Most of us felt pretty good after the Saints marched out to an early 17-0 lead, followed by a comfortable 20-6 lead. Then, a myriad of mistakes and bad bounces turned an easy victory into a 23-27 deficit with the Saints practically dead to rights with under 3 and a half minutes left. But somehow, Malcolm Jenkins made a miraculous play reminiscent of the Washington Redskins game a year ago (when Meachem stripped the ball). Later, it was Meachem (of course, who else?), coming up with a huge play to keep the Saints’ chances alive. In the end, the Saints won 30-27, but not before Dallas attempted a game tying 59 yard attempt in the closing seconds that was long enough but inches wide. Below are my thoughts on the game, bullet style.
— I’d say the Saints were lucky to win the game, but the Cowboys were just as fortunate to hang around. Despite numerous fumbles throughout the game by their offense, they seemed to fall on all of them. They also had a number of tipped passes fall harmlessly to the ground. By comparison, the one time the Saints had a fumble or tipped ball, they paid for it. I’ve never seen a team get more bounces go their way consistently. That is until about 3 minutes left in the game. It’s too bad it had to be that close because the Saints could have blown them out.
— Garrett Hartley was perfect on the day, and he also got terrific depth on his kickoffs. The Saints needed every ounce of the effort he gave him. Maybe he’s not a flash in the pan after all. That was a big time game from the Saints’ kicker.
— Will Smith had a big game, notching a sack and an interception.
— Going back to that play by Malcolm Jenkins for a moment, where he stripped and recovered a fumble by Roy Williams as he was going all the way late in the game with the Saints down 4, it was huge. How huge? Jenkins doesn’t make that play and the game is over, and perhaps the season as well. That play alone very well could have saved the Saints’ season.
— Reggie Bush had major rust and a lot of trouble adjusting to game speed. Many people will say after this game that he was brought back too soon, but I disagree. Whenever he came back, he was going to struggle with timing. That’s just a natural development, even healthy at 100%, of being away from the game for so long. It was less about Reggie not being ready, and more about Reggie being so out of practice. Regardless of when he game back, coming back from that much time off was going to be an adjustment. Luckily, his egregious errors didn’t cost the Saints the game. Specifically, he had a dropped pass that would have been a touchdown (the Saints would settle for 3) and he fumbled a ball inside the Saints’ 15 that would give the Cowboys an easy touchdown. Bush basically handed the Cowboys 11 points and gave them momentum when they were basically on life support leading up to that point.
— Devery Henderson finally made some plays after being quiet for a long stretch of the season, catching 3 passes for 91 yards, two of which were huge plays that set up two Chris Ivory touchdown runs in the first quarter. Then, he went back into hibernation the rest of the game.
— Whether it was Ivory or Julius Jones, I thought the Saints did an effective job running the football.
— There is no excuse for Jimmy Graham dropping that football that resulted in a Gerald Sensabaugh interception. He has got to catch that football.
— I thought Drew Brees, save one deep throw for Colston in triple coverage which was a stupid decision, was on point all night and played one of his best games. He had a number of throws that could not have been more perfect. His last two throws of the game, to Robert Meachem and Lance Moore for a touchdown, were pretty special.
— The Saints’ pass rush when they don’t blitz is still very very poor, and along with not taking care of the football remains the one major weakness area for this team.
— While Hartley was great, I thought the snaps by the newest member of the team, , were actually not too good. Give Chase Daniel a lot of credit for handling a couple questionable snaps.
— Dallas center Andre Gurode was HORRIBLE.
— Take away that one reverse by Miles Austin that went 60 yards for a touchdown, and the Saints completely shut down the Dallas run game all day long. The primary rushrers for Dallas, Felix Jones and Marion Barber, combined for 63 yards on 23 carries. Amazing.
— Roman Harper had a lot of trouble in coverage with Jason Witten.
That’s all I got. Happy Saintsgiving again to all and check back with Saints Nation later for the player grades.
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