacked Brady twice (I think Cannon gave up the other) and 6 QB hits.
NE
had no sacks and 5 QB hits. Per the Boston Herald’s Andrew Callahan
(11/24), the Cowboys have allowed a league low 12 sacks.
Dietrich
Wise had a dumb penalty for
the 2nd
week in a row, a roughing the passer.
EMAIL
Shawn
Colvin
Special
K
Special
K, very
good guess but incorrect. I have seen Colvin a few times
and always enjoyed her music. - Z
Glad
to have you back in the game!!
My
TRIVIA QUESTION guess is Sheryl
Crow.
Go
NAVY. Beat
ARMY.
Richard
Flinn
Good
guess, Richard, but no, Sheryl Crow is not the correct answer. - Z
One
last guess- Emmylou
Harris?
Richard
Flinn
Hi
Richard, no,
not Emmylou Harris either, but thanks for trying to answer the trivia
question. - Z
THE
HOT CLUB
Since
the Sportzine
comes out on Monday,
the chance to see Martin Scorsese’s The
Irishman
is almost gone. For Rhode Islanders, it’s only playing at the Avon
and Cinemaworld in Lincoln. The run ends tomorrow, Tuesday, then it
will be shown only on
Netflix which funded the movie. However in order for The
Irishman to qualify
for an Oscar, the movie had to be released to theatres before the end
of the year. As a Scorsese aficionado,
I will try to see the movie. At
209 minutes, that’s a long film.
But this is Scorsese, one of the preeminent American directors, and
someone that I’ve been tracking since Mean
Streets (1973). Hope
you see it.
Special
K made an excellent observation on
Netflix’s ploy. She referenced the loss of drive-in movies and
said Netflix and other streaming services would like
to do away with
movie theaters.
Dr.
John was
back at the Hot Club after a time
away. When I said that I
had just seen Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite
at the Avon, he recalled seeing
Aliens 2 there.
John said it was filled with Brown students and their dates, who
mostly hid under their seats during the movie. However when Ripley
(Sigourney
Weaver) dons the metal superstructure to face off against the Mother
Alien creature and says “Get away from her, bitch”, there were
loud cheers from all the women.
ANSWER
TO LAST ISSUE’S TRIVIA QUESTION
Last
issue, I asked you to name the woman who is a
singer/songwriter/guitarist who had success with others
covering
her songs, but won a Grammy for Best Country Song and then had a
breakout album that garnered her a Grammy for Best Folk Album and
later won a Grammy for Best Female
Rock Vocal Performance. No
one got it. The answer: Lucinda Williams. Lucinda won her
Grammy for Best Country
Song when Mary Chapin Carpenter
covered her Passionate
Kisses. The breakout
album was Car Wheels on
a Gravel Road which
went Gold and won her a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album.
Later she won Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for Get
Right with God from
the album Essence. I
still love her Sweet
Old World album
(1992).
THIS
ISSUE’S TRIVIA QUESTION
A
change up: this double album was the sole studio album by a group. It
was not received well, never charting in Britain, and reaching only
#16 on Billboard’s Top LPs chart in the US. Yet the album has since
made the Grammy Hall of Fame. Name?
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