Saints 30, Cowboys 27 - The Aftermath
DALLAS (105.3 THE FAN) - My ramblings from the Cowboys loss to the Saints.
My son loves him some Roy Williams. He's not sure why, but he is his favorite player. Yes, his fumble lost the game for the Cowboys, but at least, and this has been said many times before, he steps up and talks about the game win or lose. "I lost the ball game, let my teammates down. Just keep the ball in my right hand, fall down, let Felix run out the clock and we win the game. That was a "W." I'm accountable for my actions. It's on me." He is right on this one, but he had plenty of help on the day in the fumble department. The Cowboys fumble 7 times and only lose two of them.
David Buehler's 59 yard field goal attempt had the distance but, in the words of Buehler...."I had the distance and thought I made it but just drew it out. I played it right but just not enough, struck it well but I got to make that kick. It sucks." Buehler was hitting from 60 before the game and his touchback touch returned as he had four of them.
Kind of strange that the Cowboys left two time outs left on the board during that final drive. I thought for sure they would take one after failing on 2nd and ten to talk about the next two plays. It also seemed like the Cowboys were trying to force feed the ball to Dez Bryant too much after he threw a bit of a fit on the sideline. Dez was shut out in this one and the Saints made it a point to keep him out of the game. Yes, he does have plenty of Michael Irvin in him from that standpoint, which is a good thing. But the hitch screens were simply not working in this one.
Marion Barber is officially the king of the one yard run. He ends the day with ten carries and 19 yards, including a rare rushing touchdown (4 of them for the Cowboys this season). The fourth and one call in the first half which had Barber bumping it outside was doomed from the start. I don't need to see that play any more. Barber's long run on the day was 6 yards.
Jason Garrett's team did not play its best game and still should have beaten the Saints, but even if Roy had scored with 3:00 plus left in the game, do you think the Saints would have still had a shot? You bet. They can jack it up and go, seemingly any time they want to. Witness, the killer blow when Devery Henderson got behind Terrence Newman for 57 yards on the game winning touchdown drive. There are times when their offense is a man among boys. Even with the loss, Garrett is a step closer to taking this thing over without the "interim" tag
Jason Witten resurfaced with 10 catches and 99 yards. If resurfaced is the right term. He is up to 60 catches, which leads all tight ends in the league and put him on pace to once again get into the 90's in catches.
The Saints have to be the favorite again to go back to the Super Bowl. They have seemingly overcome the Super Bowl hangover stigma, which was prevalent early in the season and maybe primarily because of injuries. The Saints did not play their best game and found a way to score 30 again, which is what they are averaging over their last 5 games.
I'm already hearing and reading the "Kitna is better than Romo" talk. Kitna goes 30 of 42 for 313 yards. I know this much. Kitna will get in the face of his players if he doesn't think things are going well. Watch the quarterback "body language" issue regarding Tony Romo to continue the entire off season.
Mat McBriar's "illegal kick" penalty was weird. He "punted" the ball off the ground. Shouldn't he have just told the officials he was trying a drop kick to try and get away with it?
The Saints fans probably numbered close to 30,000 in the game. Would be nice to see these two teams play every year because of their close proximity. Some real hatred could brew in this one.
The Cowboys will take the weekend off before getting ready for the Colts. Don't expect the back ups to flood the field. This team still needs to play for wins now that we can end the playoff talk once and for all. It was all but a foregone conclusion anyway, but the Cowboys were oh so close to making it 3-0 under Garrett.
Wally Lynn covers the Dallas Cowboys for 105.3 The Fan
