Patriots Blog: Talk Around Dallas
FOXBORO (CBS) - The Patriots big win against the Jets got people around the NFL talking.
It wasn't because they beat them, it was how. The Patriots ran the ball to close out the game; 13 plays on that last drive and 11 of them runs. Everyone around the league knows the Pats have a passing attack but now here comes the run.
Here's what some of the news surrounding Dallas Cowboys:
Need to rise up in critical situations. Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas writes on the message from coach Jason Garrett to his players -- situational football. Sound familiar? That's a Bill Belichick staple and an area the Cowboys have struggled through four games, failing to hold leads against the Jets and Lions.
"I think we need to be more consistent handling the different situations that come up in the game, and I think we need to do the things that winning teams do at crunch time," Garrett says.
Read: Levan Reid's Patriots Blog
Health on the upswing. Coming off their bye, the Cowboys are as healthy as they've been in some time, the Dallas Morning News notes.
"It's definitely exciting to see what everybody's going to do now that everybody's back," said reserve cornerback Alan Ball, who had been thrust into a starting role for one game.
Solder was on Cowboys' radar. Had the Cowboys not selected offensive tackle Tyron Smith in the first round (9th overall), Patriots rookie offensive tackle Nate Solder was their other option, Charean Williams of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram writes.
"We liked Nate very much," coach Jason Garrett says. "We were not surprised he was drafted in the first round, and we're not surprised that he's playing this early into his first year."
Defensive coordinator Rob Ryan has had success vs. Pats. Now in his first year as Cowboys defensive coordinator, Rob Ryan can look to last year's game-plan with the Browns to help him formulate a plan against Tom Brady and Co.
Ryan was the Browns' defensive coordinator and hatched a solid plan in a blowout win last year.
Still, Cowboys coach Jason Garrett downplayed how much that could mean.
"The makeup of their team is different. The makeup of the Cowboys team is different than the Browns team in 2010," he says.
The Patriots just got done figuring out Rex Ryan's defense, we'll see if they can make it two Ryan brothers in a row on Sunday.
Tune in to the Patriots-Cowboys game Sunday at 4:15 pm on 98.5 The Sports Hub. Get your Patriots Sunday started with Patriots Gameday at 11:30am on WBZ-TV and The Sports Hub's pregame coverage, beginning at 1:00 pm. After the game tune in to the Postgame show on 98.5, and to Patriots Fifth Quarter on MY TV38.
