The last time the Patriots played the Dallas Cowboys (2019), things were quite different in Foxborough.
Tom Brady and Stephon Gilmore were still here. The team was coming off its sixth Super Bowl win rather than a year in which they just missed the playoffs for the first time in more than a decade. They still had a top-10 scoring offense, and their defense was the best in the league. New England had actually won a few home games up to that point.
None of those things are true now. But the Patriots hope the end result from that season will be the same in 2021: a hard-fought win at home over a good football team.