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‘No one believed in us’: Cowboys pull off shocking 13-10 upset over Saints
By Calvin Watkins 6h ago
Jerry Jones stood outside the Cowboys locker room, ready to talk.
The Cowboys owner and general manager’s voice was hoarse, as if he was among the 93,004 screaming fans who filled AT&T Stadium Thursday night. Jones’ team had won a big one. It was one of those victories that silence critics and emboldens supporters for quite a while.
Dallas knocked off New Orleans 13-10, snapping the Saints’ 10-game winning streak. The Cowboys’ win streak has reached four games and pushed them into sole possession of first place in the NFC East. And considering the remaining four games on the schedule, the Cowboys believe they can move up the playoff standings. This was not lost on Jones, who understood the magnitude of the victory.
“This is one for the fans, this bunch, this team won’t be the same again, I’m serious,” he said as his voice strained to get through the tape recorders and boom mics surrounding him. “You win something like this, against a team that well-coached, those kinds of players, a caliber of team like that, and you know you’ve done it. You change. This is a changer in here; they’re different cats now as they go forward.”
The Cowboys are no longer just trying to reach the postseason. Jones sees that. He believes in a defense that held the NFL’s No. 1 scoring offense (37.2 points per game) scoreless in the first half. It also held the NFL’s fifth-best offense by yardage (416.6 yards per game) to just 176. Drew Brees threw for a season-low 127 yards, the 12th fewest passing yards of his career. Dallas’ defense swamped Brees with pressure and asked its linebackers, Jaylon Smith and Leighton Vander Esch, to make plays on running backs Alvin Kamara and Mark Ingram in the passing game. Each of the Cowboys’ four primary cornerbacks all had at least one pass breakup.
The Cowboys’ defense won this game; one that was sealed when No. 4 cornerback Jourdan Lewis picked off a Brees pass with 2:08 to play in the game.
Dallas has won three games in 11 days. They have turned around a 3-5 mark and now stand at 7-5.
“No one believed in us,” running back Ezekiel Elliott said. “I think all four of the panelists up there on the NFL Network said we were going to lose. The whole nation thought we were going to lose and we came out and we shocked the world. The crazy thing about it is we could have played so much better. So, I mean, we’ve just got to enjoy this victory, we’ve got to celebrate it but we’ve got to get back to work because we’ve still got a lot of football left and we still have a lot of getting better to do.”
Here are our observations from this Cowboys-Saints battle.
The defense was absolutely outstanding
Very few defensive players said this was the best defensive game of the season, but Dallas did slow Brees down, with constant pressure and a solid Cover-3 scheme. The Cowboys knew Brees likes to get rid of the ball quickly, so it was up to the front four to force hurried throws. Brees just wasn’t himself, from the first two throws of the game where the Cowboys had pass breakups to even late in the game when defensive tackle Maliek Collins pressured him into throwing an interception.
“We were man-to-man, we’re going to play our zone as well and match up,” cornerback Anthony Brown said. “We can match up with anyone and we’re going to run our defense no matter what. We’re going to get the call and everyone knows what we’re going to do: Cover-3 base defense, man-to-man, everyone knows that. As long as we do our job we can’t be stopped.”
Dallas had to contain Kamara, who routinely makes plays in the passing and running game, and wide receiver Michael Thomas, who’s been one of the NFL’s best receivers since his 2016 rookie season. But Brees couldn’t get Kamara going because the linebackers keyed in on him. Thomas was smothered by Byron Jones and Chidobe Awuzie for a majority of the game. Brees himself just couldn’t find any clear passing lanes.
“Every holding call they threw was on Mike,” Brees said of the defensive penalties. “They were holding every chance they got. They have some good DBS on that side of the ball and they played a good game.”
The defense probably set the tone in the second quarter with a strong goal-line stand. Saints coach Sean Payton elected to call for a run play with Kamara on a fourth-and-1 from the Cowboys’s 1-yard line. The Saints offense had consecutive three-and-outs in the first quarter, but discovered some positive plays in the middle stages of the second quarter. Payton’s thought process was probably that he would get more opportunities in the red zone to score, so if he missed out here, it wasn’t a big deal. But Kamara was stopped for no gain on tackles by DeMarcus Lawrence and Tyrone Crawford with 10:04 left.
When Payton was asked what went into the fourth-down play he said, “Went for it.”
