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The Dallas Cowboys defeated the Detroit Lions in Week 11 to improve their record to 6-4 and take sole command of first place in the NFC East.
However, they face a daunting task in Week 12 — that would be the New England Patriots, the owners of the best record in football (9-1, along with the San Francisco 49ers).
Even worse for Dallas, they are playing at New England.
So if they want to pull off the victory, they'll need to pull out all the stops. Here are four reasons why the Cowboys could defeat the Patriots in their Week 12 meeting.
Injuries
The Patriots have some serious injury concerns at the moment. Tom Brady is questionable, but he's not really someone to worry about. It looks more like that was just the Patriots being cautious. With some elbow discomfort, there was no reason to make him do too much at practice.
However, the passing game could still have issues. Julian Edelman is listed as questionable. He's the most likely of their top-three receivers to play though.
Mohamed Sanu is also listed as questionable. There are serious doubts that he'll play on Sunday due to an ankle injury.
Finally, Phillip Dorsett has a concussion and hasn't been cleared for full football activities as of Saturday. That sounds like he's out for Sunday as well.
So there's a legitimate chance the Patriots don't have two of their top three options, and a decent chance they don't have all three. That makes things a lot tougher for Brady. Suddenly, he has N'Keal Harry (a rookie with three receptions on the year) and Jakobi Meyers (an undrafted rookie with 15 receptions on the year) as his two top targets.
That's something the Cowboys could take advantage of. If their defense can stop New England from scoring at all, it becomes a lot easier to win.
Ezekiel Elliott
Let's not kid ourselves, Ezekiel Elliott hasn't exactly looked as dominant this season. This is likely due to him missing training camp and the preseason as he was holding out for a new contract.
He's shown major signs of life recently though. In Weeks 6, 7 and 9 — had a bye in Week 8 — Elliot had his first back-to-back-to-back 100-rushing yard games of the season. Weeks 10 and 11 saw him run for under 50 yards each however.
That being said, Week 11 also saw Elliott pick up two receptions for 28 yards and his first receiving touchdown of the year. With a rushing touchdown as well, it was also his first two-TD game of 2019.
So Elliott is starting to find his legs. And with Dak Prescott playing at such a high level, the Cowboys' offense has something going on.
New England's defense has been elite this year, absolutely unstoppable. However, if Dallas is firing on all cylinders that offense is tough to beat. Elliott's a major part of that and with how he's played recently, he could be good to go.
Slowing Down?
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I don't want to be that guy. Because every year people love to claim the Patriots and Tom Brady are slowing down. They do it so they can be the ones to have said it when it finally happens. What ends up happening though is, those people end up looking really stupid when Brady gets hot and the Patriots just keep winning.
I want to be clear, I'm not saying this is the end of the Patriots or Brady. Both will likely rebound just fine.
That being said, New England's offense definitely hasn't been as dominant lately. That goes double for Brady.
In their last four games, Brady has just four touchdown passes compared to two interceptions. In Week 11 against the Philadelphia Eagles, they needed a trick play to get a passing touchdown. It was a touchdown pass from wide receiver Edelman to another receiver in Dorsett.
Dallas has a great defense. One that can keep the pressure on Brady and the running game. At this time, New England hasn't shown much to make you think they'll be able to get much going against a defense like this.
If they don't, the Cowboys could walk away with a massive statement win.
Momentum
You could argue momentum isn't really in a favor. Both teams won in Week 11 after losing in their previous game.
However, there's a big difference between the two.
The Patriots suffered their first loss of the season against the Baltimore Ravens two games ago. Then they barely snuck past the now 5-5 Eagles. They have injuries and star players are struggling.
Meanwhile, the Cowboys' win last week gave them sole possession of first place of the NFC East. That sounds like a lot of momentum.
The Cowboys are riding high while the Patriots might still be trying to recover from that loss and figure out their identity. Dallas could definitely take advantage of that.
