CeeDee Lamb had 122 yards from scrimmage, Tony Pollard had a 58-yard touchdown run, and the Dallas defense produced timely sacks and turnovers in the Cowboys’ 27-17 victory over the New Orleans Saints on Thursday night. It was an ugly road win and a much needed victory for a Cowboys team who had lost 3 of the last 4 games leading up to this game. The Cowboys defense led the charge in this one. They intercepted Saints quarterback Taysom Hill three times in the final 6:32 of the game, including defensive tackle Carlos Watkins‘ pick-6 on a screen pass that made it 27-10 with 2:52 left.
The Saints gave the dual threat Hill his first start this season in hopes that he could help New Orleans end a four-game skid. He was effective in spurts, passing for 264 yards and two touchdowns and running for 101 yards, but he threw four interceptions, which was too much for the Saints to overcome. An injury to the middle finger on his throwing hand clearly impacted Hill’s ability to throw the ball but he did expose the Cowboys defense a bit when Sean Payton decided to relentlessly run Hill over and over again.
Dak Prescott passed for 238 yards on the day including a 1-yard touchdown to Michael Gallup. Prescott looked sharp in the first half where he got most of his production but he really struggled in the second half. This was a game that the Cowboys could have won in a blow out if the offense were able to capitalise on multiple opportunities. Dallas (8-4) won without coach Mike McCarthy and five assistants because of positive COVID-19 tests. Defensive coordinator Dan Quinn was the Cowboys’ acting head coach and improved his overall record against the New Orleans Saints to 5-6.
The Saints have started slowly throughout their 5 game losing skid and this game was no exception as they failed to score in the first quarter for the fifth game in a row. The Saints’ first scoring threat came on their second drive, but former Cowboys kicker Brett Maher‘s 56-yard field goal attempt drifted wide right. Dallas broke through on its third possession, highlighted by Prescott’s 41-yard pass over the middle to Cooper and a lateral pass to Lamb that went for 33 yards to the New Orleans 1. Prescott then tossed a fade to the right corner where Gallup made a leaping, twisting catch over cornerback Bradley Roby and narrowly touched both feet in bounds. The Saints tied it on Lil’Jordan Humphrey‘s 24-yard TD catch early in the second quarter, but they never led at any point in the game.
After Greg Zuerlein‘s 55-yard field goal put Dallas up 10-7, the Saints threatened late in the second half when they drove to the Dallas 26 yard line; But, Hill’s pass toward the left sideline was tipped by receiver Kenny Stills and intercepted at the 5 by Jayron Kearse. Kearse made a fantastic play, diving to snag the fluttering ball while dragging his toes on the turf before falling out of bounds. That turned the tide of the game for the Cowboys and their defense was able to shut down the Saints for the most part from then on. The game was close into the third quarter when Pollard gave Dallas a 20-10 advantage by slipping an arm tackle in the backfield and speeding away from everyone else on route to a 58 yard TD run.
In the middle of the fourth quarter, just when the Cowboys had an opportunity to put the game away, Prescott was intercepted by Marshon Lattimore to keep the Saints hopes alive. Prescott was hit in the face by a defender just as he threw the ball but the officials missed it and the interception stood. Fortunately, the Cowboys canceled that turnover out when Jourdan Lewis hit Hill’s arm as he released the ball and Damontae Kazee intercepted it. That was the first of Dallas’ three late interceptions. The Saints’ next drive stalled on a pick by Trevon Diggs, his league-leading ninth. Watkins’ interception came on the drive after that.
Shortly before Digg’s interception, DeMarcus Lawrence had a strip sack that was ruled an incomplete pass. Taysom Hill’s hand was going forward but the ball was knocked backwards and should have been a ruled a fumble. Just as the Cowboys were able to overcome the interception by Dak Prescott, they were also able to respond when Lawrence’s strip sack was overturned. Overcoming bad calls was something that the Cowboys were not able to do the previous week which is a very good sign. On that note, the officiating last night was for the most part spot on and it was the Cowboys who actually benefited the most from bad calls in this game. Mike McCarthy’s decision to call out the poor officiating from last week may have paid off in spades.
The Saints were trying to close within one score early in the fourth quarter when Rookie outside linebacker Micah Parsons squelched the life out of that drive when he sacked Hill for an 11-yard loss back to the New Orleans 40-yard line on fourth down. That was the 10th sack of the season for Parsons, who was drafted 12th overall out of Penn State, and it forced a punt. Shortly after that, Saints wide receiver Deonte Harris turned a short pass into a late 70-yard TD for New Orleans (5-7), but they could not recover an onside kick and the Cowboys ran out the clock.
The Cowboys offense did not look very sharp, especially in the second half of this game. The run game, outside of Pollard’s long TD run and couple decent runs by Elliott looked stagnant. Elliott is clearly impacted by his knee injury which has many Cowboys fans questioning whether he should be taken out of the lineup until he is back to 100%. On the positive side, the Cowboys defense stepped up. They handled the run game fairly well with the exception of when the Saints decided to let Taysom Hill run. The pass rush was consistently good and the turnovers they created were the result of great plays as opposed to just great luck. DeMarcus Lawrence, who returned from a lengthy absence, showed no signs of rust as he terrorised the Saints offensive line. It should be noted that Saints offensive line was missing some key pieces and Hill, who is not a great quarterback when healthy, was impacted by his finger injury. Never the less, this same defense struggled against a beaten up Broncos offense so to perform as they did, on the road, and when the offense struggled, is impressive all the same.
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