New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick is one of the most successful coaches of all time, boasting 299 wins and five Super Bowls. No team ever sees New England as an easy matchup, largely because of Belichick's seemingly never-ending success, which is why Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones couldn't believe what he saw as the Cowboys beat the Patriots 38-3 on Sunday, handing Belichick his worst loss of his career.
“I didn’t expect this type of showing today,” Jones said, via Pro Football Talk. "Surreal is what it is when you look at how well they have competed all these years, and so again that is the case where you have all the respect in the world for them."
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Seemingly out of respect for Belichick, Jones just couldn't believe how out of hand it got. The Cowboys defense had its way with Mac Jones and the Patriots offense, notching two interceptions, one of which was taken back for a touchdown, and a fumble recovery. Jones was later forced out of the game in the third quarter in favor of backup QB Bailey Zappe. The Patriots were held to a season-low of 253 total yards.
“Couldn’t have pictured being able to have the score like this," Jones said, "but again, it’s kind of inspiring because again knowing what a great coach, what a great organization they’ve got. We’ll build on that. That did us some good.”
The Cowboys were able to quiet the bright spot of the Patriots season thus far as well, finding holes in all different areas of the New England defense. Dallas threw for 253 yards and rushed for 124 yards, as the Patriots could not find any way to slow down the Cowboys offense, which averaged 5.5 yards per play.
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Jones was admittingly worried after Dallas' Week 3 loss to the Arizona Cardinals, but he was thrilled to see the Cowboys bounce back in such a dramatic fashion.
"I felt like that we had a lot of work to do. I almost felt like coming in today was similar to the way I felt when we had our first game this year with the Giants when this group hadn’t been together in a preseason game," Jones said, "I was anxious to see how we were. I felt that way before the kickoff tonight. This was meaningful. Absolutely I had a question in my mind of how this thing would turn out today and the meaningfulness of it later this season.”
The Patriots will need to find a way to bounce back after this loss -- much like how Dallas did after its loss to Arizona -- going into their Week 5 game against the 2-2 New Orleans Saints.