Week 15: Dallas Cowboys Vs. New Orleans Saints

The Dallas Cowboys head to the bayou on Saturday night to face the undefeated New Orleans Saints.

The Saints have had some close calls lately. Still, Drew Brees has rejuvenated his career in New Orleans after running out of favor in San Diego. This season Brees leads the best offense in the NFL with 3832 passing yards, 32 TDs and only 10 interceptions. 

The Saints love to open the field up and let Brees throw to anyone who's open. New Orleans has six players with over 30 receptions, seven players with over 200 yards receiving and six players averaging over ten yards per catch.

Devery Henderson, Robert Meachem and Marques Colston are Brees' favorite targets and all three have lightning speed. Head Coach Sean Payton loves to put them in one-on-one situations and let them run deep routes.

They could be without starting tight end Jeremy Shockey, who hasn't practiced this week with a toe injury.

The Saints can also run the ball well, as they are fifth in the NFL with 138.9YPG rushing. Leading running back Pierre Thomas (135 carries, 713 yards and five TDs) has been limited in practice this week with a hip injury. Backup Mike Bell will get more carries than usual and hybrid back Reggie Bush is always dangerous.

The Saints had the top rated offense last season but their 23rd ranked defense let them down a lot. Things are different this season as the Saints have the 12th ranked defense this season.

Defensive ends Will Smith and Charles Grant love to generate pressure and force QB's to make mistakes and bad throws so the Saints secondary can take advantage. Smith and Grant have 14 sacks combined and the Saints are ranked second in the NFL with 24 interceptions.

Jonathan Vilma, who's played great with the Saints since leaving the Jets, has three interceptions of his own to go along with his team leading 90 tackles and seven tackles for a loss.

Safety Darren Sharper leads the team in interceptions. Sharper loves to sit in the backfield and jump routes and loves to bait QBs into mistakes.

The Cowboys are once again playing in desperation mode after losing their last two games. A win on Saturday could put them in the playoffs; a loss could mean the end of their season.

Tony Romo will have to be at his best and so far this month he's been just that. Last week Romo threw two TDs and led the Cowboys on a 99-yard TD drive. He'll have to keep an eye on Sharper all night long.

The big matchup for the Cowboys is Jason Witten against Scott Shanle and Scott Fujita. Both outside linebackers are slow and if Witten can work the numbers he'll be open all night, look for him to have a big game. 

The Cowboys running game also could have a big night. The Cowboys love to run the draw and run it better than any team in the league expect Marion Barber to get a lot of carries. If Felix Jones can get to the outside, he'll get some big gains.

Roy Williams and Tony Romo finally have developed the chemistry everyone has been waiting for. In the last two games, they've connected 10 times for 134 yards and two TDs. Williams could be a big factor especially if the Saints roll their coverage towards Miles Austin, who in the last two weeks has 16 catches for 175 yards and two TDs. 

The biggest factor for the Cowboys defense is DeMarcus Ware. He did some light drills and wore a helmet on Thursday but didn't officially practice and will most likely be a game-time decision after injuring his neck last week.

For the rest of the defense, the key is getting off the field on third downs. Cowboys' opponents have converted just 37.1 percent of third downs, but the Saints have a 46 percent conversion rate and Brees has a 104.5 QB rating on third downs.

Inside linebacker Keith Brooking and nose tackle Jay Ratliff will have to stop the Saints running game. They stifled Ladanian Tomlinson last week and made the Chargers one-dimensional.

It's going to be a tough game for the Cowboys to win. Even if they do everything right, they could still lose. Not to mention the fact that this game is in New Orleans, where the Saints are a completely different team.

The Saints haven't been themselves in recent weeks and the Cowboys could take advantage, but I just don't see it. The last two games, the Cowboys had complete control of the game, yet made mistakes and lost their edge going into halftime. I believe those mistakes will continue and while the Cowboys will keep the game close, the Saints will take advantage of Dallas' errors.

Saints 35-28.