When you talk about the Saints-Falcons rivalry since 2006 (in the Sean Payton) many fans will point to the 2006 and forward head to head record between the two clubs as evidence to why the Saints “own” them. While the Saints play the Cowboys less due to the fact that they’re not in the same division, a similar case can be made when you look at the 4-1 record the Saints have posted against them since 2006. And it’s actually 1-1 in the Superdome, which means the Saints are 3-0 in Dallas since Sean Payton started coaching them.
Here are the games in question:
On 12/10/06 the Saints beat the Cowboys 42-17 in Dallas. You’ll remember this as the Mike Karney game.
On 12/19/09 the Saints hosted the Cowboys and lost 24-17. This was the year the Saints won the Super Bowl and they were 13-0 at the time. This was a game the Saints didn’t need that the Cowboys were desperate for.
On 11/25/10 the Saints beat the Cowboys 30-27 in Dallas. You’ll remember this as the Malcolm Jenkins Thanksgiving miracle strip of Roy Williams.
On 12/23/12 the Saints beat the Cowboys 34-31 in Dallas. You’ll remember this game as the one that went to overtime where Garrett Hartley made a chip shot walk off field goal to win it.
On 11/10/13 the Saints hosted the Cowboys and won 49-17. You’ll remember this one as the game where Mark Ingram went off.
So in this group you have a couple of huge blowout wins for the Saints and a couple of very tight nail biting finishes. The one loss can’t be weighed the same, either, because the Saints already wrapped up home field advantage for the most part and the only real motivation was to go 16-0, whereas the Cowboys were fighting for their playoff lives. The common thread has been Tony Romo and Drew Brees (though Jon Kitna played the 2010 game as Romo was out injured). You’d be surprised to know that Romo’s career quarterback rating (95.6) is better than Brees’s (95.3). Of course if you only take Brees’s time with the Saints, his career rating is closer to ~99.0. None the less, Romo is a quarterback that’s very good in the regular season by the numbers. He may have a reputation for choking, but his numbers are prolific.
Interestingly, here is how both guys have done head to head:
Brees: 374.4 average yards passing vs. Cowboys per game, 69.0% completions. 14 touchdowns, 2 interceptions.
Romo: 276.3 average yards passing vs. Saints per game, 59.7% completions. 7 touchdowns, 2 interceptions.
Both quarterbacks throw at a ratio of about 2 to 1 TDs to INTs ratio for their career. In this matchup, both are above that career average, though Brees has a more dramatic increase. Brees’ completion percentage against the Cowboys is higher than his career average with the Saints, though, while Romo’s is much lower. Their average yards per game is also much higher for both, though again it’s much more pronounced for Brees. So while Romo actually has a better career quarterback rating than Brees (not if you only count Brees’s time in New Orleans), Brees has grossly outperformed Romo in head to head matchups.
And in this matchup between two dynamic passing offenses, I really think it is that simple. Brees just needs to outplay Romo. The lone time he didn’t in 5 tries, the Saints lost. When Brees plays the Cowboys since 2006, on average, he is much better than he normally is for the Saints statistically. We’re talking about one of the best statistical quarterbacks of all time, and he’s that much better than his average against the Cowboys. Brees has been a little quieter numbers wise at the start of this season, so the matchup and the time is route for his first major explosive breakout performance of the season.
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