Brady, Prescott center stage as Cowboys visit Patriots

A pair of teams with lofty aspirations will meet when the New England Patriots host the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday afternoon. New England (9-1), which is tied for the best record in the NFL with the San Francisco 49ers, is aiming to build upon its perfect 4-0 mark at home this season.

The Patriots are coming off a 17-10 road win over the Philadelphia Eagles last week. Meanwhile, Dallas (6-4) also sits in first place in its division, but only a game separates the club from second-place Philadelphia. The Cowboys are looking for back-to-back victories after a 35-27 road win against the Detroit Lions last week.

All eyes will be on a high-profile quarterback showdown between New England's Tom Brady and Dallas' Dak Prescott. Brady has completed 63.7 percent of his passes this season for 2,752 yards, 14 touchdowns and five interceptions. He ranks second all-time in passing touchdowns with 531 -- only eight shy of Peyton Manning's record 539.

Cowboys coach Jason Garrett, a former NFL quarterback, did not hesitate to describe Brady's greatness. "You can make an argument that he's the best player that ever walked," Garrett said. "What he's done throughout his career, the productivity, his ability to win with a lot of different teams and a lot of different guys a lot of different ways, he's just been remarkable."

At 26 years old, Prescott's career is far less decorated, but he has been at least as good as Brady as of late. Prescott has completed 67.7 percent of his passes for a league-high 3,221 yards, 21 touchdowns and nine interceptions, and he is the reigning NFC Offensive Player of the Week after throwing for 444 yards and three touchdowns against the Lions. Wide receiver Amari Cooper went through a full practice on Wednesday and is expected to be full strength Sunday. Another storyline in the matchup involves Cowboys defensive end Michael Bennett, who will return to New England for the first time since the Patriots traded him to Dallas on Oct. 25 in exchange for a conditional 2021 seventh-round draft pick. Bennett has three sacks in his first three games with the Cowboys and almost certainly will be eager to stand out against his former team.

"It's never personal in the NFL. It's always business," Bennett said Wednesday. "I'm at the point now where I don't have to prove myself. You go out there, you play as hard as you can, simply not for yourself but for your teammates every single time I go out there. It's not really about me. It's really about the guys lined up that are lined up next to me." New England's offense could get a boost with the return of left tackle Isaiah Wynn, who was activated this week from the injured reserve list. Wynn has been out since Week 3 and is expected to stabilize an offensive line that has struggled at times. Brady has been critical of the group's performance, but offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels doesn't view Brady's push for perfection as a negative.

"I've been with Tom a long time. I appreciate his competitive spirit, his desire to be perfect in everything he does, and with everything our unit does," McDaniels said. "I don't ever take that as a negative. I understand he wants to go out there and do what we all do, which is to put a lot of points on the board every week." Patriots coach Bill Belichick has spent this week scouting Dallas on film. He also appreciates the Cowboys' place in NFL history.

"I have a tremendous amount of respect for the Cowboys organization, the history there, what they've created," Belichick said. "Obviously, they're probably the premier franchise in all of pro sports. That's no accident. That didn't happen overnight. "What Jerry (Jones) and Stephen (Jones) and the rest of the organization have put together there, and the history going back to Coach (Tom) Landry and Coach (Jimmy) Johnson, those are standards that I'd say all of us in the profession aspire to look up to and aspire to meet the levels of success that they have achieved."

 

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