New Orleans — The Saints may not have gotten into the endzone Sunday night, but they still walked away with the 12-10 win over the Dallas Cowboys in a defensive battle at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
The first half was highlighted by back-to-back Dallas drives that ended in fumbles– both of which were recovered by Vonn Bell. He led the defensive stat sheet with 10 tackles (7 solo), a pass deflection and the 2 fumble recoveries. Amid the defensive stops, Saints kicker Wil Lutz connected on three field goals before the half — 40, 42 and 19 yards– giving the Saints the 9-3 lead at the break.
Dallas scored the only touchdown of the game in the third quarter on a 1-yard Ezekiel Elliott score, which put the Cowboys out front 10-9. The Saints then re-took the lead themselves in the 4th on Lutz’s final field goal of the game– from 26 yards. Lutz finished the game 4-4 and accounted for all of the Saints points.
With the 12-10 lead, the Saints had the ball on their 4th drive of the second half, marching down the field to try and pad their lead, but Teddy Bridgewater was sacked for a loss of 16 back to the 46, knocking them out of field goal range on third down. After the ensuing punt, Dallas had the ball at their own 13 with 1:39 to play to try and win the game. With two second remaining on their own 48, Dak Prescott tossed it up on their last attempt and the pass was intercepted by Marcus Williams to end the game. Here’s a reporter from WGNO Sports Director Ed Daniels.
Bridgewater finished the game 23-30 for 193 yards and a first quarter interception. He was also sacked 5 times. Michael Thomas led the way with 95 yards on 9 catches and Alvin Kamara had 69 yards on 17 carries, plus 20 yards on 3 catches.
The Saints (3-1) are home again next Sunday as they host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for their NFC South opener at noon.
