The Patriots had a chance to change the narrative on Sunday.
They saw the critics label them a "bad team." They heard the experts knock their lack of offensive firepower. Sunday's game at AT&T Stadium was an opportunity to prove those critics wrong by keeping pace with a legitimate playoff contender in the Cowboys.
Consider that opportunity missed by the widest of margins. The Patriots dug themselves an early hole and never recovered, rolling over in a 38-3 loss -- the largest of Bill Belichick's coaching career -- that drops them to 1-3.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Boston sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
🔊 Patriots Talk: Patriots are at an organization-wide crossroads after loss to Cowboys | Listen & Subscribe | Watch on YouTube
As you might expect, the grades aren't pretty for this one. Let's get right to 'em.
Quarterback: F
Turnovers. Turnovers. Turnovers. Mac Jones' fumble came when he was pressured. But he completely misjudged how quickly he'd get caught from behind, he was loose with the football, and he coughed one up for a touchdown.
His pick-six was equally careless. He'd gotten away with a throw across the field when scrambling to his left earlier in the game -- he found Kendrick Bourne for a first down on that one -- but tried the same thing again and Daron Bland was waiting for it.
Jones' fourth-down pick was ugly, and he was nearly picked on multiple other occasions. If ever there was a time to bench your starter, this was it.
Running back: D
The Cowboys gave up 222 yards rushing a week ago in Arizona. You'd think the Patriots -- who look like they should be built around their running game -- would have something for them. They didn't.
New England averaged just 2.3 yards per carry in this one. Of course, that has a lot to do with what was happening with the offensive line (more on them below), but at this point it's fair to wonder if the backs are doing enough. Rhamondre Stevenson still hasn't cracked 4.0 yards per carry in a single game to this point in the season.
Wide receiver: D
Demario "Pop" Douglas seemed to give the Patriots a little juice early in the game with a spin move that left the Cowboys grasping at air. But that play and with a back-shoulder throw from Bailey Zappe to DeVante Parker were the only highlights.
Douglas led this group with a meager two catches for 45 yards. Dallas did a good job of sitting on Patriots routes and playing downhill aggressively to deter the short-to-intermediate passing game. Without much speed in the Patriots receiver room, they could afford to play that way. Suffice it to say, it worked.
Tight end: C
This might've been the only group within the Patriots offense that did anything worthy of a postgame thought.
Hunter Henry made a difficult down-the-field grab for 21 yards when checked in tight man coverage. He finished the game with four catches for 51 yards, including one third-down conversion after coming into the game with just two third-down targets all season.
The one target he didn't catch was dangerous -- it glanced off his hands and could've been picked -- but otherwise he continued to show he's one of the few reliable players on this offense.
Mike Gesicki had one catch for 12 yards and could've had his first touchdown as a member of the Patriots had he angled his red-zone route deeper in the end zone. What looked like a good throw from Jones glanced off Gesicki's hands and out of bounds.
Offensive line: D
The running game is a problem. Despite dealing with major deficits throughout the course of the game, they still tried to run it. They should've been able to, for instance, down 21-3 against a softer defense anticipating passes. But they couldn't.
On the drive that ended with Jones' pick-six, their runs went thusly: hold on Mike Onwenu, two yards from Stevenson, no gain from Stevenson. To start the second half, down 28-3, they ran with Stevenson for eight yards. But then Stevenson was dropped for a loss of two on the very next snap. He ran once more on that drive, on second-and-7, for one yard.
MORE PATRIOTS COVERAGE
Onwenu finished with three penalties in all, David Andrews was called for a hold and Atonio Mafi added an illegal blindside block (that was declined by the Cowboys, showing just how little Dallas thinks of the Patriots offense).
Add all that to the problems they faced in protection -- Jones at times reacted to pressure that wasn't there, but he was also under duress early on -- and this grade has to be a rough one.
Special teams: C-
The Patriots returned just one punt on the afternoon, a loss of two by Douglas that buried them deep in their own territory. Chad Ryland went 1-for-2 on his field goals, missing a late 52-yarder with the game well out of hand. Joe Cardona was called for a hold, which docked this grade.
And the entire unit was burned when they aggressively went after a point-after attempt by the Cowboys. Bringing all 11 players to the line of scrimmage for a potential block, the Cowboys seemingly audibled to a fake and hit the Patriots for two points.
The only reason this grade isn't lower is because Bryce Baringer averaged 45.0 yards per punt on his five boots, including one inside the 20.
Defensive line: C
Deatrich Wise ended up coming through with a nice day that included a sack, an assist on a Josh Uche sack (his initial pressure bought Uche time to get to Dak Prescott), and one run-stuff. Otherwise, there wasn't much this group did to make an impact.
Cowboys running back Tony Pollard averaged 4.3 yards per carry in this one. Gentleman's "C" here feels about right.
Linebacker: C
Josh Uche and Jahlani Tavai came up with sacks to help boost this grade. Tavai and Ja'Whaun Bentley also had pass breakups that helped their cause. But outside of a Matthew Judon hit on Dak Prescott, this group couldn't do much to bother Prescott and the Dallas quick-release passing offense.
Ahead of Sunday Night Football, Prescott ranked as the third-fastest quarterback in football when it came to getting the football out of his hands (2.43 seconds on average). Judon leaving the game with a biceps issue added injury to insult at the end of the day.
Secondary: C-
Myles Bryant wasn't supposed to be in the positions he was in on Sunday. One play after the Patriots lost Christian Gonzalez for the game with a shoulder issue, the Cowboys went after Bryant in one-on-one coverage of CeeDee Lamb along the boundary. The result? A 20-yard score.
Bryant's hustle play at the end of the game, to create a fumble with things already out of hand, buoyed this mark. As did a whopping 15 tackles by Kyle Dugger. But missed tackles by Jalen Mills and Shaun Wade helped spark an early scoring drive by the Cowboys, which hurt this grade. Ditto for some edge runs that went for explosive gains.
For a team that needs to be carried by its defense, this group needs to get healthy. And fast.