The final defensive stand occurred thanks to Lewis, who made a diving catch on a sidearmed Brees throw late in the fourth quarter. Brees said he was trying to throw the pass away but Lewis keep the play alive with the interception.
“I melted in on the quarterback’s eyes,” Lewis said. “Saw it was great pressure from the d-line on that play and just saw him throw it and reacted.”
Where did the offense go after halftime?
Not to be a party pooper, but the Cowboys offense should have done more. The Cowboys failed to score in the second half. Against the Saints. And won. That tells you how special the defense was, but also how poorly the offense performed in the second half. Dallas led 13-0 at halftime after producing 229 yards, and took control of time-of-possession 21:49 to 8:11. But the offense produced just 18 total yards on eight plays in the third quarter as the Saints rallied to make a game of it with a field goal and a touchdown pass. In the fourth quarter, Prescott overthrew a wide-open Michael Gallup, who beat Saints corner Eli Apple and could have scored an easy touchdown. Prescott then fumbled with 2:35 left in the game as the Cowboys were trying to close it out.
“This is a 60-minute game,” wide receiver Amari Cooper said. “We knew New Orleans would kinda turn this around because they’re a good team. We just have to get through that.”
Prescott was sacked a season-high seven times. A few of those were due to his inability to get rid of the ball or run out of the pocket.
There were some positives; mainly Ezekiel Elliott adding to his league-leading rushing totals with 76 total yards. Elliott now has 1,150 yards on the season. Not only is Zeke leading the NFL in rushing, he’s also charged to the front in all-purpose yards. Elliott finished with 136 total yards and surpassed the Rams’ Todd Gurley for the league lead. Elliott has 1,573 total yards compared to Gurley’s 1,484. Elliott’s yards were hard-earned; he touched the ball 29 times, catching six catches in addition to his 23 carries.
“It was a very physical game,” Elliott said. “The Saints, they are a very tough, tough defense. They have a great front, they don’t make a lot of mistakes. A lot of my former teammates (at Ohio State) play on that team. I think we did a great job of just coming out, executing, chipping away and just doing enough to get the win.”
DeMarcus Lawrence laid down the challenge — and the Cowboys responded
As he began his conversation with reporters Thursday night, Cowboys defensive end Demarcus Lawrence said his comments from earlier in the week were taken out of context. Lawrence said if you get ahead of the Saints, you need to choke the life out of them. He also said not to about how good the Cowboys’ defensive line is, when asked about the Saints offensive line. Lawrence backed up his boasts with four tacks, a sack, a forced fumble, and a quarterback hit.
“It’s football. If you capitalize on a team early, you got to step on they throats, like I said and don’t let them back up — which we did today,” Lawrence said. “And we held them to 10 points so I’m excited for all my guys and I’m glad we had this battle to see what a real championship team looks like and got to move forward and go on to the next one.”
More on the linebackers
We can’t say enough about what Vander Esch and Smith can do. They have made Sean Lee’s upcoming return from a hamstring injury an afterthought. Lee will return at some point, probably for next week’s game against the Eagles, but he will play in some sort of rotation. As of now, Vander Esch and Smith, who combined for 19 total tackles, are the starters in the base defense. Smith laid down one of the hardest hits of the game — leading with his helmet when he popped Kamara in the fourth quarter. Brees thought the hit was questionable and Smith thought it was part of football. Brees threw to the dynamic second-year player 11 times, resulting in eight completions for only 36 yards.
“We didn’t give him a chance to get in his rhythm,” Smith said. “All great quarterbacks are all about rhythm. He knows what he’s doing. He’s been playing for a long time and we kept coming.”
Closing notes
The Cowboys inducted former executive Gil Brandt into the Ring of Honor at halftime. Brandt became the 22nd man inducted. The former evaluator is also up for the Pro Football Hall of Fame through the Seniors Committee. Whether it gets elected into that we won’t know until February.
Randy Gregory made two bad plays — a roughing penalty when he ran into the New Orleans punter, and a flag for being offside. Both extended third-quarter drive. “Two bad plays,” Jason Garrett said. “Obviously running into the kicker was huge and gave them another bite of the apple, another possession, after we made a stop. And then we make a huge play, a sack-fumble, and I guess they said he lined up offsides.”
Dak Prescott had a cut on his left (non-throwing) hand and some blood was visible on one of his legs after the game. It was a physical contest, but he tried to downplay it. “Week in and week out, it is physical,” he said. “Obviously. But playing a good team like that, a 13-10 game, it was very physical.”
