The Dallas Cowboys handed Bill Belichick his worst regular-season defeat as Patriots head coach on Sunday, and it took some surprises from Mike McCarthy’s staff to throw New England completely off its game.
It turned out that even Cowboys running back Tony Pollard was caught off guard himself on the sidelines.
NFL Films captured the sideline reaction as Dante Fowler sacked Mac Jones in the second quarter, forcing a fumble and a Leighton Vander Esch return for a touchdown. When the Cowboys lined up for the point-after try, Pollard had no idea what was about to happen.
The Cowboys dialed up a fake where punter/holder Bryan Anger threw to defensive tackle Chauncey Golston for a two-point conversion, and we heard as Pollard figured out what just happened amid the fired-up bench area.
Safe to say the @DallasCowboys fake kick caught Tony Pollard off guard 🤣 @Tp__5 pic.twitter.com/Q80Cf59RPR
— NFL Films (@NFLFilms) October 4, 2023
“What just happened,” he asked as the crowd and bench area went wild. That’s when Pollard learned that the special-teams unit had been practicing that fake all week.
Just amazing.
It also goes to show just how difficult it is to watch a game from an NFL sideline and how the rest of the team rarely knows when a fake is coming. But still, fans loved that reaction from the Cowboys running back. He was actually shocked.