New Orleans Saints vs. Dallas Cowboys: Full Report Card Grades for New Orleans
The New Orleans Saints were taken behind the woodshed for their Sunday night meeting with the Dallas Cowboys, and coach Sean Payton’s club was whipped in all phases of the game in a 38-17 loss.
New Orleans now heads into the second quarter of the season with a 1-3 mark. For a team expected to make a run at the Super Bowl this preseason, that record is almost as shocking as Sunday night’s final score.
After winning the coin flip, Dallas elected to receive the opening kickoff, and quarterback Tony Romo proceeded to lead his offense on a methodical, 12-play, 80-yard touchdown march on the game’s opening possession. The drive culminated with a six-yard Romo-to-Terrance Williams scoring pass, and the Cowboys were off and running.
The New Orleans defense never got much better over the course of the game, as Dallas utilized a devastating mix of run and pass to dismantle Saints coordinator Rob Ryan’s outmatched group.
On the other side of the ball, the Saints didn’t so much as resemble the high-flying juggernaut that many around the NFL have come to expect when watching Payton’s offense take the field. Instead, New Orleans was sloppy, inefficient and unproductive. The Saints failed to get on the scoreboard until the third quarter, and they didn’t reach the end zone until the final period.
The fact that the visiting Saints came up short against Dallas wasn’t particularly shocking, but the complete domination by the Cowboys that unfolded certainly was.
Continue reading for the Saints’ report card grades for their lopsided loss to the Cowboys.
Quarterback
1 of 10
Over the course of his time in New Orleans, there have been plenty of instances where Drew Brees lit up scoreboards and opposing defenses, only to watch his own defense fail to hold up its end of the bargain. That wasn’t the case Sunday night, as the Saints signal-caller contributed to his team’s misfortune in a big way.
Brees was off the mark for much of the game, and he missed very makeable throws on numerous occasions. The worst of these errant passes occurred in the second quarter, when Cowboys linebacker Justin Durant read the quarterback perfectly and picked off a pass intended for Robert Meachem. Dallas promptly scored on a DeMarco Murray touchdown run, thus proving the interception to be costly for New Orleans.
Brees did finish with 340 yards and two touchdowns on 32-of-44 passing, but most of it came during the latter stages of the contest, when the game's outcome was already decided.
If the Saints are to rebound and make any sort of a run at this year's playoffs, they'll need much better play from their leader than what they received on Sunday.
Grade: D
Running Back
2 of 10
Unlike most of the other position groups, the play of the New Orleans running backs wasn’t atrocious on Sunday.
Thanks to the Cowboys opening up a big lead in the early stages of the game, however, the Saints backs were, for the most part, a non-factor in this blowout loss.
Khiry Robinson was somewhat of a bright spot, as the second-year back ripped off a 62-yard run to set up a late-game score. He finished with 87 yards on just eight carries while the other New Orleans rushers were ineffective.
Travaris Cadet made his mark in the passing game, finishing with 59 yards on six catches, while Pierre Thomas hauled in two passes for 15 yards. Neither player, however, made a substantial impact on the game.
Grade: C
Wide Receiver and Tight End
3 of 10
Jimmy Graham led all receivers in the game with eight catches for 86 yards and a touchdown, although a good portion of his numbers were accumulated in the latter stages of the contest when Dallas was comfortably ahead.
Backup tight end Josh Hill scored for the second straight week, as he hauled in a 12-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter.
Rookie wideout Brandin Cooks once again played a prominent role in the New Orleans passing offense, but the Cowboys defense did a nice job containing him and limiting his yards after the catch. Cooks finished with five catches for 31 yards.
Marques Colston had 50 yards receiving on five catches, but both he and Graham were plagued with dropped passes on the night.
Kenny Stills was in on the Saints’ best offensive play of the game when Brees found him down the sideline for a 46-yard completion. Stills had another catch for 16 yards, but his contribution wasn’t enough to serve as a difference-maker.
Overall, this group’s play was poor, as Brees struggled to find open receivers against Dallas’ banged up, vulnerable secondary. The New Orleans wide receivers also missed some key blocks throughout the game.
Grade: D
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Offensive Line
4 of 10
The Saints received some bad news on the injury front when left tackle Terron Armstead was lost for the game in the first quarter with a concussion. He was replaced by Bryce Harris, who didn’t fare well against the Cowboys pass-rushers.
Brees was pressured repeatedly, sacked twice and was forced into quick throws on several occasions.
New Orleans demonstrated an ability to run right at the Cowboys from the I formation at the start of the game, but as Dallas continued to mount scoring drives, the Saints were forced to take to the air in catch-up mode for the majority of the contest.