By Calvin Watkins 6h ago
Jerry Jones stood outside the Cowboys locker room, ready to talk.
The Cowboys owner and general manager’s voice was hoarse, as if he was among the 93,004 screaming fans who filled AT&T Stadium Thursday night. Jones’ team had won a big one. It was one of those victories that silence critics and emboldens supporters for quite a while.
Dallas knocked off New Orleans 13-10, snapping the Saints’ 10-game winning streak. The Cowboys’ win streak has reached four games and pushed them into sole possession of first place in the NFC East. And considering the remaining four games on the schedule, the Cowboys believe they can move up the playoff standings. This was not lost on Jones, who understood the magnitude of the victory.
“This is one for the fans, this bunch, this team won’t be the same again, I’m serious,” he said as his voice strained to get through the tape recorders and boom mics surrounding him. “You win something like this, against a team that well-coached, those kinds of players, a caliber of team like that, and you know you’ve done it. You change. This is a changer in here; they’re different cats now as they go forward.”
The Cowboys are no longer just trying to reach the postseason. Jones sees that. He believes in a defense that held the NFL’s No. 1 scoring offense (37.2 points per game) scoreless in the first half. It also held the NFL’s fifth-best offense by yardage (416.6 yards per game) to just 176. Drew Brees threw for a season-low 127 yards, the 12th fewest passing yards of his career. Dallas’ defense swamped Brees with pressure and asked its linebackers, Jaylon Smith and Leighton Vander Esch, to make plays on running backs Alvin Kamara and Mark Ingram in the passing game. Each of the Cowboys’ four primary cornerbacks all had at least one pass breakup.
The Cowboys’ defense won this game; one that was sealed when No. 4 cornerback Jourdan Lewis picked off a Brees pass with 2:08 to play in the game.
Dallas has won three games in 11 days. They have turned around a 3-5 mark and now stand at 7-5.
“No one believed in us,” running back Ezekiel Elliott said. “I think all four of the panelists up there on the NFL Network said we were going to lose. The whole nation thought we were going to lose and we came out and we shocked the world. The crazy thing about it is we could have played so much better. So, I mean, we’ve just got to enjoy this victory, we’ve got to celebrate it but we’ve got to get back to work because we’ve still got a lot of football left and we still have a lot of getting better to do.”
Here are our observations from this Cowboys-Saints battle.
The defense was absolutely outstanding
Very few defensive players said this was the best defensive game of the season, but Dallas did slow Brees down, with constant pressure and a solid Cover-3 scheme. The Cowboys knew Brees likes to get rid of the ball quickly, so it was up to the front four to force hurried throws. Brees just wasn’t himself, from the first two throws of the game where the Cowboys had pass breakups to even late in the game when defensive tackle Maliek Collins pressured him into throwing an interception.
“We were man-to-man, we’re going to play our zone as well and match up,” cornerback Anthony Brown said. “We can match up with anyone and we’re going to run our defense no matter what. We’re going to get the call and everyone knows what we’re going to do: Cover-3 base defense, man-to-man, everyone knows that. As long as we do our job we can’t be stopped.”
Dallas had to contain Kamara, who routinely makes plays in the passing and running game, and wide receiver Michael Thomas, who’s been one of the NFL’s best receivers since his 2016 rookie season. But Brees couldn’t get Kamara going because the linebackers keyed in on him. Thomas was smothered by Byron Jones and Chidobe Awuzie for a majority of the game. Brees himself just couldn’t find any clear passing lanes.
“Every holding call they threw was on Mike,” Brees said of the defensive penalties. “They were holding every chance they got. They have some good DBS on that side of the ball and they played a good game.”
The defense probably set the tone in the second quarter with a strong goal-line stand. Saints coach Sean Payton elected to call for a run play with Kamara on a fourth-and-1 from the Cowboys’s 1-yard line. The Saints offense had consecutive three-and-outs in the first quarter, but discovered some positive plays in the middle stages of the second quarter. Payton’s thought process was probably that he would get more opportunities in the red zone to score, so if he missed out here, it wasn’t a big deal. But Kamara was stopped for no gain on tackles by DeMarcus Lawrence and Tyrone Crawford with 10:04 left.
When Payton was asked what went into the fourth-down play he said, “Went for it.”
The final defensive stand occurred thanks to Lewis, who made a diving catch on a sidearmed Brees throw late in the fourth quarter. Brees said he was trying to throw the pass away but Lewis keep the play alive with the interception.
