Saints rout Cowboys

By Elwyn Henderson

The 1-0 Dallas Cowboys had their 2024 home opener at AT&T Stadium in Arlington Sunday, entertaining the 1-0 New Orleans Saints. Coming into the contest Dallas was slightly favored, and everyone anticipated a very entertaining and close contest. The teams didn’t disappoint, and at the end of the fourth quarter, New Orleans walked off with a 44-19 victory in a game attended by 93,691 fans.
Dallas won the coin toss and elected to defer to the second half begin the game. Following Brandon Aubrey’s kickoff, the Derek Carr and the Saints began their first drive of the day on their 20.
Carr led the Saints down the field easily, and they held the ball for 4:10, moving the 80 yards into the end zone in 7 plays. The score came with 10:50left in the first quarter on a 5-yard Alvin Kamara run. Blake Grupe added the PAT and the visitors were out to a quick 7-0 lead.
Grupe’s kickoff after the score was returned out to the 21 where Dak Prescott brought his offensive unit on the field for their first possession.
Prescott led the team on a lengthy 13-play drive and consumed 6:36 off the first quarter clock, but they only managed to move 45 yards, settling for an Aubrey 53-yard field goal with 4:14 left in the first quarter, making the score 7-3 in favor of New Orleans.
Aubrey’s kickoff went out of bounds, giving the Saints the ball at their 30 to begin their next drive. It was a very short drive that took just 9 seconds. Carr hit a streaking Rashid Shaheed in stride in the middle of the field behind double coverage on a 70-yard TD connection with 4:05 left in the quarter. Grupe added the extra point and Cowboys fans were in total shock with their team trailing 14-3.
On the ensuing kickoff, KaVontae Turpin returned the ball from his 10 up to the 39 and Dallas began with good field position.
Prescott moved the team down to the 20, but a key sack on 3rd down resulted in a second Aubrey field goal on the day, this one a 38-yarder with 11:39 left in the first half. The drive was 14 plays, 41 yards and took 7:26 off the second quarter clock, bringing the score to 14-6.
Aubrey’s next kickoff resulted in a touchback, setting Carr and company up at their 30 to begin their next drive.
It took 7 plays and 2:09 for Carr and the Saints to move the 70 yards into the end zone for their third TD of the day. The score came on a 57-yard TD pass from Carr to Kamara with 9:30 left in the half. Grupe’s extra point was true once again, and the New Orleans lead grew to 21-6.
Grupe’s kickoff was returned to the Dallas 22 and Prescott led his group on the field knowing if they wanted to avoid a potential blowout they needed to find a way to get into the end zone. They did just that, moving the 78 yards in just 4 plays and taking 1:47 off the clock. The score came on a 65-yard pass from Prescott to Lamb with 7:43 left in the first half. Aubrey’s extra point kick was good and Dallas narrowed the deficit to 21-13.
Aubrey’s next kick was downed in the end zone and Carr and company set up shop on their 30 for their next possession.
Just as he had in their previous possessions, Carr led the Saints down the field with ease and into the end zone again. The score came on a 12-yard run by Kamara with 2:48 left in the half. The drive was 11 plays, 70 yards and took 4:55. Grupe was successful on his extra point kick again, and New Orleans catapulted to a 28-13 lead.
The kickoff after the score was returned up to the Dallas 34 where Prescott and his charges came in hoping for another TD before the half.
The Cowboys were moving down the field when Prescott was intercepted by Paulson Adebo at the Saints 38. He returned the ball down to the Dallas 20 before he was tackled by Prescott.
Carr wasted little time finding the end zone again. Carr did the honors himself, running in from the 1 with 39 seconds left in the half. Grupe connected on the point after, and the game was setting up for a blowout Dallas loss, with the visitors up 35-13. The drive was 3 plays, 20 yards and took a mere 23 seconds.
Dallas began their final drive of the half at their 30 after a touchback. Prescott and the offense moved the ball down to the New Orleans 30 with 5 seconds left until halftime, resulting in Aubrey coming in for a 48-yard field goal try on the last play of the half. The kick was good, and the teams headed to their respective locker rooms with the Cowboys trailing 35-16 and set to receive the second half kickoff.
Grupe’s kickoff was returned to the Dallas 27 and Prescott brought the offense back out hoping to find a way to get into the end zone. It looked like that would happen but Prescott fumbled the ball after the ‘Boys had moved down to the Saints 9. Fortunately, Turpin recovered and they were able to salvage a 41-yard Aubrey field goal with 9:05 left in the third quarter. That made the score 35-19. The drive was 10 plays, 51 yards and took 5:55 of clock time.
The ensuing Aubrey kickoff resulted in another touchback and Carr and hit teammates began yet another drive at their 30. As had been the case all day, the visitors got into the end zone once again, moving the 70 yards in 13 plays over 7:56. The score came on a 7-yard TD run by Kamara with 1:09 left in the quarter. Grupe’s point after was blocked by Chauncey Golston and the score moved to 41-19 in favor of the Saints.
The next kick was another touchback and Dallas began at their 30. They had a good drive, but a 4th and 4 pass fell incomplete at the Saints 16 and Carr brought is unit back on the field again with 13:41 left in the game.
Dallas finally got a break with 12:04 left in the game when Donovan Wilson intercepted Carr at the Saints 47 on the possession, making the first possession of the day New Orleans didn’t score on.
Prescott brought the offense out to see if they could find the end zone for only the second time of the game. It wasn’t in the cards though, as on the first play of the possession Prescott was intercepted by the old Honey Bear, Tyrann Mathieu with 11:59 left in the game.
The Dallas defense managed another stop and forced a Matthew Haball punt from his 38. The kick went out of bounds at the Dallas 12 and the Cowboys set to work on offense again. Dallas lost 3 yards in 3 plays. With next to nothing to lose since the defense under Mike Zimmer was inept all during the game for the most part, Mike McCarthy decided to go for it from the Dallas 13. The call was a deep pass for Cee Dee Lamb. It was close to a completion, but the defender was in excellent position, and as a result the Saints set up shop on the 13.
The defense managed to force a Grupe field goal with 5:11 left that advanced the laugher to 44-19 in favor of the Saints. The drive was 4 plays, 5 yards and took 2:38.
The next kickoff resulted in Dallas taking possession on their 30 and Cooper Rush entered the game in relief of Prescott who had struggled the entire game. Rush didn’t fare any better, as New Orleans forced a three-and-out and after a Bryan Anger punt, Jake Haener came in to relieve Carr at the 10-yard line.
The visitors picked up 2 first downs on the possession and then went into victory formation to mercifully end the game, heading to the locker room with a 44-19 road victory.
A subdued Mike McCarthy met with the media after the game. The Mirror asked the coach if the Saints did anything the Cowboys had not prepared for.

