Cowboys Fall to Saints in Overtime, 26-20

The Saints needed overtime to beat a depleted Cowboys team on Sunday night in New Orleans, but beat them they did, 26-20.

The Cowboys are now 0-2 with Brandon Weeden at quarterback, though once again, Weeden played well.

Sprung by a couple of big runs, Weeden led the Cowboys 74 yards down the field on their opening drive, but they ultimately stalled and gave way to Dan Bailey, who knocked a 30-yard field goal through the uprights to give Dallas a 3-0 lead.

The Saints answered immediately with an 11-play, 80-yard drive capped by a three-yard touchdown pass from Brees to Josh Hill to take the lead, at 7-3.

The Cowboys then took the kickoff and marched 80 yards on 10 plays, with Joseph Randle going over the top for a one-yard touchdown run--a play that was called a fumble at first, but a touchdown upon further review. The touchdown gave the Cowboys a 10-7 lead going into halftime.

After intermission, the Saints wasted no time in tying it up. Zach Hocker hit a 51-yarder to open the scoring in the half and, after Dallas took the lead again on a 38-yarder from Bailey, Hocker tied it again at 13-13 with a 29 yarder.

In the fourth quarter, Brees led an 11-play, 67-yard touchdown drive, capped by a one-yard run by Khiry Robinson, to give the Saints the lead. The Cowboys responded with a 91-yard drive, capped by a 17-yard pass from Weeden to Terrance Williams, to tie it at 20-20. Hocker missed a 30-yard field goal attempt that would have given the Saints a win, which took us to overtime.

In overtime, the Saints needed two plays to beat the Cowboys for good. On the second, C.J. Spiller took a run 80 yards to send the Cowboys home in about the most demoralizing possible way.

To add injury to insult, Dallas lost Lance Dunbar to a knee injury, and Sean Lee to a concussion during the loss.

Weeden finished 16-of-26 passing for 246 yards and a touchdown.

Lance Dunbar had 54 yards on three carries, Darren McFadden had 31 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries, and Joseph Randle had 26 on 11 carries. As in last week’s loss, the vast majority of the running production came in the first half.

On the other side, Drew Brees finished 33-of-41 passing for 359 yards and two touchdowns. Mark Ingram went for 77 yards on 17 carries, and Robinson and CJ Spiller combined for another 26 yards on eight carries.

At 2-2, the Cowboys will host the Patriots at JerryWorld next week.