Cowboys Sin, Saints Win: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Week Four

A few observations from the Dallas Cowboys loss to the New Orleans Saints. There was some good, some bad and some downright ugly play.

The Dallas Cowboys lost their first game of the season on Sunday night to the New Orleans Saints. The home team won by a score 12-10.

The Week Four contest against the Saints was like most football games with plays you loved and plays you would love to forget. Below we’ll breakdown the good, the bad, and the downright ugly of the Cowboys’ first loss.

The Good
After two weeks of the season, the Cowboys defense had recorded 2.0 sacks.  The number jumped to 5.0 after the Week Three win.

At the end of Week Four, the Dallas defense had doubled the season total to 10.0 sacks. The Dallas defense was able to pressure backup Saints quarterback Teddy Bridgewater on several snaps but they saved their best for when it mattered most.

With 7:37 left in the fourth quarter and the Saints offense trying to play keep away, suddenly energetic defensive end Robert Quinn burst around the left side of the Saints offensive line on third down beating tackle Terron Armstead with his first step. From there, Quinn had a clear path to Bridgewater sacking him for a ten-yard loss forcing a Saints punt.

After a very quick three and out, the Cowboys punted the ball back to the Saints with 5:29 left in the game. The Saints offense did a much better job of playing keep away this time bleeding the clock to 1:50 where they had a third down with eight to go from the Cowboys 31-yard line.

Any positive play would either end the game if the Saints gained a first down or likely set up a fourth-down where the hosts would consider going for it to end the game. The Cowboys bend but don’t break defense would need to step up one more time to give any hope for a win.

Linebacker Jaylon Smith started on the left side of the defense in the B gap between the guard and tackle. Tackle Kerry Hyder was able to get penetration forcing Bridgewater to try to spin out to safety. Little did he know that Smith had looped around the entire line finding himself with another clear shot on the quarterback.

Smith would not miss sacking Bridgewater for a 16-yard loss and forcing the Saints to punt the ball. While it was certainly good to get the ball back for one more shot, the ideal scenario would have prevented the Saints from getting two first downs.