“Well, I just think, I mean the commonality you know, just the way we were stressed… I think us starting, you know, with us on offense; we went to more of a sub package game. So, when you do that, it’s a little more stress on your edges. Once again, going through the specifics of the video will give you a clearer picture of that. I think their offense versus our defense, you know, the shifts and motions in the run game, particularly the edge stuff; the ball on the perimeter time and time again. So obviously, we didn’t have a good answer for that moving forward. Because it’s just like anything in this league, when you put it on tape, you’re going to see it again and again. So, we put a lot on tape today.”
When Prescott came in for his press conference the Mirror asked him if the Saints defense surprised the offense and why they had to kick so many field goals and struggled to get into the end zone.
“I just didn’t convert in the red zone. I think is the biggest one. They didn’t throw anything else we weren’t ready for. They gave us some looks that we were prepared for. Maybe not quite brought the Blitz, bluffed out of a couple. We were still able to get some first downs. But then we got in the red zone. Short arm to throw to Zeke and hand gets free in my face. Misconnection with CeeDee (Lamb). Pulled the fourth down, probably could scramble trying to trust in the young tight end, wanted to use his body and put it away from him. That’s somebody I don’t have a lot of reps on. I put that one on me. As I said, probably could have gone into scramble mode. But just a few plays out there and as I said if we get in the end zone, I think we’re talking a different game and damn sure different feel to this game.”
Things were as expected in the Saints postgame presser. Derek Carr was asked his thoughts on the ease of scoring his team had against Dallas.
“On the ease of the Saints scoring… I don’t have the answers for everything. I don’t know why the scoring is one way or this or that. All I know is that we believe in one another and we had a really hard offseason. We had a really hard training camp. You ask anybody in there, the workouts, the practices, it was tough. It was really hard. But it was meant for moments like this. There were probably days that we were pissed at DA or something like that you know for “man, gosh, pads again?!” I think all football players gripe about it, but I guarantee you now every single man in that locker room is thankful for those hard days. For the way we’ve started this year. Again, we’re thankful for the start, get off to a fast start. But as we all know, next week is a whole different test.”
Things don’t get any easier for the Cowboys, as the 0-2 Baltimore Ravens are headed to AT&T Stadium this coming Sunday with a lot of pent up frustration how their season has become. Mike Zimmer and Mike McCarthy had better get things cleaned up quickly, or this could be a long season for Dallas.