By: Dwain Price, NDG Sports
The sky didn’t fall, and the sun rose again from the East the next morning. But the Dallas Cowboys are still wondering how they fell flat on their face Sunday night in New Orleans when they were upset by the Saints, 12-10.
Especially since the Saints were playing without injured perennial Pro Bowl quarterback Drew Brees.
The loss was the first of the season for the Cowboys and dropped their record to 3-1. But the way the Cowboys lost has to be concerning to their followers.
Dallas produced season lows in points (10), first downs (15) and total yards (257), and didn’t resemble the team that plowed over the New York Giants, Washington Redskins and Miami Dolphins during the first three weeks of the season.
“Between the run game and the pass game, we just couldn’t get it going early,” quarterback Dak Prescott said. “We finally got a drive in the second half.
“But when you’re playing in an atmosphere like this and when you’re playing a good team and a good defense like that, that’s too late. We just left a lot of plays out there (Sunday), and it showed.”
Prescott completed 22 passes in 33 attempts for 223 yards and one interception. Meanwhile, the Cowboys only rushed for 45 yards, including 35 on 18 carries for Ezekiel Elliott.
It was the third-worst rushing day in Elliott’s career. He also lost a fumble near midfield that led to a Saints field goal just before halftime.
“We didn’t really come out and play winning football at all,” Elliott said. “The defense, they did a great job by doing their job, and the offense let them down.”
Elliott said this loss rests solely with the offense, but defensive end Robert Quinn wasn’t buying it.
“We could have created more turnovers on defense,” said Quinn, who collected two of the Cowboys’ five sacks. “You know, it’s a team effort, so you can’t point fingers at anybody.
“If (Elliott) said (the offense) played poorly, then (the defense) could have played better. Again, it’s a team effort. We can’t point fingers. We stick together. We look at what we did great and what we did bad.”
Coach Jason Garrett pointed to not only the fumble by Elliott but a fumble by tight end Jason Witten that helped derail the Cowboys’ offense.
”The turnovers hurt us in the ballgame,” Garrett said. “In a game like this, there are limited opportunities, and you have to take advantage of the ones you have as best you can.
“We didn’t do that. We didn’t play consistently well enough on the offensive side of the ball, and we didn’t generate enough big plays to give us the scoring opportunities we needed to have.”
Garrett, though, was pleased that his defense kept the Saints out of the end zone.
“Obviously the defense did a really good job in this game, particularly down in the red zone,” Garrett said. “(The Saints) had some opportunities where they moved the ball, but we did a good job creating some negative plays and just keeping them out of the end zone when they got there in close.
“I thought we did some good things offensively, but certainly not good enough.”
Prescott bemoaned the fact he missed out on an opportunity to hit Randall Cobb in the end zone for a touchdown. The Cowboys also played without wide receiver Michael Gallup, who missed his second game after undergoing surgery two weeks ago to repair his torn left meniscus.
“Michael’s a good football player, and he’s done a good job for us,” Garrett said. “He’s certainly off to a good start this year, but you put the next guy in there.
“Devin Smith has done a good job for us as well. He’s made some big plays for us and taken advantage of the opportunities that he’s gotten up to this point.”
The Cowboys are not ruling out the possibility of Gallup returning in time to play in Sunday’s home game against the Green Bay Packers. Kickoff is at 3:25 p.m. at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.
In the meantime, first-year offensive coordinator Kellen Moore has been criticized for not helping the offense generate more points against the Saints.
“The one that is more likely to have the most criticism is the offensive coordinator in the NFL,” owner Jerry Jones said on radio station 105.3 The Fan. “It’s the hottest seat in the business.
“When it doesn’t work, and you don’t get the win, then get ready – they’re going to be coming for you as a coordinator. Kellen knows this, his head coach knows it, I know it. You’re supposed to make adjustments when you don’t get it done.”
And the Cowboys certainly didn’t “get it done” against the Saints.
“I wouldn’t say (the offensive play-calling) was more conservative at all,” Elliott said. “I think we ran a lot of the same stuff that we ran all year. We just didn’t go out there and execute.”
