Offense
-Matthew Judon is an elite pass rusher who had 15.5 sacks last season. They like to move him around for the best matchup. Uche is also very good as he registered 11.5 sacks last season. Patriots have a lot of strong players inside who will occupy blockers. Barmore is the player to watch in the interior, gets a a lot of pressures and hits on the QB. If there is a weakness within the OL, Bellicheck is going to exploit it.
-It’s going to be very difficult consistently running the football, but they have to stick with it, to avoid all the exotic looks they will give the Cowboys against the pass. Stay out of those 3rd and longs.
-Christian Gonzalez, their #1 pick travels against the opponents best receiver, expect him on Lamb the entire game in press coverage, with help over the top. Lamb had a field day against the Patriots the last time, expect Bellichek to scheme him out this week. The other receivers are going to need to step up, especially the TE’s.
-Cannot commit a ton of self induced penalties as the Patriots never beat themselves and take advantage of mistakes.
Defense
-The Patriots are going to try to run the football early and often, until the Cowboys can prove they can stop them. Last time they had great success on the ground, this cannot happen again. Defense has to stay away from being over aggressive as they will exploit cut back lanes if players leave their gap. Stevenson is a quality back and we all know Zeke is going to be motivated against his former team. Make them 1 dimensional and the Patriot offense is in big trouble.
-Their offensive line is very average, just like the Jets, but Mac Jones does an excellent job under pressure inside the pocket. Expect to see them use a quick passing attack, along with a high level screen game.
-Patriots lack elite speed at the receiver position, where they do the most damage throwing to their 2 quality TE’s over the middle. Henry/Gesicki are real good receiving TE’s.
Special Teams
-Patriots drafted the kicker that Bones Fassell targeted in Chad Ryland. Excellent looking young kicker with range.
-Bellichek came into this league as a special teams coach and knows the importance, Cowboys need to win this battle.
