New England Patriots 4 Downs Preview: Week 12 vs Dallas Cowboys

Week 12 in the 2019 NFL schedule features a potential Super Bowl matchup when the 9-1 New England Patriots welcome the 6-4 Dallas Cowboys.

One week after outlasting the Philadelphia Eagles, the New England Patriots welcome another team from the NFC East, the first-place Dallas Cowboys, to Gillette Stadium. This will be the first time in four years that these two teams will face off, and the first time in eight years that they will go head to head in Foxboro.

These teams have changed a lot since the last time they faced off in Dallas four years ago. New England as a team has won two Super Bowl titles, while the Cowboys have yet to win the big one. Many of the players have changed, too, as Stephon Gilmore, Kyle Van Noy, and Sony Michel are some of the fresh faces on this Patriots team, while Dak Prescott, Ezekiel Elliott, and Amari Cooper are all new faces for Dallas since that last meeting.

Sunday registers as a must-see game because this could very well be a preview of Super Bowl LIV. The Cowboys, led by that trio mentioned above, have the best offense in the league, while the Patriots have the league’s top defense led by Gilmore and Van Noy. Time will tell if these two teams will be playing in Miami come February, but before we get too ahead of ourselves, these teams have to play today in an extremely meaningful game.

Here are our four keys – or “4 Downs” – to look at when the Cowboys take on the Patriots at Gillette Stadium on Sunday afternoon/early evening.