ARLINGTON, Texas – About an hour before kickoff on Sunday, Mike Tyson and Jake Paul came out to the middle of the field at AT&T Stadium for a staged photo to promote the upcoming boxing match here on Nov. 15.
That actually has a chance to be a better fight than what we saw later in the day.
The Saints scored touchdowns on their first six drives of the game, and the Cowboys were hardly matching that stride for stride. Add it up and that got us to the blowout that we witnessed.
With 9:43 to play in the game, the Saints brought out their punter – for the first time all day. And for that matter, they hadn't even brought out their field-goal kicker either, except to tack on extra points to all these touchdowns.
If that doesn't symbolize a bad day for the defense, nothing does. The Cowboys simply couldn't stop the Saints – in anything they tried to do.
Give New Orleans a ton of credit. Whatever Derek Carr and Alvin Kamara wanted to do, they did it with success.
Attack the middle of the field with crossing routes? Yes, did that to open the game.
Deep ball down the seam? Yes, touchdown on the second drive.
What about attack the edge with Kamara? Yes, all day long – over and over and over and over.
I know Micah Parsons has a podcast called The Edge. The Saints basically lived there for four quarters, and the Cowboys couldn't do much about it.
Man, to think the Saints didn't even get a full week of practice due to Hurricane Francine, but you wouldn't have ever noticed. New Orleans looked so much better prepared on both sides of the ball – but especially on offense.
I was asked a few times during the week if the Cowboys' Week 1 win over the Browns was a product of a great defense or a terrible quarterback performance by Deshaun Watson. I took the easy way out and said, "Both."
But I think it's very clear what the answer is now. We knew it would be a different story with Carr in the pocket, especially if he had time to throw. And too many times in the game, Carr got to stand back there and pick the Cowboys apart.
No, he's not the runner Watson is, but he didn't have to be. He knows how to complete passes, something the Cowboys didn't get tested with last week.
And they also didn't face a running game that was both physical and dynamic, which is exactly how you can describe a healthy Kamara, who was every bit as good as the back I remember seeing in previous years.
Again, this isn't to deflect any blame from the Cowboys and their scheme, but you can't really tip your cap enough to the Saints and how they executed at the highest of levels.
I just refuse to believe this Cowboys defense is going to be that bad all season long. This isn't "who they are" in my opinion. If I'm wrong here, well, it's going to be a super long season.
At the end of the day, the Saints played about as perfect as Carr's quarterback rating for most of the game. That fourth-quarter interception didn't help, but he still finished with a 125 rating. But Carr really wasn't the story because he was just 11 of 16 passing. When you throw 16 times and dominate the game, you're either controlling the ball on the ground, or you're completing a lot of long touchdowns.
Yikes is the response when the answer here is "both."
The Saints were as dominant on the ground as through the air. For all the love the Cowboys linebackers were getting last week, they didn't show up the same for this game. And it wasn't just one of them. All of them were seen getting blocked out of the play and sometimes manhandled down the field.
For a team that spent so much effort this year to fix the middle of the defensive line with veteran space-eaters such as Linval Joseph and Jordan Phillips, the Saints had no issues just getting to the edge, averaging nearly five yards a carry at 4.9.
The Saints had just five third-down attempts at one point in the fourth quarter – converting all of them – before finishing 5-of-8 with what seemed to be different play-calling at the end.
Basically, they did whatever they wanted to, bullying this Cowboys defense that has been the bully several times in the last few years, including last week in Cleveland.
Now they must figure out what went wrong, and better yet, how to fix it.
Because as difficult as it might be to chase Kamara around all day, it might get even worse when Lamar Jackson rolls into town next Sunday. If we think the Cowboys are better than what they showed against the Saints, I can promise you the Ravens will be better than the 0-2 record they will bring to AT&T Stadium.
