Dallas Cowboys: The secret to the Patriots’ success is clear

It’s Patriots Week for the Dallas Cowboys so what better time than now to dive into the NFL’s most successful franchise and assess what makes them so dang good

No team has been more successful than the New England Patriots this century. Under the leadership of Bill Belichick and Tom Brady, the Patriots have found a way to win an unfathomable six Super Bowls in the salary cap era. So when the Pats talk, it’s wise for the Dallas Cowboys (and everyone else) to listen.

Now, the coach and quarterback are notoriously tight-lipped. When they speak, it’s calculated. When Belichick heaped praise upon Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys offense this week, it was for a reason. He didn’t just feel like being nice.

But earlier in the week a former Patriot and current Cowboy got to speaking. And while his takeaway was basically, we just don’t know why they’re so dang good, his success with them does offer a glimpse as to why they achieve continued success amid an ever-changing roster and an ever-changing league.

The man I speak of is Cameron Fleming. The Cowboys current swing tackle used to be a Patriot once upon a time. In New England he went from reserve role to playoff starter at tackle, earning two Super Bowl rings along the way.

In Dallas it seems almost unfathomable Cam Fleming successfully anchored the tackle spot in live-action playoff football. Dallas Cowboys fans have seen firsthand what happens when Fleming fills in for Tyron Smith. And the case can be made (I have made it), no non-QB on the Cowboys roster is more important for this team than Smith at left tackle.

Some of that speaks to the greatness of Tyron. But the biggest takeaway is that Bill Belichick found a way to win some of the biggest games of the season with Fleming, while Jason Garrett has struggled to just compete in regular season home games with Fleming.

It certainly isn’t breaking news to say Bill Belichick is a better coach than Coach Garrett. I mean, he’s better than probably everyone – all time. But his actions should be diagnosed and in this case compared so we can figure out “why” he had such success.

And the answer is quite simple – he adapted.

During this decade of dominance we’ve seen the Patriots win with a great offense and with a bad offense. We’ve seen them win with a focus on running the ball and we’ve seen them win with a focus on passing the ball. We’ve seen them win with defense. We’ve seen them lean on special teams. We’ve seen them win with good pass protection and then with bad pass protection. We’ve seen them win virtually every way possible.

When Cam Fleming was starting for the Patriots, they knew they couldn’t operate the same way. It’s not like the stoic Brady was going to elude sacks ala Aaron Rodgers or anything.

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Bill Belichick changed the offense to fit his changing personnel. He called shorter drop backs, quicker developing routes, quicker releases… He knew the edge was going to struggle so he did his best to make it a non-factor. In Dallas we’ve seen the Dallas Cowboys struggle replacing just about anyone. That’s usually because they stuck to the script, made empty “next man up” statements and failed to adapt to the changing circumstances.

Instead of making those changes the Pats did, Dallas stuck with they’re offensive gameplan. Sure, they offered occasional help with chip blocks, but for the most part they just asked their swing tackle to be Tyron Smith. An impossible task to be sure.

Cam Fleming didn’t regress in Dallas. He’s the same player who won two Super Bowls and played in some huge playoff games. New England just knew what they had in him and adapted accordingly. That’s the takeaway the Dallas Cowboys should have from all of this.

• Published on 11/24/2019 at 12:01 PM
• Last updated at 11/24/2019 at 07:52 AM