Jahri Evans and company weren’t awful in the running game, and they gave Brees some solid protection during the Saints’ two fourth-quarter touchdown drives.
As a group, however, the New Orleans offensive line didn’t play well, as Brees was hit five times in the game.
Grade: C-
Defensive Line
5 of 10
To put things plainly, the New Orleans defensive line was manhandled on Sunday night.
The Dallas offensive line mauled the Saints up front for the better part of the contest, as defensive end Cam Jordan was completely taken out of the game. Fellow end Akiem Hicks didn’t fare much better, but he did record two tackles for loss.
It's often said that football games are won and lost in the trenches, and this was especially true on Sunday. The Dallas offense did whatever it wanted, whenever it wanted, thanks largely to its dominant offensive front and the consistent push it generated at the line of scrimmage.
The Saints put very little pressure on Romo when rushing their down linemen alone, and the defensive line failed to register a sack in the game.
Grade: F
Linebacker
6 of 10
The Saints linebackers may have had the worst performance of all position groups on Sunday, and the group’s poor play starts with Curtis Lofton.
With fellow inside 'backer David Hawthorne out, a quality performance from Lofton was one of the Saints' keys to slowing down Murray and the powerful Dallas ground attack, but the Cowboy running back often made Lofton look silly.
Missed tackles was the theme of the night for this uninspired group, as Lofton, Junior Galette and Ramon Humber consistently whiffed when trying to take down Dallas ball-carriers.
For the game, Murray piled up 149 rushing yards to go with an average of 6.2 yards per carry while the Saints linebackers piled up missed arm tackles.
Grade: F
Secondary
7 of 10
The New Orleans secondary has struggled for the better part of the season, and after making some improvements a week ago the unit regressed in a big way on Sunday.
In one of the game’s key matchups, safety Kenny Vaccaro was taken to school by Cowboys tight end Jason Witten, who finished with five catches for 61 yards. To his credit, however, Vaccaro did record the Saints’ only sack of Romo.
One thing the Saints defense didn’t record, however, was an interception, which means that Ryan’s defense has yet to pick off a pass this season.
Cornerback Brian Dixon took the brunt of the abuse in pass coverage this week, as Romo torched the rookie with a barrage of back-shoulder throws.
If there was a positive worth mentioning in the secondary, it was the play of cornerback Keenan Lewis, who was able to successfully match up with Dez Bryant in man coverage for the better part of the game. Bryant finally got the better of Lewis late in the fourth quarter, however, as Romo hammered the final nail in the Saints’ coffin with an 18-yard scoring strike to the explosive Dallas wideout.
Overall, it was another unsatisfactory showing by the New Orleans secondary, thanks in part to Romo’s pinpoint passing.
Grade: F
Special Teams
8 of 10
Special teams play marked yet another weak area for New Orleans on Sunday.
After missing an extra point in last week's win over Minnesota, veteran kicker Shayne Graham botched a 41-yard field-goal attempt against Dallas that would have trimmed the Cowboys’ second-quarter lead to 7-3.
In the return game, the Saints are still struggling. Cooks returned two punts for just 15 yards, while New Orleans never had a chance at a kickoff return.
The Saints coverage units, meanwhile, were serviceable, as Dallas was allowed 30 yards on one kickoff return and no punt returns.
Grade: D
Coaching
9 of 10
The Saints were severely outcoached by Dallas head man Jason Garrett and his staff on Sunday. The Cowboys had a plan to keep Brees and the New Orleans offense off the field with long, clock-eating drives, and they were largely successful with this strategy.
New Orleans, meanwhile, was seemingly always a step behind from a coaching perspective. Payton made some questionable play calls, but the one that will likely be discussed for a long time is the fake punt on fourth down late in the game.
With the Saints facing 4th-and-9 with just a few minutes remaining, Payton opted to go with a fake punt featuring punter Thomas Morstead as a passer, but Dallas was on to the trickery and the play ended unsuccessfully for New Orleans.
Defensively, the Saints seemed ill-prepared and uninspired again, as Romo lit up Rob Ryan's group with a highly efficient 262-yard passing performance.
Grade: F
Final Grade
10 of 10
When a team gets dominated the way the Saints were on Sunday in Dallas, there are rarely any positives to take from such a performance.
In this one, New Orleans was out of the game at halftime, although a couple of window-dressing fourth-quarter touchdowns made the score seem a little closer than it actually was.
But truth be told, the Saints turned in a horrible showing against the Cowboys. While credit is due to Romo and Co. for an outstanding game, New Orleans' performance was littered with missed tackles, missed blocks, poor throws, dropped passes and poor coaching calls.
Final Grade: F
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