What went wrong for the Patriots on the Cowboys’ walk-off OT touchdown

The Patriots let up a 35-yard touchdown to CeeDee Lamb in a game where the defense had been excellent.

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The New England Patriots defense had been brilliant for 60 minutes, but when overtime rolled around, the Dallas Cowboys offense stole the spotlight. Even though the Patriots had held Dak Prescott at bay in regulation, Bill Belichick’s defense couldn’t contain CeeDee Lamb, who iced the game with a 35-yard walk-off touchdown in overtime for a 35-29 win.

Safety Devin McCourty explained what went wrong in New England’s secondary to allow the big play in the overtime period.

“We were in a tough call, I think, for the route they ran,” he said during a postgame press confernce. “They dialed up a good play for what we tried to do — kind of situational football. What they like to do — we tried to take it away, and Dak was able to hold it for a second. We kind of took the first two reads: the tight ends to the flat on our left side. But (he) extended the play, and got back to the middle and that’s where we were kinda light at and that was it.”

Belichick seemed to see something similar.

“We covered a flat receiver and then he just on the over route with another extended play. Obviously didn’t play it well enough, didn’t coach it well enough,” he said after the game.

The other problem which McCourty did not mention — and surely wouldn’t because it would involve throwing a teammate under the bus — was that Mills simply lost Lamb in coverage. The receiver created a huge amount of separation, enough to strut into the endzone and celebrate before he’d even scored. Here’s a look at what McCourty referenced, with the tight ends getting clamped down, and what I’m referencing, with Mills losing Lamb.

Ultimately, with the Patriots safeties (#21 Adrian Phillips and #23 Kyle Dugger) loading the box in what appeared to be a disguised zone coverage (masquerading as an all-out blitz), Mills had no help over the top. Prescott played it perfectly, with help from Lamb.

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