Saints Stay Alive in NFC South, Show Signs of Life in SNF Win over Cowboys

There was a time when the New Orleans Saints won pretty. And while in the fluid world of professional football there remains time for the high-powered, flashy Saints to return before 2015 has expired, Drew Brees and Co. kept their season alive Sunday night with a grind-it-out victory over a similarly shorthanded opponent.

It was a blue-collar win, at least until the final, 80-yard play, when Brees completed his 400th career touchdown pass to running back C.J. Spiller in overtime, fitting for a quarterback who was playing only two weeks after spraining the rotator cuff in his throwing shoulder, and for a pivot who has thrown 55 of those 400 touchdown passes to backs. 

It was enough for the Saints to break a six-game home losing streak and avoid a catastrophic opening month, enough for them to survive a game in which a guy named Willie Snead from Ball State was their top wide receiver, with Brees completing 13 of his 33 passes to running backs. 

The 36-year-old future Hall of Famer and former Super Bowl MVP wasn't himself, but his offense didn't turn the ball over and Brees threw just eight incomplete passes. That would have been enough to win in regulation had Zach Hocker not bounced a would-be game-winning 30-yard field goal off the left upright in the waning seconds of the fourth quarter. 

Of course, we wouldn't have been shouting woe is New Orleans had things gone differently in the fifth quarter, because Brees and the Saints did get some breaks. The Dallas Cowboys travel well (nine straight wins outside of Dallas coming into Sunday's game) but were without 2014's highest-rated passer (the injured Tony Romo), 2014's receiving touchdown leader (the injured Dez Bryant) and 2014's rushing leader (the departed DeMarco Murray).

Throw in injuries to key players Sean Lee (left in the first half with a concussion) and Orlando Scandrick, along with suspensions to big-time defenders Greg Hardy and Rolando McClain, and this should have been a walk in New Orleans City Park for the gold, black and white. 

Consider, too, that Brees probably would have had an interception had Cowboys cornerback Brandon Carr not been called for a silly, unrelated holding penalty on a negated Barry Church pick inside New Orleans territory in the second quarter. 

And consider that the 'Boys practically handed the Saints three points when their depleted, bewildered defense thought it was in Canada and had 12 men on the field on what was supposed to be a Thomas Morstead punt but—after the five-yard penalty—turned into a 51-yard Hocker field goal in the third quarter.

That helped the Saints keep it close, and from that point forward, they outplayed an inferior team in order to survive. And in the NFL, when the football gods are smiting you and you're trying to wait out the resultant storm, survival is all you can hope for. 

"That's how a team grows," Brees said of the narrow victory, per ESPN.com's Mike Triplett. "That's how you come together."

Game	Opponent	Receiver	Yards
Week 4, 2006	Panthers	Colston	86
Week 1, 2008	Bucs	Henderson	84
Week 4, 2015	Cowboys	Spiller	80
Week 3, 2010	Falcons	Moore	80
Week 4, 2012	Packers	Morgan	80

Sure, the odds are still stacked against the Saints. Brees is old and far from 100 percent, Pro Bowl tight end Jimmy Graham isn't walking back through the door and a defense that nearly allowed Brandon Weeden to break out of a personal nine-game losing streak by letting the former Browns bust complete 16 of 26 passes for 246 yards and a touchdown remains a tremendous liability. 

Plus, they remain three games back of the rejuvenated Atlanta Falcons and defending NFC South champion Carolina Panthers, and they're already 0-2 in games against division foes. 

But despite all that, they aren't dead, which should scare Atlanta, Carolina and everyone else in the NFC. 

That's because Brees is still Brees, 36 isn't geriatric in quarterback terms, and he'll only become more effective as his shoulder improves. Both Brees and Super Bowl-winning head coach Sean Payton know not to panic as we reach this marathon's quarter pole. 

Quarterback	Total
Peyton Manning	536
Brett Favre	508
Dan Marino	420
Tom Brady	401
Drew Brees	400

You can't blame the Panthers for their schedule, but their wins have come against four teams that are 1-3, and a team that lacks offensive weapons for quarterback Cam Newton narrowly defeated the Saints sans Brees a week ago in Charlotte. 

The Falcons have also coasted on a bit of an easy early-season schedule and have yet to face New Orleans, which means the Saints possess a sizable share of the opportunities teams will have to prove Atlanta isn't for real. 

The Saints have 13 weeks and plenty of head-to-head chances to close the gap between them and those 4-0 division rivals, and it helps that Carolina heads to Seattle after a bye while the Falcons will come to New Orleans in Week 6. If they can win that and beat either the slumping Eagles or struggling Colts in the weeks that sandwich that game, they'll be in position to make a run as midseason approaches. 

Experienced teams with top-notch survival instincts know how to win ugly, and the Saints exemplified that on Sunday night. It's too early to tell whether the victory over Dallas was the first step toward a Super Bowl-level redemption, but it's a start. 

Brad Gagnon has covered the NFL for Bleacher Report since 2012.

Follow @Brad_Gagnon