FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Jakobi Meyers lined up to the right and ran a short crossing pattern on the first play of the drive. He’d gained about eight yards before Cowboys cornerback Chidobe Awuzie closed in, and that should have been the end of that.

Only when Awuzie got there, Meyers ducked and let the would-be tackler roll right over him. He stayed on his feet, looked up and couldn’t believe his good fortune.

“I just wanted to go, all I could see was what was in front of me,” Meyers said. “I was trying to go and I felt someone hit me from behind and I’m like ‘dang it’s over already?’ Hopefully I can get me one of these soon.”

Meyers made it 32 yards before he was eventually brought down by linebacker Joe Thomas, the biggest play in a day full of them for the undrafted rookie receiver. With veterans Mohamed Sanu and Phillip Dorsett out, Meyers and fellow rookie N’Keal Harry stepped up to help give Tom Brady and the Patriots just enough to eke out the hard-fought 13-9 win over Dallas.

“They played a lot of plays and I’m proud of those two,” Brady said of the duo. “They put a lot of effort in this week and they’re making improvements, and it was great to see. They both came through with some big plays for us – we needed it – and did a great job.”

Meyers finished second on the team with four catches for 74 yards, including a pair of big catches to move the chains on the final scoring drive culminating in Nick Folk’s 42-yard field goal.

Harry, meanwhile, only made one catch on four targets, but it was a big one. The former first-round pick beat Cowboys corner Byron Jones to the outside and made a terrific contested catch along the left edge of the end zone, getting both feet in bounds for the 10-yard touchdown, the first of his career.

“I’m happy for him, he’s been working so hard just to get there, and I’m so proud of him,” Meyers said of Harry’s touchdown. “It was actually a really big moment for him, I’m really excited for him.”

The touchdown catch was a long time coming for Harry, who unlike Meyers, hasn’t had an opportunity to let his play on the field do the talking. Playing in just his second career NFL game, Harry admitted that the relentless rain presented a challenge he’d never faced before, but he’s getting better acquainted to the Patriots offense and believes he’s ready to make a bigger impact in the games to come.

“Today was definitely a good start,” Harry said. “I’m starting to figure things out, I’ve still got a lot of work to do, and like I said, I’m about to turn it up a notch and really get back to work.”

Where Harry believes a breakthrough is coming, Meyers is determined not to give the coaches any reason to cast him aside. Regardless, he said he and Harry have both been working hard in practice to be ready to answer the call when needed, and while they are far from satisfied, performances like Sunday are a good validation of the progress they’ve made so far.

“It just shows that we’ve been working hard,” Meyers said. “It’s not easy for rookies to go in there and play, me and N’Keal, we always come in here doing extra work trying to make sure we’ll be ready for when they call on us.”