ARLINGTON, Texas – Who dat? Who dat? Who dat gonna beat 'dem Saints? Not the Cowboys. Not here Sunday afternoon. Not next Sunday afternoon. Not in a month of Sundays the way they played here at AT&T Stadium
Saints 44, Cowboys 19, the Who Dats seemingly multiplying among the 93,691 fans witnessing this home opener.
Well, so much for that 16-game home regular-season winning streak.
So much for having designs on starting off the 2024 season 2-0 to help distance from the excruciating way the 2023 season ended in the playoffs.
So much for having fixed that run defense or this defense in general from the way these Cowboys played against creditable road opponents, save Arizona, from last year.
And for criminy sakes so much forever saying again when it comes to the Saints, "Well, that was the Panthers."
For the New Orleans Saints, the 2-0 New Orleans Saints, the NFL points-leading New Orleans Saints – 45.5 points a game, 11 more than the second place club – did unto the Cowboys as they did unto the Panthers in the season opener. Eagles beware next Sunday in the Superdome.
Why, those Saints putting up 47 in the season opener against the hapless Panthers put up another 44 against the unsuspecting Cowboys. Those Saints who held the Panthers to just 10 points, a touchdown and a field goal, held the Cowboys to 19 points, a touchdown and four field goals.
Those Saints who scored on nine consecutive possessions on the Panthers, oh my, scored touchdowns on six consecutive possessions, and not sure if anyone keeps a record on something like that, but might be safe to assume a Cowboys opponent has never, ever scored touchdowns on six consecutive possessions to start a game. And to think they had a seventh called back on a penalty that they had to score all over again.
By time Dallas put a stop to this Mardi Gras parade of touchdowns, there was just 12:04 left in the game, meaning the Cowboys went 47 minutes, 56 seconds before stopping quarterback Derek Carr, running back Alvin Kamara and receivers Rashid Shaheed and Chris Olave from scoring a touchdown. And at that, needed a Donovan Wilson interception deflecting off Olave's hands to put an end to this onslaught.
By then the Cowboys were trailing 41-19, and just to tarnish the gleam of that minor accomplishment, on the next play Tyrann Mathieu picked off Dak Prescott trying to thread a needle into CeeDee Lamb.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones called this loss, "Extraordinarily disappointed."
Lamb remarked, "Personally, it sucks to take."
Linebacker Eric Kendricks, to his credit, called this, "A big piece of humble pie."
And head coach Mike McCarthy bowed down to his opponent, reminding of what he said earlier in the week about how the Saints won four of their last five games to end their 2023 season at 9-8, saying they were playing "playoff-caliber ball." With little sign of that changing now having won six of their last seven regular-season games.
And now, "I'm just honest," he said when assessing his opponents. "When you guys asked me what I think of the other team, maybe I should just (B.S.) you like most other people do, just throw candy out there. But I thought they were a good team coming in here, and I thought they played well. If you watch the last eight games of their season, and the way they played last week, I mean this was a challenge.
"We've got to worry about ourselves, and we can't worry about what other people think or say, or what comes out of this."
The Cowboys sure do, having lost now to the last six of eight creditable opponents they have played, the only wins over Detroit last year, but barely, 20-19, and the in the opener over Cleveland, giving them the benefit of the doubt on creditability.
How this was so diabolically different from the season-opening 33-17 win on the road over Cleveland. But as pointed out on Friday, this was going to be a huge test to see if the Cowboys had solved their problems of last year stopping the run, pointing out in all five losses teams ran for at least 109 yards in those games, and as many as Arizona going for 222, Buffalo hitting the Cowboys for 266 and San Francisco for 170. Why, in the opener, if we take away Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson scrambling for 39 yards, Cleveland then ran for just 54.
But this was going to be a different test. Even though it was, well, the Panthers, the Saints ran for 180 in the opener, healthy and rejuvenated running back Alvin Kamara going for 83, and they scored on nine consecutive possessions. But come on, these are the Cowboys.
Well, Dallas miserably failed this early season test. The Saints did the Cowboys one better, hammering them for 190 rushing yards and Kamara not only rushing for 115 while averaging 5.8 yards a carry, but he also finished with four touchdowns from scrimmage, three rushing and one on a 57-yard screen play when not a soul put a hand on hm.
And even though the Cowboys tried playing the Saints heavy formations – with Taysom Hill at fullback, also at tight end, or using two tight ends along with a fullback – with three linebackers, they were no match for the Saints' rushing attack. The Cowboys could not hold down the edge with their defensive ends, no matter who they played out there, and that includes Micah Parsons. And the three linebacker formations made little difference, the Saints offensive linemen picking them off as if low-hanging fruit.
Plus, while it appears the Cowboys tried to beef up the middle of that defensive line with veterans Jordan Phillips, Linval Joseph and a beefed up Mazi Smith, they just couldn't keep the Saints bullish offensive linemen off the linebackers. Only Joseph managed to appear on the defensive stat line with a solo and assisted tackle each, meaning in the first two games, those three players have accounted for one solo tackle and two assisted, the other belonging to Phillips. That's it.
And then … then … trying to be so run conscious, the Cowboys failed to put any pressure on quarterback David Carr. The guy threw for 243 yards with the aid of only 11 completions. Eleven now, averaging 22 yards per completion, and an inconceivable 15.1 yards an attempt. Come on. Like 8.0 yards per attempt borders on great. After two games, the Saints check in No. 1 at 11.1. The Cowboys check in at 6.5, most of that thanks to Lamb turning a short out-pass into a 67-yard touchdown Sunday and a long of 34 yards against the Browns. You feelin' me?
Carr was sacked just once. Hit only one other time. Can't tell you how many times writing down "no pressure" after yet another completion. And this after sacking Watson last Sunday six times and flustering him with another 25 pressures. By comparison, Dak has been sacked six times in two games. That's on a 17-game pace for 51. That would represent the second most (56 in 2018) since 54 in 2002.
And the offense? Pffft. Little help. Just one touchdown and four field goals, that means in two games just three offensive touchdowns and eight field goals. That ain't going to cut it. Currently, the Cowboys are in an eight-way tie for 10th in touchdowns scored thanks to KaVontae Turpin adding a punt return TD. Otherwise, they'd be in a 10-way tie for 19th. That bad.
Good thing there still are 15 games to go.
The Saints just had the Cowboys number, and head coach Dennis Allen remained quite humble afterward.
"Well, look, I think part of it was we were able to run the football," he said, and there was no doubt about that. "And when you're able to run the ball, and you're able to put yourself in manageable situations, you're not having to get into a drop-back passing mode where they can just unleash their pass rush.
"I think Klint (Kubiak, first-year offensive coordinator) and the guys had a good plan for how they wanted to protect in the passing game, and I think our offensive line did a good job executing," leaving open a cheap follow-up line.
But also leaving all the Who Dats exclaiming, "Not today."