“I melted in on the quarterback’s eyes,” Lewis said. “Saw it was great pressure from the d-line on that play and just saw him throw it and reacted.”
Where did the offense go after halftime?
Not to be a party pooper, but the Cowboys offense should have done more. The Cowboys failed to score in the second half. Against the Saints. And won. That tells you how special the defense was, but also how poorly the offense performed in the second half. Dallas led 13-0 at halftime after producing 229 yards, and took control of time-of-possession 21:49 to 8:11. But the offense produced just 18 total yards on eight plays in the third quarter as the Saints rallied to make a game of it with a field goal and a touchdown pass. In the fourth quarter, Prescott overthrew a wide-open Michael Gallup, who beat Saints corner Eli Apple and could have scored an easy touchdown. Prescott then fumbled with 2:35 left in the game as the Cowboys were trying to close it out.
“This is a 60-minute game,” wide receiver Amari Cooper said. “We knew New Orleans would kinda turn this around because they’re a good team. We just have to get through that.”
Prescott was sacked a season-high seven times. A few of those were due to his inability to get rid of the ball or run out of the pocket.
There were some positives; mainly Ezekiel Elliott adding to his league-leading rushing totals with 76 total yards. Elliott now has 1,150 yards on the season. Not only is Zeke leading the NFL in rushing, he’s also charged to the front in all-purpose yards. Elliott finished with 136 total yards and surpassed the Rams’ Todd Gurley for the league lead. Elliott has 1,573 total yards compared to Gurley’s 1,484. Elliott’s yards were hard-earned; he touched the ball 29 times, catching six catches in addition to his 23 carries.
“It was a very physical game,” Elliott said. “The Saints, they are a very tough, tough defense. They have a great front, they don’t make a lot of mistakes. A lot of my former teammates (at Ohio State) play on that team. I think we did a great job of just coming out, executing, chipping away and just doing enough to get the win.”
DeMarcus Lawrence laid down the challenge — and the Cowboys responded
As he began his conversation with reporters Thursday night, Cowboys defensive end Demarcus Lawrence said his comments from earlier in the week were taken out of context. Lawrence said if you get ahead of the Saints, you need to choke the life out of them. He also said not to about how good the Cowboys’ defensive line is, when asked about the Saints offensive line. Lawrence backed up his boasts with four tacks, a sack, a forced fumble, and a quarterback hit.
“It’s football. If you capitalize on a team early, you got to step on they throats, like I said and don’t let them back up — which we did today,” Lawrence said. “And we held them to 10 points so I’m excited for all my guys and I’m glad we had this battle to see what a real championship team looks like and got to move forward and go on to the next one.”
More on the linebackers
We can’t say enough about what Vander Esch and Smith can do. They have made Sean Lee’s upcoming return from a hamstring injury an afterthought. Lee will return at some point, probably for next week’s game against the Eagles, but he will play in some sort of rotation. As of now, Vander Esch and Smith, who combined for 19 total tackles, are the starters in the base defense. Smith laid down one of the hardest hits of the game — leading with his helmet when he popped Kamara in the fourth quarter. Brees thought the hit was questionable and Smith thought it was part of football. Brees threw to the dynamic second-year player 11 times, resulting in eight completions for only 36 yards.
“We didn’t give him a chance to get in his rhythm,” Smith said. “All great quarterbacks are all about rhythm. He knows what he’s doing. He’s been playing for a long time and we kept coming.”
Closing notes
The Cowboys inducted former executive Gil Brandt into the Ring of Honor at halftime. Brandt became the 22nd man inducted. The former evaluator is also up for the Pro Football Hall of Fame through the Seniors Committee. Whether it gets elected into that we won’t know until February.
Randy Gregory made two bad plays — a roughing penalty when he ran into the New Orleans punter, and a flag for being offside. Both extended third-quarter drive. “Two bad plays,” Jason Garrett said. “Obviously running into the kicker was huge and gave them another bite of the apple, another possession, after we made a stop. And then we make a huge play, a sack-fumble, and I guess they said he lined up offsides.”
Dak Prescott had a cut on his left (non-throwing) hand and some blood was visible on one of his legs after the game. It was a physical contest, but he tried to downplay it. “Week in and week out, it is physical,” he said. “Obviously. But playing a good team like that, a 13-10 game, it was very physical.”
