Game Plan: Dallas Cowboys vs New England Patriots (How They Can Win)

Dallas Cowboys vs New England Patriots
Sunday, October 11, 3:25 PN CST on CBS
AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas 

Offense:

The one weakness of the Pats is their defense. They are currently ranked 20th in the NFL, giving up an average of 368.7 yards per game. Also an average of 5.9 yards per play.

The Cowboys will have to do what they have not done since inserting Brandon Weeden as quarterback...open up the offense. You may not have your best offensive threats (Dez Bryant and Lance Dunbar), but what other shot do you have to beat this team.

Malcolm Butler will be missing from the secondary, so throwing the ball deep should be the best option to soften the front-line of the Pats defense.

Even with a back-up, the Cowboys have the 8th best offense in the NFL. That is better than any of the three teams the Pats have faced all season.

Defense:

The return of Greg Hardy will be all the talk leading up to this game. Don't think for a second that Tom Brady is not aware of his comments about his wife!

But the only way to beat Tom Brady has always been to beat him up...mentally and physically. He has only been sacked six times this season. No matter if Hardy gets in the back-field, he will draw enough attention to allow everyone else to tee-off on rushing the passer. Rob Marinelli needs to dial-up his best blitz packages. Let Hardy get in Tom's ear while he is putting him on the ground.

This will leave the secondary in mostly man coverage most of the game. They real threat will be passing underneath the coverage to slot WRs and mismatches with Rob Gronkowski. Nobody can guard Gronk, so don't look for some player to step-up. Getting to Brady needs to be the sole focus.

Special Teams:

Time to put your best guys back there to return both punts and kick-offs. Go for 2-point conversions on every touchdown...everything is a go!

Bottom Line:

The Cowboys don't have a good chance to beat the Pats straight-up. Head coach Jason Garrett will have to get out of his structured comfort zone to take an extreme amount of risks.

Prediction:

Cowboys 10 Patriots 38

Fun Facts:

• Tom Brady is 3-0 against the Dallas Cowboys
• This will be the New England Patriots first trip to Cowboys Stadium