Morning After Wk 2: The Saints Destruction
New Orleans may not have had everyone's attention in build up, but they sure do now.
The job is to attempt to articulate the game in such a way that it makes cogent sense and follows a somewhat predictable narrative and offers clues to how things were ultimately going to turn.
After a night to sleep on it and ponder how to best describe a thorough and resounding 44-19 pounding of the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium, I would like to concede at the top that I am not full of confidence that words can explain too much. Seldom in this league does one team – a pretty significant underdog – arrive at the stadium of the home-standing favorite and not only beat them in front of their own frustrated fans but humiliate them in such a way that almost everyone is just speechless.
Yet, this is the second time in a row this has happened to the Cowboys. Their last two games played in this stadium – which has many more bad memories than good – have followed this exact script. The road team that was considered inferior on many levels prior to kickoff saw every single idea they had work perfectly on both sides of the ball. Meanwhile, the Cowboys, who clearly did not lose a playoff game yesterday, could hardly do anything right. Their goal was to put an effort out there that made everyone forget last January’s debacle that weighs so heavily on the minds of everyone. Instead, they basically reenacted it in amazing detail and emotional pitch.
The Saints did something very rarely done in this league by scoring 42 offensive points on just six drives (yes, the Packers pretty much did the same thing in January, but they settled for 42 offensive points on seven drives). Those six drives fit neatly into the first three quarters of the game and amassed a ridiculous 379 yards, an average of more than 63 yards per drive. Five of those drives started with kickoffs as the Cowboys were scoring, too. But the points they were conceding were mostly field goals and while they do matter, they don’t matter enough. Any 4th grader should be able to confidently tell you that six times seven (42) is going to work out better than six times three (18). You cannot stay in a track meet doing that, and Dallas was falling further and further behind.
Shell-shocked would be a reasonable way to describe the vibes inside the stadium again as the blank stares returned. Just seven days since winning a road laugher themselves, where the home side in Cleveland looked rather disgusted with the arrival of another home opener, Dallas had the tables turned on them in a merciless destruction that seemed to reveal some painful realities yet again.
This operation overall still has many of the same issues they had in 2023.
The defense looks exactly like they always do against a Shanahan-tree offense.
The offense still seems to lack big play-making juice besides CeeDee Lamb.
When they fall behind, instead of determined anger fueling a response and comeback, the 1,000-yard stares return.